The joy of reading books you don't understand • Hacker News Board

Re: The joy of reading books you don't understand

#61

Post by spondylosaurus » Thu, Jul 04, 2024, 4:20 AM UTC

senkora wrote: post #17

jyunwai wrote: post #10

A useful habit that I've begun to follow with more complicated books—especially when reading them out of personal interest—is to actively avoid taking notes or worrying about background material on a first read. I've recently read and greatly enjoyed a historical fiction novel called "Augustus" written by John Edward Williams and published in 1972. On the surface level, it's about the events of the life of Augustus C…

I finished Infinite Jest without taking notes. I definitely missed a lot of stuff but I loved the experience and it ended up being one of my favorite books. I think Infinite Jest is a great example for this sort of thing because I later realized that I had completely missed the entire main plot. By the author: > There is an ending as far as I’m concerned. Certain kind of parallel lines are supposed to start convergin…

If you ever get the urge to read Infinite Jest again (which I highly recommend—a second read is easily more enjoyable than the first), the Infinite Jest Wiki includes some page-by-page annotations that are nice to have on hand. https://infinitejest.wallacewiki.com/david-foster-wallace/in...

Probably overkill to look up every little thing (and most of the annotations are just defining SAT-worthy words anyway), but I liked having it around when a random word/phrase would make no sense and it turned out to be a vintage shaving cream brand or some bit of Boston-ese.

And it's free of spoilers, so friendly enough to first-time readers, but I do think a first read is best with no notes or supporting material or anything. Other than two bookmarks, lol.

Re: The joy of reading books you don't understand

#62

Post by btilly » Thu, Jul 04, 2024, 4:24 AM UTC

sfink wrote: post #53

This reminds me of something that I heard once from a Chinese teacher. I can't vouch for the accuracy of it, but he was definitely on to something : In the West, it is assumed that it is the speaker's job to make himself understood to his listeners. In the East, it is the other way around. In recent times, it seems like we've gotten even more extreme. The speaker or writer must not only spoon-feed the understanding,…

That is because the USA is low context while China is high context. For more about this and related topics, read https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00IHGVQ9I/ref=tmm_kin_swatch....

Re: The joy of reading books you don't understand

#63

Post by croisillon » Thu, Jul 04, 2024, 4:29 AM UTC

jjmarr wrote: post #55

sfink wrote: post #53

This reminds me of something that I heard once from a Chinese teacher. I can't vouch for the accuracy of it, but he was definitely on to something : In the West, it is assumed that it is the speaker's job to make himself understood to his listeners. In the East, it is the other way around. In recent times, it seems like we've gotten even more extreme. The speaker or writer must not only spoon-feed the understanding,…

I read this comment before the post, and now I feel bad. I watched a spy movie from the 1960s recently with someone. We got 20 minutes in before she was confused about why the movie is just about a depressed drunk who lost his job in a spy agency, before my movie-watching accomplice looked up the plot of the movie on Wikipedia. Spoiler alert, there's a twist, and the movie didn't tell the viewer that. It's interestin…

So how’s the movie called?

Re: The joy of reading books you don't understand

#64

Post by lukan » Thu, Jul 04, 2024, 4:44 AM UTC

btilly wrote: post #62

sfink wrote: post #53

This reminds me of something that I heard once from a Chinese teacher. I can't vouch for the accuracy of it, but he was definitely on to something : In the West, it is assumed that it is the speaker's job to make himself understood to his listeners. In the East, it is the other way around. In recent times, it seems like we've gotten even more extreme. The speaker or writer must not only spoon-feed the understanding,…

That is because the USA is low context while China is high context. For more about this and related topics, read https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00IHGVQ9I/ref=tmm_kin_swatch... .

"Americans precede anything negative with three nice comments; French, Dutch, Israelis, and Germans get straight to the point; Latin Americans and Asians are steeped in hierarchy; Scandinavians think the best boss is just one of the crowd. It's no surprise that when they try and talk to each other, chaos breaks out."

Oh, it is a book about stereotypes. Well, as a german it seems I have to get straight to the point, I do not think, thinking in stereotypes this broad is helpful for communicating.

Re: The joy of reading books you don't understand

#65

Post by jesterson » Thu, Jul 04, 2024, 4:44 AM UTC

btilly wrote: post #62

sfink wrote: post #53

This reminds me of something that I heard once from a Chinese teacher. I can't vouch for the accuracy of it, but he was definitely on to something : In the West, it is assumed that it is the speaker's job to make himself understood to his listeners. In the East, it is the other way around. In recent times, it seems like we've gotten even more extreme. The speaker or writer must not only spoon-feed the understanding,…

That is because the USA is low context while China is high context. For more about this and related topics, read https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00IHGVQ9I/ref=tmm_kin_swatch... .

that's extreme oversimplification of multifaceted topic.

Re: The joy of reading books you don't understand

#66

Post by diffxx » Thu, Jul 04, 2024, 4:44 AM UTC

g8oz wrote: post #47

whatnotests2 wrote: post #2

Hegel's Phenomenology of the Spirit, Marx's Capital, Foucault's work, von Neumann and Morgenstern' Game Theory, and the Perl 6 Apocalypses and Exegeses from the early 2000's.

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (GEB) - too much for me.

I found GEB understandable but ridiculously long winded and the passages with achilles were insufferably annoying.

Re: The joy of reading books you don't understand

#67

Post by nextstepguy » Thu, Jul 04, 2024, 4:54 AM UTC

whatnotests2 wrote: post #2

Hegel's Phenomenology of the Spirit, Marx's Capital, Foucault's work, von Neumann and Morgenstern' Game Theory, and the Perl 6 Apocalypses and Exegeses from the early 2000's.

The bible king james version translation.

Re: The joy of reading books you don't understand

#68

Post by tdrgabi » Thu, Jul 04, 2024, 4:55 AM UTC

croisillon wrote: post #63

jjmarr wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read this comment before the post, and now I feel bad. I watched a spy movie from the 1960s recently with someone. We got 20 minutes in before she was confused about why the movie is just about a depressed drunk who lost his job in a spy agency, before my movie-watching accomplice looked up the plot of the movie on Wikipedia. Spoiler alert, there's a twist, and the movie didn't tell the viewer that. It's interestin…

So how’s the movie called?

Probably "The spy who came in from the cold"

Re: The joy of reading books you don't understand

#69

Post by milleramp » Thu, Jul 04, 2024, 4:58 AM UTC

I read the Baroque Cycle almost 20 years ago and have to say I enjoyed every bit of it, the relatable characters, the circle of life and the science was amazing. I am sure there were parts that went completely over my head but it felt good to sit down open the large books and dive in. Thanks to the poster, it's about time I re-read the series.

Re: The joy of reading books you don't understand

#70

Post by ravi_m » Thu, Jul 04, 2024, 5:04 AM UTC

sonorous_sub wrote: post #21

senkora wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I finished Infinite Jest without taking notes. I definitely missed a lot of stuff but I loved the experience and it ended up being one of my favorite books. I think Infinite Jest is a great example for this sort of thing because I later realized that I had completely missed the entire main plot. By the author: > There is an ending as far as I’m concerned. Certain kind of parallel lines are supposed to start convergin…

I like the short form stuff DFW wrote for Harper's Magazine. The one about his trip to the state fair with an old flame is sublime.

Infinite Jest seems excessively long and I haven't worked up the motivation to read it yet, but his short stories / essays in Consider the Lobster are excellent, including the titular story which is about a lobster festival in Maine. And looking at the comments in this thread, seems like he had some kind of fascination for fairs and other touristy things.