How to read more books • Hacker News Board

Re: How to read more books

#291

Post by poulpy123 » Mon, Jul 13, 2026, 6:49 PM UTC

soupfordummies wrote: post #67

poulpy123 wrote: post #65

From when I learned to read up to the end of my 20s I read much more than one book per week. Whoever after 30 or maybe a bit before I started to read less and less, until now where I read vert rarely (usually on plane). I don't know why. Maybe it's psychological. Maybe it's just ageing. Maybe it's my brain fried first by internet then by the smartphone. I still buy more books than I read, probably unconsciously hopin…

Do those time ranges align with the rise of smartphones perhaps?

It indeed started when I had ADSL (quite late) and increased when I got a smartphone

Re: How to read more books

#292

Post by latexr » Mon, Jul 13, 2026, 7:22 PM UTC

basscomm wrote: post #272

latexr wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a meaningless gatekeeping distinction. Unless your sole goal is to be a poser who wants to be perceived as a literate intellectual who is oh so cultured and well-read, however you consume the book is up to you. Who the heck is thinking “I really want to read more books, but only if it’s in the way this stranger tells me I should, not the way I enjoy”? If you like reading paper books, good. If you like reading el…

There are many reasons why someone might want to improve their reading, and the only solution to that is to practice reading. Audiobooks are someone else's (i.e. not your) interpretation of a work. Kind of like how you might go watch a play or a movie instead of reading a script. There's nothing wrong with either of those things, but they're not reading.

> There's nothing wrong with either of those things, but they're not reading.

Why are you compelled to defend that (in my view) meaningless distinction? Why does it matter? I’m asking genuinely, so I can understand why we’re having this conversation.

Re: How to read more books

#293

Post by basscomm » Mon, Jul 13, 2026, 8:09 PM UTC

latexr wrote: post #292

basscomm wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are many reasons why someone might want to improve their reading, and the only solution to that is to practice reading. Audiobooks are someone else's (i.e. not your) interpretation of a work. Kind of like how you might go watch a play or a movie instead of reading a script. There's nothing wrong with either of those things, but they're not reading.

> There's nothing wrong with either of those things, but they're not reading. Why are you compelled to defend that (in my view) meaningless distinction? Why does it matter? I’m asking genuinely, so I can understand why we’re having this conversation.

Defend what? That reading and listening are two different skills?

Re: How to read more books

#294

Post by officeplant » Mon, Jul 13, 2026, 9:12 PM UTC

swed420 wrote: post #125

PsylentKnight wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that it’s a pretty different experience for fiction, where the subjective experience is everything and the narrator can color your experience a lot. For nonfiction, I think the two mediums are virtually the same depending on the density of the book. Most differences come down to the fact that you’re more susceptible to distraction. Most nonfiction books are light and repetitive enough that I don’t think it’s…

Personally I like to highlight certain passages (non-fiction) for future reference, and this only works on ebooks.

You can also bookmark audiobooks depending on the platform/playback application.

Re: How to read more books

#295

Post by treszkai » Mon, Jul 13, 2026, 10:27 PM UTC

As the author mentions Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, let me point out that the (very pretty) edition by Macmillan Collectors' Library is a very poor translation, and the more mundane-looking one from Pelican Classics is an excellent one, paralleling the original German.

https://www.reddit.com/r/hermannhesse/comments/1uvcfnj/read_...

Re: How to read more books

#296

Post by titularcomment » Mon, Jul 13, 2026, 10:28 PM UTC

moate wrote: post #265

titularcomment wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand caring about 'slop' in creative media. Its pressingly more important in programming because there are a lot of bugs linters, complicated language models and even fuzzy sandbox searches can't catch. Even if they did, coding is collaborative work and maintaining vibecoded infra is a genuine hassle. However, none of these apply to music or books. AI or not, humane feelings always shapes a piece to its…

why not enjoy the piece>> The theft. I for one can't enjoy a piece of creative media made by AI because I know it only exists so that a handful of losers can profit off the wholesale theft of actual human creativity. Other people don't share these qualms (they are also losers) and that's their choice. Honestly, I could give a fuck if AI tanks coding because I think the internet as we now know it is a mistake of capit…

I'd respectfully advise you to assume less

Re: How to read more books

#297

Post by dredmorbius » Mon, Jul 13, 2026, 10:34 PM UTC

carlosjobim wrote: post #244

dredmorbius wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To an extent it depends on what your interests are, what your research skills are, and how well you can articulate what it is you're looking for. That last especially if you're dependent on others to find materials of interest. For someone reading for distraction, with narrow interests and tastes, who's covered most of the obvious canon (Great Books, literary prizes/awards, etc.), coming up with useful recommendation…

I'm just reading for my own pleasure, and if any other book which seems interesting is mentioned in a book, or any person of interest, or place of interest, then that's another one to the list. Of course it's hit-or-miss, but fairly soon into a new book you know if it's worth continuing. If you've covered most of the obvious canon, then that person has read a lot and must have developed their tastes and curiosity int…

For you and me this works. For others ... not so much, so I've come to find. People's relationships to information, literature, books, and bibliographic methods vary widely, and it's helpful to be aware of this. No matter how hard to understand it may be.

Re: How to read more books

#298

Post by j3d » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 1:03 AM UTC

I too wanted to read more books by cutting out doom scrolling. But while I always have my phone on me, I don't always have my Boox ereader. I needed a way to handoff between devices.

I searched for a good Android reader that would sync my book progress across devices but couldn't find anything that worked. So I ended up vibe coding my own app that works for me. I'd consider open sourcing it if people are interested.

Re: How to read more books

#299

Post by Eueudhsbsj32 » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 1:20 AM UTC

WolfeReader wrote: post #284

Eueudhsbsj32 wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what way does a human author "understand the meaning" that AI does not? Just because a brain is made from organic material rather than silicon, doesn't make it less of a prediction machine.

Wow, you are drinking the corporate kool-aid eagerly . The brain understands concepts. I can say, for example, "a penny saved is a penny earned" and understand that I'm talking about money and savings in general. I've felt the satisfaction of a full bank account and the panic of a near-empty one. The AI knows that someone once wrote the words "a penny saved is a penny earned" in that order. It has ingested volumes of…

You're just describing different ways of learning concepts. Learning from lived experience and learning from reading the experience of the others are both valid.

AI is doing a lot more than just regurgitating facts. It can take abstract concepts and apply them reasonably well in novel scenarios.

To make things more concrete, how about you name a specific concept that you believe a frontier model can't grasp?

Re: How to read more books

#300

Post by gofreddygo » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 3:53 AM UTC

picklesman wrote: post #289

gofreddygo wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is diametrically opposite to how I read non-fiction. Its designed on how I approach a new codebase effectively. first is skimming and context. table of contents, the preclude, intro etc. Then author (interviews, actual work done, other books, friends, enemies) to build a picture of who it is that's talking and what the topic is. 70% books fail this filter. then the book itself, i usually pick 2 (sometimes 3) boo…

What you’re describing sounds more like studying / reading textbooks and is totally valid, but not the type of reading I’m talking about, which is mostly for curiosity and entertainment.

Ahh.. gotcha. My bad.