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Just Read the Book Already

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Re: Just Read the Book Already

#151

Post by ReverseCold »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #48

Wow, do I feel this pain. As both an author[1] and a book-lover, I've been on both sides of this divide. People just don't consume books the same way they used to. As a reader, I find I have to slowly re-introduce deep reading -- even if I've just been away for a week or two. I usually do this by getting a physical book and a physical distraction device, usually my phone. I go to a place where there's nothing else in…

Mabye you're just not reading things you find interesting? I personally find that I only get bored of reading if I'm reading something I've read already or if it's about a topic I don't feel like reading at the time.

Re: Just Read the Book Already

#152

Post by paganel »

itaintreddit wrote: post #105

I blame math. In mathematical prose (proofs in particular) every word down to the articles (a/the) matters. Non-technical prose is usually (necessarily?) bloated with extraneous info and many irrelevant words/sentences (and often paragraphs). I don't have patience for that anymore. I skim an article to find the main point the author trying to make and if I can't find it by the mid point of the page, I simply leave th…

> In mathematical prose (proofs in particular) every word down to the articles (a/the) matters.

You might like Flaubert, who was a perfectionist when it came to the words he had to put down on paper. From the wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Flaubert#Perfectionist...):

> Flaubert famously avoided the inexact, the abstract, the vaguely inapt expression, and scrupulously eschewed the cliché. (...) Flaubert believed in, and pursued, the principle of finding "le mot juste" ("the right word"), which he considered as the key means to achieve quality in literary art.

Re: Just Read the Book Already

#153

Post by shostack »

Bucephalus355 wrote: post #3

For fiction I read e-books. However for all technical books, things like O’Reilly, No Starch, etc, I always buy physical. The decision to do that has very much 10x my learning. Even when it comes to long documentation (MySQL is an astounding 5,000+ pages) I’ll usually print out portions to cover if it’s reasonable. I don’t know why this has increased my learning so much. The best I can come up with is that memory is…

The issue I've found is that my primary reading device is my Kindle Paperwhite, however for many technical books, that screen size is just not big enough. The net result is that code examples are often too tiny to easily read. Particularly when reading at night with dimmer brightness settings.

Re: Just Read the Book Already

#154

Post by ryanstorm »

sidstling wrote: post #31

For around ten years I didn’t read much, not because I didn’t want to, I certainly did, but because it takes too long. I get up at around 6am, get home from work at around 5pm and then I have daily chores mixed with family stuff for 3-5 hours. Not much left after that, and I’m not good at setting fixed hours for specific hobbies, so reading a whole book just didn’t work out for me. I soon found that even if I managed…

Yep. I knock out 30-40 books a year through audiobooks. I rotate between NF, sci-fi, and fantasy, and literature.

Audiobooks are perfect while commuting, working out, and doing chores. During the times I'd have time to read a physical book, I read a technical one, a comic book, or a video game instead.

Re: Just Read the Book Already

#155

Post by heurist »

smt88 wrote: post #135
ma2rten wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't read a lot because I have ADHD which makes it hard to focus. Do you also have that problem?

I had a problem focusing on reading until I started just listening to books on Audible while doing chores or taking walks. The physical activity occupies my mind enough to allow me to focus on the content.

Same here. I listen while driving, cleaning, and walking my dogs and am able to focus much better on the content of the book. I went from struggling to finish 3-5 paper books per year to completely finishing 20-30 audiobooks per year. I am often disappointed with the limited selection on Audible for things I am interested in, though.

Re: Just Read the Book Already

#156

Post by WalterBright »

ma2rten wrote: post #133
AlwaysRock wrote: post #63

I've gone from reading 10 books a year to reading 25+ books a year over the last few years. Mostly I've cut down on my screen time. I am on a computer all day for work but once I go home I try to spend as little time as possible on a computer. What do I do now? Come home, do yoga for 15-30 minutes, make tea, meditate for 10 minutes, read for 15 - 50 minutes. Then I'll allow myself to do other things that may occupy m…

I don't read a lot because I have ADHD which makes it hard to focus. Do you also have that problem?

I gradually stopped reading books over a period of years. I didn't really know why. Then I got progressive eyeglasses, and suddenly I was reading again.

Apparently, I had stopped reading because it was getting hard to see the words, a process so slow I didn't notice it.

Re: Just Read the Book Already

#157

Post by Ftuuky »

alexhutcheson wrote: post #89

I think most people are too committed to finishing books that they start. Changing my attitude about this has made a huge difference in how much book content I actually read. Until pretty recently, if I found myself reading a book that I found boring, or too dense, or hard to get into, I would just get "stuck". I wouldn't be able to pay attention for long enough to make real progress, but it would "block" me from sta…

So much this. The wake call was Naval Ravikant on a podcast (Tim Ferriss I think?) that said something like "don't be afraid to stop reading a book if you're not enjoying it. If it's non-fiction it's okay to skip for the relevant chapters".

Re: Just Read the Book Already

#158

Post by sutterbomb »

samirm wrote: post #75
Raidion wrote: post #23

Problem I have with books is that it's much harder to justify the "time" to get lost in books. When I was a kid, I was near the top of the school's reading program and devoured books. But now, when I do have time on vacation or sick, I'd almost much rather read something that's educational-ish. It's hard to justify the X hours falling into a fantasy world, though it's still almost as fun as it used to be. Practically…

Apparently you think there's not much to be gained from reading fiction. Maybe there's your problem.

Good fiction can teach you more about human nature than any non-fiction. Marginally more knowledge about human nature can get you further than marginally more technical knowledge.

Re: Just Read the Book Already

#159

Post by Fifer82 »

Raidion wrote: post #23

Problem I have with books is that it's much harder to justify the "time" to get lost in books. When I was a kid, I was near the top of the school's reading program and devoured books. But now, when I do have time on vacation or sick, I'd almost much rather read something that's educational-ish. It's hard to justify the X hours falling into a fantasy world, though it's still almost as fun as it used to be. Practically…

I read about 30-40 books a year but I am the same as you, I don't have the time or patience to cut out a slice dedicated to staring at a page.

Can I recommend you try an audio book? I have found that most of the time I do chores, like dishes, fixing stuff around the place, the treadmill or even the shower can be quite enjoyable when listening to an audio book.

Any automatic mundane task which you are already expending time on can easily be overlaid with audio.

A fun example is that I am listening to "Countdown to Day Zero: Stuxnet" which was recommended here! I ended up enjoying the book for an hour, and at the end of it, the kitchen was spotless.

Re: Just Read the Book Already

#160

Post by phlakaton »

twoquestions wrote: post #132
bitwize wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have to justify it, you're doing it wrong. Your free time is your playground. Take half an hour -- or ten minutes -- each day and enjoy those fantasy worlds. They might refresh you.

Hard disagree there. Your 'free' time is valuable currency, and every minute must be invested as productively as possible, or you'll lose to someone else who does in this kill or die monkey knife fight economy [ https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/ ]. (edit: corrected link. Thank you!)

Ah, but read to the end of the essay:

"So be it with Gnon. Our job is to placate him insofar as is necessary to avoid starvation and invasion. And that only for a short time, until we come into our full power."

To give everything of yourself over to Gnon/Moloch is to deny Elua, who Scott names the god of art, science, philosophy, love, niceness, community, civilization. One might add to that: the god of play, of gardening – of reading.

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