Read fewer books and feel better about it
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Read fewer books and feel better about it
1–10 of 53 posts
Re: Read fewer books and feel better about it
#2For me, I want to be OK with putting down a book I’m not loving. I do put books down all the time, but I want to be OK with it. I lose interest and put books down, but they stay on my mental list of books I need to finish for YEARS, often long after I have forgotten the current context and would be unable to continue reading where I left off.
Re: Read fewer books and feel better about it
#3> If you’re finishing every book you start you’re doing something wrong: you’re probably finishing books not worth your time
This is how you'll have time to read a lot of interesting books: by not finishing all books you started.
If you read half of a book and it still didn't gave you good feelings, the last half probably won't.
Save your time.
Re: Read fewer books and feel better about it
#4For me, I want to be OK with putting down a book I’m not loving. I do put books down all the time, but I want to be OK with it. I lose interest and put books down, but they stay on my mental list of books I need to finish for YEARS, often long after I have forgotten the current context and would be unable to continue reading where I left off.
Tip: close the book, close your eyes and imagine any possible ending that makes you feel that the story ended in full. Non-fictional? Read something in Wikipedia.
Re: Read fewer books and feel better about it
#5> If you’re finishing every book you start you’re doing something wrong: you’re probably finishing books not worth your time This is how you'll have time to read a lot of interesting books: by not finishing all books you started. If you read half of a book and it still didn't gave you good feelings, the last half probably won't. Save your time.
I started heavily applying this to TV, movies and video games in recent years. How we spend our time is important. The sunk-cost fallacy is a doozy.
Wishing you and anyone else who reads this a satisfying and fruitful 2024. Be in excellent health.
Re: Read fewer books and feel better about it
#6I forget which book but a few years ago I ploughed ahead with a (to me) terrible Kim Stanley Robinson book (maybe Red Mars?) as I had enjoyed previous books and figured it would click eventually. I gave up at about 80%, sadly it was too late and it ruined my desire to read for about 2 to 3 years. Prior to that I would happily do 20 a year and enjoy my time reading.
Now if a book isn’t vibing with me I give it one more day and then drop it. I gave up on book 2 of Dwarves just last week, loved the first, second was boring, on to the next book I fancy (Backyard Starship, so far so good)
Re: Read fewer books and feel better about it
#7I read 100+ books in 2023:
It was totally by accident!
I listened to more audiobooks than usual because I exercised more and did more yardwork and house chores.
Hopefully I’ll be reading a lot less in 2024 and writing a lot more :)
Re: Read fewer books and feel better about it
#8> If you’re finishing every book you start you’re doing something wrong: you’re probably finishing books not worth your time This is how you'll have time to read a lot of interesting books: by not finishing all books you started. If you read half of a book and it still didn't gave you good feelings, the last half probably won't. Save your time.
This may be good advice if you read only to give yourself pleasure, but it isn't very conductive to becoming well-read.
Re: Read fewer books and feel better about it
#9> If you’re finishing every book you start you’re doing something wrong: you’re probably finishing books not worth your time This is how you'll have time to read a lot of interesting books: by not finishing all books you started. If you read half of a book and it still didn't gave you good feelings, the last half probably won't. Save your time.
I'm an incorrigible book non-completist. I only read to get what I need and I duck out.
Now with ChatGPT-4, I can read and comprehend even faster. For dense books in areas I'm unfamiliar with, I ask ChatGPT to, not summarize, but to break things down for me. For me, it's the new efficient way for doing syntopical reading (Mortimer Adler's technique for reading deeply).
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-get-the-most-out...
Re: Read fewer books and feel better about it
#10I pretty much never read fiction and was at a book store some years ago when I thought "maybe I'll give it a go".
I found a book that looked pretty cool called "The Binding" about "book binders" - people that could erase a person's memory by writing their stories in books.
As I read on it seemed to turn into something less about book binding and more into a kind of homo erotic novel.. boy was I disappointed and felt totally bait and switched.