171–180 of 300 posts
I cannot read blog posts on my computer but I can read this way.
It has a very nice feature. You read the articles offline (after you sync the kobo with pocket), and when you click on the blog links, it presents you with the option of connect to the internet or store the link in pocket. That way you can read the link later and focus on the blog post
I stopped reading non-fiction books. Most of them have about a blog post worth of ideas, but the publisher had the author pad it out to X00 pages because that's what makes their business model make sense. I haven't fully sworn off blogs, but I will skim anything brought to my attention on Medium, a corporate site, or from search results. My default assumption for these is that I'm reading content marketing and not an…
I feel the opposite. I'm reading fewer non-fiction books and more articles and blog posts. Non-fiction books are bloated with fluff to increase the page count to increase the perceived marketability of the book. A lot of the ideas presented in those books could be adequately presented in a 10th of the number of pages. A huge time-saver has been reading the article versions of stuff that has been turned into a book. Y…
The Emperor of All Maladies, The Gene, Our Mathematical Universe are some that are better because of their book format. I'd put Hackers in that category too (along with pretty much all the books by Steven levy).
The phoenix project is a lot more entertaining as a novel too thought that kind of blurs the lines towards fiction.
I feel the opposite. I'm reading fewer non-fiction books and more articles and blog posts. Non-fiction books are bloated with fluff to increase the page count to increase the perceived marketability of the book. A lot of the ideas presented in those books could be adequately presented in a 10th of the number of pages. A huge time-saver has been reading the article versions of stuff that has been turned into a book. Y…
I find that some days, when I'm tired at the end of the day or drained by work, I crave some simple entertainment and come to HN or my RSS reader looking for articles or blog-posts to read, but I'm definitely finding that the RSS-feed has thinned-out, and on HN there's more often repetition of posts I've seen before or lynchmob ranting about Apple which I find unnerving. So I'm also reading more books - both digitall…
I had that feeling too, until I realized that it is just a matter of finding new feeds. Unlike media houses, we cannot expect individuals to continue to produce interesting content, and that is why RSS feeds dry off. However, new ones are popping up all the time and it is just a matter of finding good ones. I think RSS is thriving.
I stopped reading non-fiction books. Most of them have about a blog post worth of ideas, but the publisher had the author pad it out to X00 pages because that's what makes their business model make sense. I haven't fully sworn off blogs, but I will skim anything brought to my attention on Medium, a corporate site, or from search results. My default assumption for these is that I'm reading content marketing and not an…
> I stopped reading non-fiction books. Most of them have about a blog post worth of ideas I feel like this is very true for topics that are extremely shallow, like programming language frameworks. Otherwise, I find that a good non-fiction book has no equal when it comes to transferring a nuanced mindset or base understanding from the author to the audience. A tutorial is nice for what it is, a way to quickly become a…
1) Check user reviews for complaints of repetition
2) Read the Table of Contents. If the chapter titles seem more "narrative" (e.g. The Man that Couldn't Tell a Lie..) I expect the kind of fluff I see on social media.
3) Read a chapter towards the middle or end of a book and see if it is building on prior concepts or just rehashing them and presenting new, potentially irrelevant information.
I stopped reading non-fiction books. Most of them have about a blog post worth of ideas, but the publisher had the author pad it out to X00 pages because that's what makes their business model make sense. I haven't fully sworn off blogs, but I will skim anything brought to my attention on Medium, a corporate site, or from search results. My default assumption for these is that I'm reading content marketing and not an…
> I stopped reading non-fiction books. Most of them have about a blog post worth of ideas I feel like this is very true for topics that are extremely shallow, like programming language frameworks. Otherwise, I find that a good non-fiction book has no equal when it comes to transferring a nuanced mindset or base understanding from the author to the audience. A tutorial is nice for what it is, a way to quickly become a…
I'd argue that the framework in question matters a lot. If you could link me to a blog post to get me up and running on Rails, I'd ask for a link (seriously, would be interested).
For vast frameworks like that, I think a book could be very beneficial. "Getting Started" sections can focus too much on streamlined starts when (at least personally) I'd love to dive into how the ORM works for more complex joins instead of just a single "get all" query for a single table.
I stopped reading non-fiction books. Most of them have about a blog post worth of ideas, but the publisher had the author pad it out to X00 pages because that's what makes their business model make sense. I haven't fully sworn off blogs, but I will skim anything brought to my attention on Medium, a corporate site, or from search results. My default assumption for these is that I'm reading content marketing and not an…
I also found this to be true. "Thought leaders", individual personalities as experts, etc. However: there are mountains of really good non-fiction books if you're willing to get a little boring. I've started digging heavily into mathematics and philosophy, and found Walter Rudin, Richard McElreath, and Nancy Cartwright. I read Bree Fram's With Honor and Integrity: Transgender Troops in their Own Words. I basically su…
I stopped reading non-fiction books. Most of them have about a blog post worth of ideas, but the publisher had the author pad it out to X00 pages because that's what makes their business model make sense. I haven't fully sworn off blogs, but I will skim anything brought to my attention on Medium, a corporate site, or from search results. My default assumption for these is that I'm reading content marketing and not an…
An odd pleasure of mine that I've subconsciously developed a way to sniff out is "self-help books that are a genuine effort from the author, regardless of whether they're precise or intelligent or verifiable." You have to watch out for the ones who want to start a business or a cult, but it will be something like "Check out my new system of psycho-cyber-kinetics" and it's just "be kind to people." I imagine a lot of…
It does convey an interesting idea though -- that if you knew nothing of the real world, even something written by that benevolent doofus brother-in-law would be emotionally impactful. I think I get what you mean by genuine authors.
Are we slowly losing a joy of reading blog post because there are so many? Yes, but... What are your thoughts? I think it's inarguable: 99.x% of blog posts are trash, and a lot of that trash is specifically SEO-bait trash where the author wasn't even trying to produce something of value. That said, the remaining 0.x% of blog posts is insanely valuable. The low-stakes environment of blog posts (and tweets, etc) someti…
If everyone followed your solution, nobody would ever read any interesting blog posts!