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Why can’t we read anymore?

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Re: Why can’t we read anymore?

#71

Post by chjohasbrouck »

I think reading books is a waste of time, and I'm a little tired of people telling me I should read them.

Books are archaic, and the idea that you aren't intelligent or informed or cultured unless you read them is just pure dogma at this point.

We have internet-connected devices now. Content can be published, peer-reviewed, and disseminated to an international audience in under an hour. I can have a dialogue with the person who wrote it, ask questions and submit corrections that can be published 10 minutes later.

To me that is such a massive improvement over the old model that I no longer have any time for the old model. I don't have to wait for content from a small handful of people at a publisher in New York, and I'm extremely thankful for that.

I can appreciate some books as works of art or just for entertainment, but books are an incredibly inefficient method of pursuing knowledge and culture, and for that purpose I wouldn't recommend them to anybody.

So to answer the question posed by the title of this article: We can, we just shouldn't, which is convenient because we don't want to.

Re: Why can’t we read anymore?

#72

Post by zanny »

brandon272 wrote: post #14

I read a lot. I just happen to do most of my reading online. I don't follow the notion that what we read online by default has less value than what is available to us in books. I have learned a lot from what I've read online, whether it's long form articles, Wikipedia articles, piecemeal submissions that make up online forum/community sites or even IRC logs. The mere fact that something is available in book form is n…

Or more particularly how the online stuff can surpass the dead tree stuff. I have no desire to go to a bookstore and read "acclaimed authors" works, because once you dig enough you find the sites and the communities of authors that are constantly producing fantastic longform fiction for any genre out of passion. I am also finding (and now backing) a lot of them on things like patreon too.

Its a new medium. Its awkward to talk to some clients I have who do read the old way - because they will never hear of the authors I read, because I read hundreds of "amateur" authors who produce millions of words a year. And of course, online literature is 95% swill and 5% silver lining. It means you do get hit with a lot of underwhelming crap. But you still have the same thing predominantly happen in normal bookstores - maybe the ratio is better, but you still have to find your authors and interests all the same. And something about clicking through pages of writing online seems to beat pouring over isles of heavy tomes seeking satisfaction.

Re: Why can’t we read anymore?

#73

Post by jmccree »

noir_lord wrote: post #45
jader201 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I'll have to continually go back and re-read what I feel like I've just read." This is me. "and how I image most people read most of the time." I wish I knew if this were true. I've always felt that I have some sort of "disorder" or some form of ADHD or something that causes my mind to wander anytime I try to read a book. I'm a terribly slow reader for this reason (at least when it comes to books -- internet article…

Not for me, when I read I get lost in the book and it gets dark outside, the cats come and sleep on me, the street lights go on and I look up at 10pm and I've read half a novel. It's a sense of peace I get from few other things in life.

There's something awesome about the way you really get "into the universe" when you spend hours reading a book or binge watching a tv show. All of the events and characters are fresh in your brain and you see the connections you may have missed if there was a night's sleep and a day's work in between.

Re: Why can’t we read anymore?

#74

Post by ChuckMcM »

Fundamentally there is a sense of not wanting to 'miss' anything, I believe that was the original force behind 24hr news channels, you watched because if you didn't then something could have happened HOURS ago and you wouldn't even know it yet.

I have a slightly different problem which is reading too much. It is embarassing when you miss your stop on the train because the article you are reading has distracted you. I also am something of a completionist when it comes to books, so I find even when I don't "like" the book I'm compelled to finish it.

Re: Why can’t we read anymore?

#75

Post by rf_guy »

colechristensen wrote: post #66
borgchick wrote: post #15

I'm honestly a little surprised at some of the comments here. I thought most people on here would agree that many of us do suffer from this. I mean, how many of you actually read through the entire article, WITHOUT checking your email, or flipping to twitter/fb to tell the world about this good article you just found? I had to really force myself to read the entire article first, and not give in to that urge to get a…

I'm frequently disappointed when I do finish a web-published article to the point where I don't think there's anything wrong with skipping though most of them. Most of them are poorly written or written in a way to make money. That is * clickbait titles when the bulk of the information in the article could be summarized in the title instead * lack of introduction / thesis / abstract at the beginning summarizing or ou…

I agree here. I began to read the article but the format completely deterred me from finishing it. I assume the format was on purpose to prevent it from becoming the very thing that it was saying the people have a hard time reading. But in the end, at least for me, I had a harder time reading the choppy, repetitive wording than a well thought out set of paragraphs. I have read many books and also started many and never picked them back up. There is no reason to force yourself to read something that does not capture your attention.

