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Why Some People Become Lifelong Readers

theatlantic.com

31–40 of 79 posts

Re: Why Some People Become Lifelong Readers

#31
I am a voracious reader and have been since I was a boy. Travel books, historical fiction, science, biography, history, westerns, sci-fi, detective/suspense, I read them all. I am very fortunate to live in a city with a well-funded (and well used) library system so I have access to just about anything I read or hear about that sounds interesting. It is time well spent.

Re: Why Some People Become Lifelong Readers

#32
I've never read a book.

At least not a non-technical, fictional one. At school I'd just dig up a summary. Didn't stop me from getting a job at a FANG.

Whenever I read, I feel like I'm wasting my time. It's slow, boring and feels superficial. Just something arbitrary someone wrote. I can't focus and get no value from it.

Re: Why Some People Become Lifelong Readers

#33

I've never read a book. At least not a non-technical, fictional one. At school I'd just dig up a summary. Didn't stop me from getting a job at a FANG. Whenever I read, I feel like I'm wasting my time. It's slow, boring and feels superficial. Just something arbitrary someone wrote. I can't focus and get no value from it.

What is the value of getting a job at a FANG?

Re: Why Some People Become Lifelong Readers

#34
post #33

I've never read a book. At least not a non-technical, fictional one. At school I'd just dig up a summary. Didn't stop me from getting a job at a FANG. Whenever I read, I feel like I'm wasting my time. It's slow, boring and feels superficial. Just something arbitrary someone wrote. I can't focus and get no value from it.

What is the value of getting a job at a FANG?

High income.

Re: Why Some People Become Lifelong Readers

#35
I used to read a lot and then stopped. There are things that I find more interesting these days, and I've already read the most important books about the subjects I've been interested in. There comes a point where the diminishing returns are too small.

There would have to be a tectonic shift in understanding to get me interested in reading another book.

Re: Why Some People Become Lifelong Readers

#36

I've never read a book. At least not a non-technical, fictional one. At school I'd just dig up a summary. Didn't stop me from getting a job at a FANG. Whenever I read, I feel like I'm wasting my time. It's slow, boring and feels superficial. Just something arbitrary someone wrote. I can't focus and get no value from it.

To read, perchance to dream.

Human creativity is unleashed in fiction, where anything is possible, yet still bound by its humanity. That it didn't happen makes it no less human, and possibly more human in that it is completely driven by emotion and pure thought.

Just look at _From the Earth to the Moon_. Long before we knew we could make it to the Moon, we yearned for it. And I think it was that yearning that led us there.

Re: Why Some People Become Lifelong Readers

#37

I absolutely love reading. I can't make it through four seasons of TV (my most recent failure is Battlestar Galactica '04) and I can't seem to get myself to suffer through repeated failure at video gaming for more then thirty minutes at a time, but I absolutely love books. My trio of hobbies are coding, writing, and reading and it's a really happy and productive combination! I prefer fiction, generally hard science f…

I suspect your downvote (not from me) came from your calling Shogun 'truly exceptional historical fiction'.

Re: Why Some People Become Lifelong Readers

#38
post #37

I absolutely love reading. I can't make it through four seasons of TV (my most recent failure is Battlestar Galactica '04) and I can't seem to get myself to suffer through repeated failure at video gaming for more then thirty minutes at a time, but I absolutely love books. My trio of hobbies are coding, writing, and reading and it's a really happy and productive combination! I prefer fiction, generally hard science f…

I suspect your downvote (not from me) came from your calling Shogun 'truly exceptional historical fiction'.

That is a potential reason.

What is certain is your passive-aggressive shot at another users reading choices that doesn’t contribute much value.

Re: Why Some People Become Lifelong Readers

#39

I've never read a book. At least not a non-technical, fictional one. At school I'd just dig up a summary. Didn't stop me from getting a job at a FANG. Whenever I read, I feel like I'm wasting my time. It's slow, boring and feels superficial. Just something arbitrary someone wrote. I can't focus and get no value from it.

i wonder if your tendency to cut corners is reflected in your code (assuming you're a developer) if you've never read an RFC or grinded through technical documentation. Do you enjoy reading other people's code?

>Didn't stop me from getting a job at a FANG.

probably stopping you from being a top developer at a FAANG

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