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Ask HN: How do you decide a non-fiction book is worth your time?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you decide a non-fiction book is worth your time?

#41

Post by max_ »

- Recommended by someone that I have alot of respect for.

- I was already aware of what the author had done liked it. So I would read thier book to hear more of what they had to say. If I like one author I usually look for thier other books.

- If someone praises it very highly. For example someone said he "didn't know where he would be in life if it was for Dostoevsky". Also a former KGB agent said that if you want to understand psychology you have to read "Dostoevsky"

- I already know what the book is about via Wikipedia, a review a friend and I find the topic interesting so I want to know more about the topic.

Re: Ask HN: How do you decide a non-fiction book is worth your time?

#42

Post by simonmesmith »

keiferski wrote: post #40

I actually think most non-fiction books are not worth the time, and you'd be better off reading a summary of the ideas and/or just going directly to an encyclopedic resource on the underlying subject matter. The contemporary publishing industry is designed around expanding an often very simple idea into a book-length treatment, typically to support the author's book tour and consulting career. It is not designed to c…

Wholeheartedly agree. And I think the problem has gotten worse for a few reasons. One is that if you’re interested in a subject, you likely follow it closely online, so reading a book-length treatment feels like learning a lot of stuff you already know. Two is that publishers try to find authors with social media audiences who likely already published all their good ideas for free and now have to dredge for additional material that’s usually less interesting.

When I was a child and teenager I loved science fiction. When I became an adult I shunned fiction as a waste of time and read only nonfiction books. Then I started to find that most nonfiction books could be summarized in a blog post or Wikipedia entry, regurgitated well established ideas, or spewed unfounded bullshit. I’ve since flipped my perspective again. I think good fiction is worth reading at book length while most nonfiction is better consumed in blog posts, articles, journal papers, or via a ChatGPT tutoring session.

I will highlight one consistent exception. I love every book I’ve read by Yuval Noah Harari.

Re: Ask HN: How do you decide a non-fiction book is worth your time?

#43

Post by subtra3t »

keiferski wrote: post #40

I actually think most non-fiction books are not worth the time, and you'd be better off reading a summary of the ideas and/or just going directly to an encyclopedic resource on the underlying subject matter. The contemporary publishing industry is designed around expanding an often very simple idea into a book-length treatment, typically to support the author's book tour and consulting career. It is not designed to c…

I agree. I think most such books could be easily summarized into perhaps a quarter of its original word count, without significantly affecting any value that its readers may gain from it.

Re: Ask HN: How do you decide a non-fiction book is worth your time?

#44

Post by subtra3t »

blockwriter wrote: post #11

A reading habit, past a certain point, is self-propagating, in my experience. Based on conversation, explicit reference in other texts, and a general sixth-sense of what books to read next, I find that I rarely have a miscue. Abandoning a book that’s no good, or that you simply can’t get into for whatever reason, is a big part of making a self-propagating sense for reading highly reliable. I write a lot about what I…

What about when your reasons for continuing to read the book change as the book progresses and perhaps turns out to be different from what you were originally anticipating?

Re: Ask HN: How do you decide a non-fiction book is worth your time?

#45

Post by jjice »

subtra3t wrote: post #43
keiferski wrote: post #40

I actually think most non-fiction books are not worth the time, and you'd be better off reading a summary of the ideas and/or just going directly to an encyclopedic resource on the underlying subject matter. The contemporary publishing industry is designed around expanding an often very simple idea into a book-length treatment, typically to support the author's book tour and consulting career. It is not designed to c…

I agree. I think most such books could be easily summarized into perhaps a quarter of its original word count, without significantly affecting any value that its readers may gain from it.

So many books just pad with anecdotes. If I could get a "just the important anecdotes" version of a book, I absolutely would. Few isolated concepts that a single book is tackling (that isn't specifically for a specialized field) should be over 300 pages. Page count is an actual turn off of a book for me if it's a non-fiction "I want to learn this thing" kind of book. I'm not trying to waste that much time.

Now, if this is something like a software book and they cover a large amount of concepts, that's a different story, but if I'm reading a book like Jack Bogle's "The Little Book of Common Sense Investing" (may have butchered that name), it should be short and to the point for the average reader. Leave the rest to an economics text book.

Re: Ask HN: How do you decide a non-fiction book is worth your time?

#46

Post by Raed667 »

jjice wrote: post #45
subtra3t wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. I think most such books could be easily summarized into perhaps a quarter of its original word count, without significantly affecting any value that its readers may gain from it.

So many books just pad with anecdotes. If I could get a "just the important anecdotes" version of a book, I absolutely would. Few isolated concepts that a single book is tackling (that isn't specifically for a specialized field) should be over 300 pages. Page count is an actual turn off of a book for me if it's a non-fiction "I want to learn this thing" kind of book. I'm not trying to waste that much time. Now, if th…

I think this is the idea behind blinkist.com

I used to get it as perk with my company and it wasn't an in depth analysis or anything but it covered the bases for such books in a way that felt useful

Re: Ask HN: How do you decide a non-fiction book is worth your time?

#47

Post by in9 »

I’ve been using reading to keep thinking about things I want to focus on. Getting involved with some different thoughts around a theme eases my anxiety around it and allows me to have a more ordered "vocabulary of ideas" around those problems.

This leads me to read some "boring" books, some simple self-help stuff whose sole point is not to engage and make it extremely important in my life, but to think and organize those ideas.

I'll read other nonfiction books because the subject interests me, such as history or math/probability.

However, my approach is insufficient.

I bought a cheap course from a local intellectual in my country (math and philosophy) on "how to have an intellectual life". My main takeaway was that I lack a fundamental question (or a set of) that I should use to guide reading and studies. For you to research, think, and confront your fundamental question you should have a solid base and read many angles, tangential including, around your fundamental question.

This framework should guide the readings since if something is way above your head or skill, there is some base knowledge lacking and you should study those first. The way to organize all of this is through writing and reflection, where you summarize and intentionally spell out shortcomings and conclusions, even if sporadically.

So yeah, I liked the approach and have, during this year, slowly adding to my study routine.

One final add is the latest Ali Abdal video which sort of talks about this https://youtu.be/AvKGYyowFK4?si=Ah_6SM-nhv9uQ55O

Re: Ask HN: How do you decide a non-fiction book is worth your time?

#48

Post by jvans »

morkalork wrote: post #21

The test of time. I just recently finished reading Skunk Works, and in the last few months seen a few references to it here on HN and and on reddit. It was published almost 30 years ago and people still talk about it online? That's an easy signal for quality to go by. Counter example: Freakanomics. It did not pass. Even though everyone was so hyped about it at the time. Too bad we don't have a time traveller hanging…

Nassim Taleb would agree with this. I forget which of his books he talks about this in but he gave the general recommendation to only read books more than 20 years old, because by then it's stood as a valuable book for so long that it's worth it.
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