Read Fewer Books • Hacker News Board

Re: Read Fewer Books

#11

Post by voxl » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 9:22 AM UTC

martin_a wrote: post #8

All those "Oh, I have read sooooo many books this year!"-thing is just another elitist posture. It's pretty much like the minimalists who run around and tell people that they only own a MBP and an iPhone XPro+ (or whatever the maxed out version is) and two potted plants. Most people will not have enough disposable income to buy a full-fletched MBP and that iPhone. You need to be rich (kind of) to be able to have a mi…

>You need to be rich (kind of) to be able to have a minimalist lifestyle. The same goes with reading.

This is the second time I've seen someone make this claim and the second time I'll refute it: Minimalism is not a rich-specific ideology. Being minimal as benefits if you're poor, including making it much easier to move. Moreover, you might be "minimalist" without choice, merely because you can't afford to buy things. You could be angry at your lack of material possessions or you could temporarily embrace the ideology to help you get to a position where you can start collecting items that make you happy.

Imagine you are poor and have a broken microwave, but you've been holding on to it. Why? Are you going to fix it? Likely not (at least not well, and its a dangerous thing to get wrong). Just throw it out or sell it for parts. Just because you are poor does not mean you should hold on to things that merely take up space.

Re: Read Fewer Books

#12

Post by null_object » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 9:27 AM UTC

I simply don't recognize the article's analysis of why we read. I read (voraciously) during my 'downtime': in bed before sleeping, sitting on the toilet, during lunchbreaks. Often the times that a lot of people are game-playing/watching youtube/scrolling FB. I'm not aspiring to "know everything" or to appear to be an "intelligent person". I think reading a lot is just a habit.

It may be that I'd be better off reading less, and having more of my own thoughts. But I find it enjoyable, and after I've read a book I generally feel like it was a net gain, and not a time-suck (like the aimless surfing I can sometimes be diverted into). In any case I certainly don't identify with any need to read a few carefully curated books to "be shaped – deeply shaped in [my] capacity to live and die well".

I read history, popular nature books, novels, classics, travel - so there's no pattern or attempt to 'better' myself. It's just fun and passes the time better than sitting on the john and scrolling a meaningless feed.

Re: Read Fewer Books

#13

Post by lmm » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 9:31 AM UTC

voxl wrote: post #11

martin_a wrote: post #8

All those "Oh, I have read sooooo many books this year!"-thing is just another elitist posture. It's pretty much like the minimalists who run around and tell people that they only own a MBP and an iPhone XPro+ (or whatever the maxed out version is) and two potted plants. Most people will not have enough disposable income to buy a full-fletched MBP and that iPhone. You need to be rich (kind of) to be able to have a mi…

>You need to be rich (kind of) to be able to have a minimalist lifestyle. The same goes with reading. This is the second time I've seen someone make this claim and the second time I'll refute it: Minimalism is not a rich-specific ideology. Being minimal as benefits if you're poor, including making it much easier to move. Moreover, you might be "minimalist" without choice, merely because you can't afford to buy things…

When you're poor you have to hold on to things that you might need, or that sort-of work. You keep your old phone with a broken screen because your current one might get stolen (or you might have to sell it). You keep a broken microwave because you can use it in a pinch (maybe it works if you hold the door shut, or if you angle the cord just so), or you might scavenge some parts from it, or you might have have to fix it as best you can even though that's dangerous. You can't afford the transaction costs of just selling everything.

Re: Read Fewer Books

#14

Post by andi999 » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 9:32 AM UTC

paganel wrote: post #10

TheUndead96 wrote: post #7

The School of Life infuriates me for many reasons, but I will restrain myself and talk just about this specific post. Perhaps the small libraries of historic figures has more to do with the availability of books than it does their minimalism. I agree that people should not be reading every new self-help or business book that gets published. The majority of new books are bad. History acts as a great filter, which is w…

> I am not a religion apologists, but his videos and lectures are structured exactly the same way as sermons. He even feigns a false pastor modesty I highly recommend Jacques Ellul's "Les nouveaux possédés." (translated in English as "The New Demons" [1]) an analysis written back in 1973 describing this exact process you're describing, i.e. modern stuff (rock stars among others) trying to fill the hole of the disappe…

Nowadays I am thinking that the 'we are more popular than jesus' quote is actually deeper than it was probably intended.

Re: Read Fewer Books

#15

Post by arvinsim » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 9:36 AM UTC

paganel wrote: post #10

TheUndead96 wrote: post #7

The School of Life infuriates me for many reasons, but I will restrain myself and talk just about this specific post. Perhaps the small libraries of historic figures has more to do with the availability of books than it does their minimalism. I agree that people should not be reading every new self-help or business book that gets published. The majority of new books are bad. History acts as a great filter, which is w…

> I am not a religion apologists, but his videos and lectures are structured exactly the same way as sermons. He even feigns a false pastor modesty I highly recommend Jacques Ellul's "Les nouveaux possédés." (translated in English as "The New Demons" [1]) an analysis written back in 1973 describing this exact process you're describing, i.e. modern stuff (rock stars among others) trying to fill the hole of the disappe…