Re: Why can’t we read anymore?

#76

Post by gumby »

I don't know if the author can reasonably conflate the issues he does. I often (but not always -- perhaps 50/50) "fail" to listen to a song all the way through -- but I really only did that in the album, cassette and CD days because the tech sucked. Now I can easily jump to the part I want, just listening to i.

I only listen to podcasts when trapped on a long drive. Them I tend to listen to end-to-end again because the tech sucks.

I've always found it hard to sit and watch a film, or even a youtube video, linearly. It's generally just way too slow (and occastionally too fast) and I like to be able to skip around. But the tools suck.

Books, on the other hand, are ideal. In so many I luxuriate in them, especially fiction which can be so multimedia compared to a film, generally reading linearly. Others I skip around, skipping over boring bits, coming back to them, going back to parts I loved, or just reading something interesting over and over.

It's not that "the digital" caused me to lose my ability to concentrate, rather it allowed me access to media in a way that supports my enjoyment: sometimes intense, sometimes casual, and sometimes intense just on the parts that matter. How can this be bad?

Re: Why can’t we read anymore?

#77

Post by nextos »

chjohasbrouck wrote: post #71

I think reading books is a waste of time, and I'm a little tired of people telling me I should read them. Books are archaic, and the idea that you aren't intelligent or informed or cultured unless you read them is just pure dogma at this point. We have internet-connected devices now. Content can be published, peer-reviewed, and disseminated to an international audience in under an hour. I can have a dialogue with the…

It depends. I think both have their place. Online content tends to be much shallower. But it allows you to explore a much broader content quickly.

Books tend to be deep, and good ones have gone through many iterations. Do you think you can get the ideas presented in, say, SICP or Principles of Mathematical Analysis by going through online material?

I think it may be possible, but it's actually harder.

Re: Why can’t we read anymore?

#78

Post by gregrata »

Htsthbjig wrote: post #13

This man should talk for himself. I am an avid reader. I am part of readers clubs and meetings. I don't see less people today there than 10 years ago, in fact I see way more(probably something to do with the economic crisis). The world does not end because we can read online and distract ourselves. A person does not need this for distraction, in fact just a fly making noises around you or thinking on your partner-son…

Agreed! Have to be careful with the "we". I read a couple of books a week.

Re: Why can’t we read anymore?

#79

Post by gregrata »

I've found the opposite, if you'll allow that eBooks are real books. To me, it's a golden age of books - with self publishing and eBooks, there are more books coming out ever day than ever before. I personally read AT LEAST two books a week (usually not technical - I enjoy sci-fi). I've always been a avid reader, but generally had to re-read a lot (I have about 5k physical books, to support that habit). Theses days, I'm ALWAYS reading new books. The selection is amazing, a lot of the books are very good!

Re: Why can’t we read anymore?

#80

Post by jmccree »

sukilot wrote: post #56
noir_lord wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not for me, when I read I get lost in the book and it gets dark outside, the cats come and sleep on me, the street lights go on and I look up at 10pm and I've read half a novel. It's a sense of peace I get from few other things in life.

This, or even watching a slow paced movie (the kind more common before 1990) is incredibly refreshing break from the modern distraction filled world.

As I've gotten older and have less free time and there's so much more content out there, one practice I've come to accept is reading the wikipedia page and plot synopsis for a book/movie before starting watching something. In the same way I read HN comments before deciding whether to read the original article often times. Before wikipedia I would read the last chapters of books first.

I'm more worried about my time being spoiled than the plot being spoiled, and after all a good movie/book is even better the 2nd time around. This has allowed me to commit to watching or reading things I never would have before as I'd get bored (read: worried this is a waste of my time) 10 minutes into a slow moving movie.

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