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Just Read the Book Already

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Re: Just Read the Book Already

#181

Post by cgag »

psychometry wrote: post #42
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…

Literally the opposite of me. eBooks are searchable, paper books are not. I don't need to search a novel for a particular phrase, but I certainly do for a textbook.

With real books I find it easy to remember where in the book and what part of the page whatever I read was on, plus I find I'm much more likely to actually sit down and read offline.

Re: Just Read the Book Already

#182

Post by H1Supreme »

Rotdhizon wrote: post #10
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…

In my current job I have a lot of downtime, which means I can do whatever I want for a few hours a day. I try to read but I find it so difficult. I don't know what it is about reading ebooks but I can't hold my attention on them for more than a few minutes at a time. I have a few physical books in my desk that I can focus on very well, but they aren't the ones I need right now. Considering ebooks are typically half t…

E-Books may be half the cost of retail books, but there are lots of used books out there at much less than half. Or, free books to read from your local library.

Obviously this doesn't applies to all new books, but if you're willing to read older books, there's a lot to read for relatively little cost.

Re: Just Read the Book Already

#183

Post by andrepd »

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've got a venerable kobo touch. Rocking 2000 hours ;)

Re: Just Read the Book Already

#184

Post by CptFribble »

singingboyo wrote: post #137
darioush wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A problem with fantasy worlds is the escapism is mild, and I develop something like tolerance to it. The tolerance effect makes finishing very long fantasy books / trilogies slow, since it causes me to put them down in the middle if the story slows down at any point. Once I've put it down for a few days, the mild escapism isn't enough to pull me back and I start losing touch with the characters and plot. I experience…

This got out of hand. TL; DR: If the fantasy novels you're reading don't work for you, try different styles or even different genres. We don't all have to read the same books. I'd disagree strongly that fantasy novels have only mild escapism, but that leads me to this point: It sounds more like you need a different genre of book or style of writing. Fantasy may just not be engaging for you, or maybe you need somethin…

If you want to try SciFi that draws you into a world like fantasy, strong recommend for the Ringworld series!

Re: Just Read the Book Already

#185

Post by swaggyBoatswain »

watwut wrote: post #96

The biggest obstacle for my reading after I got older was to find books that I would find interesting. As I had less time, I did not enjoyed filler action/sci-fi/etx books anymore. And to this day, I did not found consistent source of interesting books for adult me. Some manga came close, but the rest I rarely cared to finish.

Same here, ive read between 100 to 200 fiction fantasy books it feels like I've seen every plot variation by now. It gets stale after awhile. Same applies to video games too.

Also once you've read some of the best authors in the genre everything else is just less impressive

Re: Just Read the Book Already

#186

Post by fredsanford »

DubiousPusher wrote: post #168
fredsanford wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you able to get through books by Tolkein, Robert Jordan or Terry Goodkind? I wonder because as I've aged I don't have the patience to sit through a description of every blade of grass in a meadow...

Never read Goodkind. I don't think I could read Jordan anymore. Just kind of got over high fantasy a bit and don't find it all that rewarding. With Tolkien, I used to view "The Hobbit" as pretty good and TLOTR as his magnum opus. Now I'm convinced it's the other way round. Generally, I'm very much the same. Let's set the scene quick and get the characters doing stuff. I used to see intricate scene dressing as a skill…

>> Never read Goodkind. I like his Sword of Truth books, the whole Confessor magic user thing leads to some good dynamics. He falls down in his 80 pages of character introspection... For me anyway. I used to reread this series every few years but now I end up putting books down when the blades of grass start.

>> Let's set the scene quick and get the characters doing stuff

Yes. Please!

Re: Just Read the Book Already

#187

Post by Apocryphon »

rayiner wrote: post #121
byproxy wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If all you care about are plot details, maybe. But you're missing out on a person's voice. Prose can be as beautiful as any piece of visual art in a gallery. Not only are you depriving yourself of an aesthetic experience, but also a learning experience. Reading will boost your vocabulary and help your writing and give you more cultural references to pull from (and recognize, when they come up in another's work). But.…

> But you're missing out on a person's voice. Prose can be as beautiful as any piece of visual art in a gallery. Not only are you depriving yourself of an aesthetic experience... Sure, but people who enjoy art don't write high-and-mighty articles titled "Just Go to MOMA Already." "Readers" act like these aesthetic experiences are something that are universally important. > Reading will boost your vocabulary and help…

Literacy is universally considered an important indicator of human development.

Re: Just Read the Book Already

#188

Post by tough_luck »

heurist wrote: post #180
pnutjam wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read epub and let my phone read them to me using TTS.

Are you happy with the voice? Would you be able to listen to it for 2-3 hours straight or would the computer voice become grating?

Try ivona tts kendra voice. It was available on play store but not anymore so you'll have to workaround to install it.

Re: Just Read the Book Already

#189

Post by wowtip »

ByThyGrace wrote: post #118
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…

Getting an e-ink reader is the reason I've had a similar boost in reading hours, also over the last few years. The thing's fantastic. I don't even mind the low dpi, or the delayed responsiveness (it's not slower than turning a paper page). I bring it with me and read anywhere. It does not have the attention seeking alerts nor the eye-straining of a back-lighted smartphone. There's under a dozen simultaneous books I'm…

Yes, I recently got a Kobo Aura One. At 7.8" and high resolution screen it is not much different from reading a largish pocket book. Also being able to read in the dark without disturbing the wife, thanks to screen back light is also a big plus.

But even with bigger screen and higher resolution than most e-ink readers, it is still a bit small to read most magazines comfortably, which was a bit of a disappointment to me.

I read some ebooks on my phone before, but as you say, it does not compare. You have constant distractions and reading on a phone / tablet outside in daylight is no fun.

Re: Just Read the Book Already

#190

Post by AlwaysRock »

ByThyGrace wrote: post #118
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…

Getting an e-ink reader is the reason I've had a similar boost in reading hours, also over the last few years. The thing's fantastic. I don't even mind the low dpi, or the delayed responsiveness (it's not slower than turning a paper page). I bring it with me and read anywhere. It does not have the attention seeking alerts nor the eye-straining of a back-lighted smartphone. There's under a dozen simultaneous books I'm…

Yes - I wish I enjoyed my kindle paperwhite more because it is so incredibly useful. It's so useful because although I havnt touched it in months I'm sure it still has a 50%+ charge.
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