Read Fewer Books • Hacker News Board

Re: Read Fewer Books

#101

Post by closeparen » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 5:44 PM UTC

Konohamaru wrote: post #20

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.…

>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.

Unfortunately, people who have actually figured out how to do this are not here on the internet to tell you how.

Re: Read Fewer Books

#102

Post by nerfhammer » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 5:46 PM UTC

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…

if anyone thinks this is being unfair, they literally titled the book "A Replacement For Religion" https://www.booktopia.com.au/a-replacement-for-religion-the-...

Re: Read Fewer Books

#103

Post by tomxor » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 5:47 PM UTC

jaaron wrote: post #98

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…

I was raised in a highly devout religious environment. I was a true believer myself. One of the more remarkable experiences of my early adult life was attending a sales conference. I couldn't believe how much that business event felt like a _religious_ event to me. The format, the language, the emotions... I recognized all of these. I'm no longer religious in the same way, but those experiences have made me particula…

> People want belonging and a sense of being part of something greater than themselves. Belief in the supernatural is not required to engender that feeling.

I agree, but feel like this is a not a bad thing most of the time (even though it can be), and I say this as an atheist in the traditional sense, with iconoclastic tendencies when provoked...

Re: Read Fewer Books

#104

Post by mnl » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 5:55 PM UTC

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…

We're supposed to be civil here but frankly the linked post is twaddle. You can't give the reason for not having unaffordable personal libraries and then disregard it immediately because you're selling your theses, whatever those might be.

The thing is books used to be very expensive, yet people managed to read as many as they could get their hands on and even spend crazy money on them. Open any book from say the 17th century and you'll see how they quote as many works as they could. Take the Quixote for instance, there's a famous chapter about the library of Don Quixote, the whole novel is built around satirizing a popular genre that Cervantes as an avid reader also knew well.

Re: Read Fewer Books

#105

Post by mcguire » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 5:58 PM UTC

Tl;dr: "Reading was held to be extremely important, but the number of new books one read was entirely by the by. This wasn’t principally an economic point. Books were very expensive of course, but this wasn’t really the issue. What mattered was to read a few books very well, not squander one’s attention promiscuously on a great number of volumes."

Reading deeply and critically is important; to do otherwise is to just let the words wash over you without leaving an impression.

Reading promiscuously was regarded as bad historically not because it squandered attention but because most books were considered full of lies and the majority of readers couldn't be trusted to separate the truth from falsehood.

On the other hand, if your dozen books are made up of Ayn Rand, Malcolm Gladwell, and Seth Godin, you may find that your worldview is as limited as any medieval scholastic.

Re: Read Fewer Books

#106

Post by blain_the_train » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 6:05 PM UTC

I got a headstart by not reading this article.

Re: Read Fewer Books

#107

Post by novok » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 6:05 PM UTC

tomxor wrote: post #103

jaaron wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was raised in a highly devout religious environment. I was a true believer myself. One of the more remarkable experiences of my early adult life was attending a sales conference. I couldn't believe how much that business event felt like a _religious_ event to me. The format, the language, the emotions... I recognized all of these. I'm no longer religious in the same way, but those experiences have made me particula…

> People want belonging and a sense of being part of something greater than themselves. Belief in the supernatural is not required to engender that feeling. I agree, but feel like this is a not a bad thing most of the time (even though it can be), and I say this as an atheist in the traditional sense, with iconoclastic tendencies when provoked...

The problem, is the same faults of religious movements happen with these religions-without-the-supernatural, but as an atheist you don't have the same supernatural to mock as a defense.

You see faith based reasoning and very strong emotional reactions to things that are not real.

Re: Read Fewer Books

#108

Post by SolarNet » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 6:07 PM UTC

Cro_on wrote: post #80

Zippogriff wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whatever its faults, most of the works in Bloom's list at the end of The Western Canon are probably very much worthwhile, yet appreciating them could occupy more than a lifetime for anyone whose job is not reading literature, even if other pastimes be largely avoided. And it's mostly limited to fiction, drama, and poetry! It omits almost all math, science (including social science and history), and philosophy that's…

>Reading/hearing/watching anything that's not very good is entirely a choice. Stimulating, contemporary, convenient. Pick two. It is as much of a choice as home made food over fast food is a choice. But it is not always convenient. Personally I just cut out the contemporary stuff and there is an abundance of good material. When I find something modern and stimulating, it usually involved a certain amount of luck, a l…

I think there is some stimulating, contemporary stuff. But I agree it can be difficult to find conveniently. I mostly follow a lot of you-tubers and subreddits that follow this stuff and then use them as a filter for it. But even then it's like something good once a month or two. Though I prefer the contemporary stuff for some reason and can't really give it up, so I am willing to put in that effort.

Re: Read Fewer Books

#109

Post by georgefrick » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 6:08 PM UTC

jonstaab wrote: post #58

I thought this was going to be a typical HN "build things instead" thing, but I actually love their take. Looking at the world around us lately I've been realizing more and more that "it's all in Plato"; his Republic is a book I read once in high school, but it's high time to re-read it. What are some books you find your self going back to repeatedly (or want to)? My list: - Domain Driven Design - Ray Bradbury's shor…

- F-451

- The Winter of Our Discontent

- Man's Search For Meaning

Re: Read Fewer Books

#110

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 6:08 PM UTC

Timpy wrote: post #48

> Similarly, in the Ancient Greek world, one was meant to focus in on a close knowledge of just two books: Homer’s Odyssey and his Iliad Can anybody on HN verify if this is true? I thought the Iliad and Odyssey were only two of Homer's works, the rest of them lost. Why would the Ancient Greek focus on those two and not any of Homer's not-yet-lost works? Did the Ancient Greek person really read these as fervently as a…

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