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I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

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Re: I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

#191

Post by 30minAdayHN »

CodeIsMyFetish wrote: post #154
peepee1982 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like this really depends on the topic. When I see a 1000 page tome about every single feature of Photoshop, then nope. I'll google it thanks. History is non-fiction, too. And I'd definitely rather read a book than some blog, because there will be a long thread of things that build up on each other, and I think books are just better suited for that. So, things that require prolonged attention because of an over…

Couldn't agree more. And with tools such as Photoshop, it's much more efficient to learn as you go after being able to understand enough to navigate around the tool and its basic associated terminology.

I thought similarly about those books. But I was proven wrong after I read Scott Kelby's Lightroom book. The added value was understanding one author's workflow and also knowing what all features exist. Of course, one might say we can just google for all the features of Lightroom - but I personally never did that and book helped me learn all the superset of features. After that, I never referred to the book - I just google about specific things, now that I know what is out there.

There was once a discussion about reading programming books and similar point was made about learning on the go. One HN'er pointed out that reading end to end helps to know what all exists. It resonated strongly with me and since then, when I start on a new topic - I make sure to read at least one book end to end.

Re: I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

#192

Post by CadmiumYellow »

sibeliuss wrote: post #190
CadmiumYellow wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could not agree more. I also find that I don't retain information that I read on a screen but I retain information from print media quite well. I've started to wonder if memory relies heavily on additional senses, like touch, and sensory experiences that are almost entirely visual don't stick with us the same way. I can remember specific passages from books I read 15 years ago and I can even picture where they are on…

I think you're totally right that the tactile nature of holding books and flipping through pages reenforces things. I can't prove it, but I can second the observation!

They say that smell is deeply linked to memory and books often have a particular smell too, whether it's from the paper or the ink or whatever. I wonder if that plays into it as well? I was going to say someone should study this but it appears many people already have: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1747938X1...

I find a similar effect from taking notes by hand - it reinforces the information much more strongly than typing. In college this was my major "hack" to get as much as possible out of my classes.

Re: I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

#193

Post by gorjusborg »

jjice wrote: post #177
gorjusborg wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 feel like this is very true for topics that are extremely shallow, like programming language frameworks. 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 streamline…

I had similar thoughts before submitting, but with Spring Framework in mind.

I agree that books like 'Spring in Action' are extremely beneficial, but I also think that the real benefit for me has been in understanding the nuance and context, not an exhaustive covering of details.

I've given up reading plenty of books that are really just reference manuals.

Re: I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

#194

Post by georgeecollins »

keiferski wrote: post #174
runjake wrote: post #125

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 don’t know exactly when it happened, but nonfiction books have become 80% filler with a few dozen pages of worthwhile ideas. This didn’t use to be the case and if you read a popular book from say, 1910, they are often too information sense.

I have heard non-fiction authors comment on this. It is because there is no market for a pamphlet or novella length work. In science, self help and business people often write influential essays or academic papers. It may make sense to print them because want them as a reference, and the author can expand their ideas. But the problem is that in general they don't need to be ~250 pages.

Re: I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

#196

Post by azemetre »

cryptos wrote: post #145
runjake wrote: post #125

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…

A good example for such a bloated book is "Clean Architecture" by Robert C. Martin. The ideas of the book are more or less completely explained in a single blog post or one of his talks (about 1 hour), but the book has a few hundred pages (432) where he delves into history and talks to you about how he used archaic computers 40 years ago (to render himself as a veteran and to underline some point in the main text). A…

Have you read the packtpub book? I'm very weary on buying from that publisher as I gotten burned too many times. IME they are often both poorly written and horridly incorrect. This was around 2018-ish so maybe they've gotten better but they definitely have the "self publish" stigma with little editorial guidance in my view.

Not saying this is the case here, as the other looks decent and has a history of writing content.

Re: I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

#197

Post by hyperjeff »

sibeliuss wrote: post #144

For me its easy: Sitting on the computer reading makes me feel depressed. Reading books makes me feel happy. And so I've gradually reduced my footprint on the internet to basically zero -- no social media, only a few sites (mostly HN) bookmarked -- in an effort to make the internet less of a thing. It's working. Sometimes I'm staring at my screen and I have no clue what to even do or where to go, and I close it and t…

Same experience for me. Viewing screens, with their unnatural light and uncanny hyperrealism, rattle my nervous system, and I can feel a subtle internal fight in my brain about what I’m doing. Somehow it’s also easy to get trapped, like you get magnetized. I see this in everyone. It can sometimes cause arguments trying to get someone to break the spell and have them reengage with the world. It’s not just the normal aggravation of context switching, our nervous systems get slightly hijacked.

Starting to read a physical book sometimes is very difficult after spending time on screens, but if I can break thru the first 15 minutes where I can’t get my eyes to track the page effectively and let myself slow down enough to fully pay attention to the words in front of me, with no possibility to click anything, then I find that my mood changes and I feel happy, calm, creative, inspired. After an hour I only reluctantly give up reading the book.

Rinse and repeat everyday. Some days I wish all computers would stop working.

Re: I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

#198

Post by jq-r »

30minAdayHN wrote: post #191
CodeIsMyFetish wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Couldn't agree more. And with tools such as Photoshop, it's much more efficient to learn as you go after being able to understand enough to navigate around the tool and its basic associated terminology.

I thought similarly about those books. But I was proven wrong after I read Scott Kelby's Lightroom book. The added value was understanding one author's workflow and also knowing what all features exist. Of course, one might say we can just google for all the features of Lightroom - but I personally never did that and book helped me learn all the superset of features. After that, I never referred to the book - I just…

Agreed. Any sufficiently complex tool needs a good explanation of it's workflow. I was using Photoshop occasionally for years, but when I saw how people use it in real life (the photoshop guys episodes were great) a lot of stuff clicked and made much more sense so it was way easier to use.

Re: I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

#199

Post by axiomdata316 »

locofocos wrote: post #170
cryptos wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A good example for such a bloated book is "Clean Architecture" by Robert C. Martin. The ideas of the book are more or less completely explained in a single blog post or one of his talks (about 1 hour), but the book has a few hundred pages (432) where he delves into history and talks to you about how he used archaic computers 40 years ago (to render himself as a veteran and to underline some point in the main text). A…

Is this a good example of one of those talks? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dKZ-dWaCiU&ab_channel=ITkon...

For some reason that example reminded me of this example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTkw9WOzhDs

Re: I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

#200

Post by thanatropism »

thumbelina wrote: post #155
vorpalhex wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been on a kick of reading parenting books. I do a thing when I read where I fact check books when I read them (only things which are claims, usually only if cited or very specific). Out of 7 or 8 books, only a minority have passed without deep deep factual errors. One specific one comes to mind - a book on "Danish Parenting" that cited a monkey study about kids and peer groups. I looked up the original study and…

Any parenting books you recommend? Thanks!

"The Idle Parent" by Tom Hodgkinson.
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