It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history • Hacker News Board

Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#221

Post by microtherion » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 5:21 PM UTC

qingcharles wrote: post #91

microtherion wrote: post #35

“A Clockwork Orange” as “Old English” is an amusing anecdote, but it might be worth noting that the novel is written in deliberately nonstandard English mixing in Russian words, so it might be nontrivial to read for people lacking interpolation skills. In the first paragraph, e.g., there is: > There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim. Dim being really dim, and we sat in the Koro…

Just wait till they open Trainspotting.

I could handle that, but reached my limit with Feersum Endjinn.

Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#222

Post by nozzlegear » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 5:21 PM UTC

SoftTalker wrote: post #161

nozzlegear wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No True Cinephile would enjoy a movie like Top Gun: Maverick, Obsession or Project Hail Mary. /s

A friend at the gym raved about Top Gun: Maverick when it came out, and against my better judgement I watched it on a streaming service. It was essentially Top Gun, again. Absolutely uninteresting and completely predictable. And I rather enjoyed the original.

I liked Maverick a lot, but I've never seen the original or any of its other sequels :P

Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#223

Post by nkrisc » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 5:21 PM UTC

pizzalife wrote: post #167

WhrRTheBaboons wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Most of my learning now is via audio books while I'm doing something else. You're not actually learning anything then. Memorizing trivia, sure. But not actually learning.

That seems like a pretty controversial take. Why would you not be able to learn things orally?

It’s the focus that’s important. If you’re listening while doing other things, you’re not really focusing on it.

Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#224

Post by Planktonne » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 5:23 PM UTC

quotemstr wrote: post #209

Planktonne wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue with this stance is that it folds under immediate scrutiny. It posits that there are intellectually-capable elites and dull, leaden-eyed masses, and uses literacy levels as evidence of that. Except the people our society views as intellectual elites can't read that well. Every tech billionaire demonstrates a fatal lack of meaningful literacy, and everyone who shares your opinion disqualifies themselves. It'…

Intellectual and economic accomplishment aren't exactly parallel vectors, but you can't expect me to believe they're orthogonal. A mediocre tech CEO is going to run intellectual circles around some random guy you pick out of the DMV ticket queue. And, yes, some people are smarter than others. Some people are a lot smarter than others. Also, smart people are rare. Very smart people are very rare. These are basic facts…

> A mediocre tech CEO is going to run intellectual circles around some random guy you pick out of the DMV ticket queue.

There is literally no reason to believe this; having money is no proxy for intelligence, and tech CEOs specifically--the ones who fell hook line and sinker for craze after craze after craze--really aren't a solid argument here. We can be confident that a randomly selected person is unlikely to believe that an LLM loves them, or that there will be settlements on Mars in two years, or that they can live forever with blood transfusions. We cannot say the same of tech CEOs.

More importantly, we don't have to use money as a proxy at all here--we started with literature understanding, and at that we know the tech CEOs are not running circles around anybody. Here's just one example of Musk not understanding art [1].

I'd agree that highly intelligent people are rare, but I don't think that's as important as another fact: none of the actually highly intelligent people share your opinion. The belief that everyone without money is a dull-eyed serf is exclusively the province of cranks.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2018/jun/19/elon...

Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#225

Post by mercutio2 » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 5:26 PM UTC

dash2 wrote: post #142

ramijames wrote: post #140

My kids are active, voracious readers. At least one book (500-700 pages) a week. It feels like one of the only things that I've really done right as a parent.

How did you do it?

This is one of those questions non-parents ask.

Kids come out as a person, with strong opinions and desires. You can shave off some rough edges, and maybe bend a few branches of their experience.

But if you present a kid with the opportunity to read, and they read, you can’t take much credit. That’s just who they are. Others are given the opportunity and don’t.

You can fail to provide the opportunity, but after that, it’s pretty much up to the kid.

As a life long reader, on my own, and to my kid, including many a night time baby -> toddler -> easy chapter -> harder chapter read, my kid doesn’t read books. Certainly competent to do so, but just doesn’t. Possibly we could have continued to deny access to Netflix until later (it was 1 hour a week until about 10). No YouTube allowed. Still, didn’t read. Other kids do, and I’m jealous.

Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#226

Post by engcoach » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 5:26 PM UTC

not-kinsale-joe wrote: post #54

_doctor_love wrote: post #21

We were in an age of reading? I gave up about 10 years ago on people as readers. I have recommended so many books and articles to software people over the years and it's honestly depressing how many people have told me they don't like to read. Like...you're a programmer? And you don't like to read? I assumed that people who enjoy software would be into intellectual stimulation but I've learned that this is wrong. Mor…

Can you recommend me a book to read?

Rabbit, Run by John Updike

Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#227

Post by dominotw » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 5:27 PM UTC

beej71 wrote: post #190

dominotw wrote: post #39

i got xelink ereader few months ago and i've been reading a ton more. i have all sorts of kindle but i stopped reading but xelink attached to my phone got me back. I would love a phone where this is a standard feature. dont care about fancy cameras and stuff.

I couldn't attach my xteink to my phone because of a standoff around the camera on my phone case. I just now realized that the standoff could be removed and now the magnet works! :) Did you install Crosspoint on it? I absolutely recommend it. For reading on my phone Moon Reader is my go-to.

i want to but it came with usba charing cable pogo pin

Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#228

Post by FumblingBear » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 5:29 PM UTC

One thing that helped my friends and I really enjoy reading again is book clubs! Since the start of Covid, I've personally run ~3 books clubs with different people where we all vote on a book together, set a pace (usually a few chapters a week), and a time to meet weekly on discord and then discuss.

It's been a great way to solidify friendships, broaden my interests (Not every book that's been voted on was one I'd have picked alone), and cultivate a habit of reading and enjoying meaningful time with people.

I highly recommend anybody with friends who might be interested to reach out and give it a shot! It's been a delight! I've even branched off into hosting a movie club now with the same idea, just pick a movie weekly and watch it asynchronously, then hop on a call to discuss :)

Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#229

Post by fridder » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 5:30 PM UTC

everdrive wrote: post #155

You would be surprised just how quickly you can re-learn the focus to enjoy long-form writing and novels. Much like exercise, don't let your ego get in the way. Find something you enjoy, even if it's a bit trash, and just make it a habit. Like with everything you do regularly, your brain will get better at it, the habit will become more automatic, and you'll find yourself wanting to read more, and more often. It's ve…

Royalroad has been a great place for me

Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history

#230

Post by DamnInteresting » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 5:30 PM UTC

As a non-fiction author, I find myself reading a lot of non-leisure material for research--books, old newspapers, and that sort of thing. A few years ago I noticed that my leisure reading was on the decline, so I decided to delete all of the social media, news, and gaming apps from my phone, and replace them with an e-reader app.

Now, when I have a few idle moments away from my computer, instead of checking something like reddit, I read a few pages from a book. It's great, I recommend it! I'm back to reading a couple of novels per month, and I don't have so much of that queasy wasted-time feeling that social media tends to give me. I've even learned how to pause reading mid-paragraph and resume easily later; that part took some practice.