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Ways to Read More Books

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Re: Ways to Read More Books

#71

Post by marvindanig »

nextos wrote: post #19

I love reading technical books slowly, and digesting all content. Relocating around Europe made it quite tough to carry all my book hardcopies with me: SICP, CTM, TAOP... Finally, it seems 13 inch eink readers with support for arbitrary formats (thanks to them running Android, or even capable to process input HDMI video) will become mainstream. To me that's the way to read more books. Thousands of technical books in…

> an eye-friendly tablet…

By this, I suppose you mean e-ink paper vs. a backlit LCD?

There is ample research[1] to suggest that electronic paper (e-ink) screens don't offer any advantage over a backlit screen (say an iPad), except may be for reading under the Sun.

People do spend more time devouring content over computer monitors and mobiles phone (both are backlit) than on any other device. Have you tried reading normally over an iPad/standard Android tablet instead?

[1] http://lifehacker.com/5934993/is-e-ink-really-better-for-my-...

Re: Ways to Read More Books

#73

Post by sn9 »

cadlin wrote: post #35
tristanho wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the "survivorship bias" argument for reading is a bit overplayed. There's practically _zero_ of these mega-successful people (Gates, Buffett, Zuckerburg, Musk, etc.) who don't read. Astonishingly, I can't think of a single one. While that doesn't prove causation, it definitely points at it! Do you want to try to be the first successful person who didn't read? It's not that reading was this one magical trick t…

Donald Trump?

I don't know that con men who inherited their wealth count as successful.

Re: Ways to Read More Books

#74

Post by tchaffee »

cadlin wrote: post #35
tristanho wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the "survivorship bias" argument for reading is a bit overplayed. There's practically _zero_ of these mega-successful people (Gates, Buffett, Zuckerburg, Musk, etc.) who don't read. Astonishingly, I can't think of a single one. While that doesn't prove causation, it definitely points at it! Do you want to try to be the first successful person who didn't read? It's not that reading was this one magical trick t…

Donald Trump?

Not successful. He just inherited Daddy's money and grew that money at a slower rate than the market.

Re: Ways to Read More Books

#75

Post by [deleted] »

cadlin wrote: post #35
tristanho wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the "survivorship bias" argument for reading is a bit overplayed. There's practically _zero_ of these mega-successful people (Gates, Buffett, Zuckerburg, Musk, etc.) who don't read. Astonishingly, I can't think of a single one. While that doesn't prove causation, it definitely points at it! Do you want to try to be the first successful person who didn't read? It's not that reading was this one magical trick t…

Donald Trump?

[deleted]

Re: Ways to Read More Books

#76

Post by [deleted] »

cadlin wrote: post #35
tristanho wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the "survivorship bias" argument for reading is a bit overplayed. There's practically _zero_ of these mega-successful people (Gates, Buffett, Zuckerburg, Musk, etc.) who don't read. Astonishingly, I can't think of a single one. While that doesn't prove causation, it definitely points at it! Do you want to try to be the first successful person who didn't read? It's not that reading was this one magical trick t…

Donald Trump?

[deleted]

Re: Ways to Read More Books

#77

Post by bhargav »

One problem is Dopamine. I have learned to get constant Dopamine hits from Netflix/Youtube/Video Games. When I goto reading a book, it bores the shit out of me. Its unfortunate really. So for last month or so, I cut down all of the aforementioned things. I am now able to read much more than I did before, before feeling sleepy or caving into the aforementioned things.

Why cut down on Dopamine? Relating to Digtal Signal processing, think of your brain like an Envelope detector. When you keep supplying large peaks of Dopamine levels, the 'mundane' is considered noise. Reducing peaks the said peaks will allow you to tune the envelope detector and also consider 'noise'. Eliminating all the peaks would be ideal but likely un-realistic. Shitty analogy, but thats how I taught it to my self; relating an idea to a concept I already somewhat understand.

Happy reading.

Edited: Rephrase.

Re: Ways to Read More Books

#78

Post by jstandard »

edpichler wrote: post #72

Lots of people writing good comments about audiobooks. Anyone knows if it's benefits are the same of reading? Instead of listening someone narrating?

From personal as well as shared experience from several avid "audiobookers", retention is dramatically decreased with audiobooks.

Many folks will use audiobooks while multi-tasking (driving, cleaning) where the brain is partially distracted from absorbing, reflecting on, and internalizing the book contents.

I reserve audiobooks for fiction, autobiographies, and other light materials where I'm not learning so much as consuming content.

Re: Ways to Read More Books

#79

Post by endentru »

acdha wrote: post #17

1. Add “127.0.0.1 news.ycombinator.com” to /etc/hosts 2. Get your tax dollars’ worth out of your library card

> 2. Get your tax dollars’ worth out of your library card

To add to this, shoutout to the Overdrive app/site which makes borrowing ebooks/audiobooks from libraries extremely easy.

http://overdrive.com/

Re: Ways to Read More Books

#80

Post by gavinpc »

> Roald Dahl’s poem “Television” says it all: “So please, oh please, we beg, we pray / go throw your TV set away / and in its place, you can install / a lovely bookshelf on the wall.”

There's a house 2 blocks from me where an old Volvo is always in the driveway, with a bumper sticker that says:

> BLOW UP YOUR TV

I always walk by that place and think, those people must be cool. I've never put a TV set in any place I've lived.

But I've noticed lately when I walk by there at night... they have a big TV on. I wonder if it has a sticker on it that says

> BLOW UP YOUR CAR

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