Sport is not so much a modern relaxation as a new religion; and is more serious and unsmiling even than most new religions. - G. K. Chesterton

Re: Read Fewer Books

#16

Post by ideamotor » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 9:36 AM UTC

paganel wrote: post #10

TheUndead96 wrote: post #7

The School of Life infuriates me for many reasons, but I will restrain myself and talk just about this specific post. Perhaps the small libraries of historic figures has more to do with the availability of books than it does their minimalism. I agree that people should not be reading every new self-help or business book that gets published. The majority of new books are bad. History acts as a great filter, which is w…

> I am not a religion apologists, but his videos and lectures are structured exactly the same way as sermons. He even feigns a false pastor modesty I highly recommend Jacques Ellul's "Les nouveaux possédés." (translated in English as "The New Demons" [1]) an analysis written back in 1973 describing this exact process you're describing, i.e. modern stuff (rock stars among others) trying to fill the hole of the disappe…

That’s interesting, I’ll check it out. I often tell folks that without concerts I am going on without my religion. And the best concerts are those where the most attendees most actively participate. This human need for group belonging will be fulfilled one way or another. Concerts, sports, protests, war - go on down the line (granted I think churches fit in further towards the end ...). There is a psychological cost to shutting these events down that must also be considered.

Re: Read Fewer Books

#17

Post by 082349872349872 » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 9:39 AM UTC

martin_a wrote: post #8

All those "Oh, I have read sooooo many books this year!"-thing is just another elitist posture. It's pretty much like the minimalists who run around and tell people that they only own a MBP and an iPhone XPro+ (or whatever the maxed out version is) and two potted plants. Most people will not have enough disposable income to buy a full-fletched MBP and that iPhone. You need to be rich (kind of) to be able to have a mi…

A high end MBP, iPhone, and two plants should be under 10'000 EUR, so if that's elitist I'm not sure what people who buy https://www.immobilienscout24.de/Suche/de/schleswig-holstein... should be called.

Re: Read Fewer Books

#18

Post by rgoulter » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 9:40 AM UTC

arvinsim wrote: post #15

paganel wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I am not a religion apologists, but his videos and lectures are structured exactly the same way as sermons. He even feigns a false pastor modesty I highly recommend Jacques Ellul's "Les nouveaux possédés." (translated in English as "The New Demons" [1]) an analysis written back in 1973 describing this exact process you're describing, i.e. modern stuff (rock stars among others) trying to fill the hole of the disappe…

Sport is not so much a modern relaxation as a new religion; and is more serious and unsmiling even than most new religions. - G. K. Chesterton

"Sports is to war as pornography is to sex." — Jonathan Haidt

Re: Read Fewer Books

#19

Post by shannifin » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 9:44 AM UTC

I'm not sure the article's title quite reflects its point, which is that the amount one reads is not by itself a very useful measure of anything; better to focus on what you're reading, why you're reading, and how you're reading. A better title might be: "The amount you read doesn't matter... as much as other factors" ... or something.

Some random thoughts:

1) Indeed many nonfiction books are full of fluff and filler. While there's a completionist in me that wants to read every word and finish all books started, I'm now in the more useful habit of skimming and reading the few chapters that interest me. I've been intrigued to see services like Blinklist that summarize the main points, and sometimes I think even those have too much fluff. Sometimes I grab my notebook to take notes only to find there's not much to take note of. But I confess, perhaps up to 95% of the nonfiction I read is ends up being forgotten because it's just not all that useful to me (more useful is just knowing where I can find the info later if needed).

(Although there are quite a few books, like Taleb's books, that have changed the way I think about and see the world, but I don't remember the details and wouldn't be great at giving a worthy summary of them; I'd just recommend the book.)

2) This topic reminds me of Mortimer Adler's book "How to Read a Book"; although I don't remember all his specific syntax, it really encouraged me to be more self-conscious about my reasons for reading.

Re: Read Fewer Books

#20

Post by Konohamaru » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 9:44 AM UTC

haffi112 wrote: post #4

A book is a somewhat large time investment. Often it is worth it but often it isn't. The main problem is the sheer amount of books out there. Deciding what to read next is a non-trivial decision problem. Currently I'm basing my decisions on ratings, recommendations from friends and book clubs. It would be nice if sites like Goodreads kept statistics on ratings for second/third/... reading (maybe they do?). Such infor…

> A book is a somewhat large time investment. Often it is worth it but often it isn't.

But everyone has time for reddit/hn/facebook. Sometimes for hours at a day. :}

I posit that the real problem is that books (especially fiction novels) are engaging but not hypnotic. It's easy to scroll HN because it's literally hypnotic and thus no thinking required. That's why they're called newsFEEDs. You're being spoon-fed news. But books demand that you think, and you can't ignore previous plot developments without becoming disoriented.

If you want to read more books, the first three steps are to:

1. Admit you have a problem. The problem is NOT that you have a hard time reading but that you're hypnotized for hours a day.

2. Realize that total abstinence is the solution. If you had the willpower to restrict yourself to 30min a day, you wouldn't be here. You are one of those people too susceptible to hypnosis.

3. Don't punish yourself. Five minutes a day is far better than nothing. 10 minutes is better than five minutes, etc....