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I Went from Reading 40 Books a Year to Reading 0

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Re: I Went from Reading 40 Books a Year to Reading 0

#21

Post by giraffe_lady »

t-3 wrote: post #19
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #9

I had a very ambivalent reaction to this blog post. Most importantly, I find the author's relationship to reading quite odd. Basically, all he talks about is reading self-help books. Not really any reading for pleasure, nor does he discuss reading to learn about other non-self-help related topics that might interest him, just for learning's sake. So he seems to approach reading primarily from a "how is this going to…

Reading too much fiction also leads to diminishing returns. The number of works that can be considered of high quality is not infinite, and it diminishes exponentially in relation to the number of books read. After a few hundred or thousand, fiction will be like cigarettes - forestalling a craving but providing little to no pleasure.

Yeah I mean if I find out someone has read a thousand novels I'm not going to judge them about what they choose to read next.

Though actually. Stopping to think about it now for the first time I think I'm about there at this point. It has definitely changed what sorts of books I seek out and what I expect to get from them. But I still find reading fiction rewarding.

Re: I Went from Reading 40 Books a Year to Reading 0

#22

Post by dyauspitr »

churchill wrote: post #7

I needed to hear this: I have an ever-growing list of books I want to read, with topics ranging from the Mossad, to drug trafficking in Southeast Asia, to how to build better habits, to political theory, and some history. A few days ago, I tried but failed to remember the name of a (main) character from Narcotopia. When I'm reading, I'm so immersed in the story that I feel I'm living it. It brings me immense pleasure…

Don’t bother studying most of them. The value is the fun you had along the way and being immersed in the world like you just mentioned.

Re: I Went from Reading 40 Books a Year to Reading 0

#23

Post by pessimizer »

t-3 wrote: post #19
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #9

I had a very ambivalent reaction to this blog post. Most importantly, I find the author's relationship to reading quite odd. Basically, all he talks about is reading self-help books. Not really any reading for pleasure, nor does he discuss reading to learn about other non-self-help related topics that might interest him, just for learning's sake. So he seems to approach reading primarily from a "how is this going to…

Reading too much fiction also leads to diminishing returns. The number of works that can be considered of high quality is not infinite, and it diminishes exponentially in relation to the number of books read. After a few hundred or thousand, fiction will be like cigarettes - forestalling a craving but providing little to no pleasure.

You can get pleasure from reading things other than fiction. I agree, though, that stories of made-up people that aren't intended to illustrate any particular idea are as profound as a series of random numbers.

Re: I Went from Reading 40 Books a Year to Reading 0

#24

Post by Freak_NL »

giraffe_lady wrote: post #15
pierot wrote: post #10

Please read more fiction. Why should everything be about becoming a 'better' person? Why not enjoy a good story? Unconsciously you will learn something, even from fiction.

Yeah exactly. I guessed pretty early that the books he was reading were productivity-branded self help and pop science. These can be fun but 2-3 per decade is probably plenty.

At 40 non-fiction books per year I'd throw in the towel too.

Fiction on the other hand… I think I average 40 a year without it being an effort at all. Just read a bit in bed before sleeping and on holidays. That's not an abnormal number for anyone who reads for leisure.

Was the author conflating the two? I can't imagine properly processing the contents of 40 non-fiction books in a year.

Re: I Went from Reading 40 Books a Year to Reading 0

#25

Post by hobs »

giraffe_lady wrote: post #21
t-3 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reading too much fiction also leads to diminishing returns. The number of works that can be considered of high quality is not infinite, and it diminishes exponentially in relation to the number of books read. After a few hundred or thousand, fiction will be like cigarettes - forestalling a craving but providing little to no pleasure.

Yeah I mean if I find out someone has read a thousand novels I'm not going to judge them about what they choose to read next. Though actually. Stopping to think about it now for the first time I think I'm about there at this point. It has definitely changed what sorts of books I seek out and what I expect to get from them. But I still find reading fiction rewarding.

I have read significantly more than a thousand novels, and there's so much granularity, so much variation in voices, so many weird thoughts to explore.

I worked in a video store for years and watched many thousands of movies as well, and while I am almost completely burnt out of watching movies because there's so little innovation going on I could not imagine that being applied to books, the direct interaction with someone else's mind is too interesting.

The only problem with modern books is there's so much trash along with the treasure, there's never been a lower bar for self publishing.

Re: I Went from Reading 40 Books a Year to Reading 0

#26

Post by retskrad »

For those who didn’t grow up reading and spent years doom-scrolling social media, becoming a good enough reader with decent comprehension takes real effort. You have to accept rereading, losing focus, and the frustration that comes with it. But after about 200 hours of reading opinion pieces over the course of a year, it has now become enjoyable and even addictive, offering deeper insights into life. Social media is now empty calories. I get why most people don’t read. Reading is a skill and like any other you need to actively develop that skill. Scrolling social media takes no effort.

Re: I Went from Reading 40 Books a Year to Reading 0

#27

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

t-3 wrote: post #19
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #9

I had a very ambivalent reaction to this blog post. Most importantly, I find the author's relationship to reading quite odd. Basically, all he talks about is reading self-help books. Not really any reading for pleasure, nor does he discuss reading to learn about other non-self-help related topics that might interest him, just for learning's sake. So he seems to approach reading primarily from a "how is this going to…

Reading too much fiction also leads to diminishing returns. The number of works that can be considered of high quality is not infinite, and it diminishes exponentially in relation to the number of books read. After a few hundred or thousand, fiction will be like cigarettes - forestalling a craving but providing little to no pleasure.

While I don't agree with your premise (I think there are plenty of high quality fiction books out there such that if you read 20-40 a year you could read pretty much only great fiction for a lifetime), more importantly is that I'm not talking just about fiction.

Why not read into a nonfiction topic just for interest's sake, like a layman's accessible book on quantum physics, or the battles of WWII, or the development of Western music, or whatever topic makes one just go "Hmm, that's cool, I want to find out more about that."

Re: I Went from Reading 40 Books a Year to Reading 0

#28

Post by zeroonetwothree »

t-3 wrote: post #19
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #9

I had a very ambivalent reaction to this blog post. Most importantly, I find the author's relationship to reading quite odd. Basically, all he talks about is reading self-help books. Not really any reading for pleasure, nor does he discuss reading to learn about other non-self-help related topics that might interest him, just for learning's sake. So he seems to approach reading primarily from a "how is this going to…

Reading too much fiction also leads to diminishing returns. The number of works that can be considered of high quality is not infinite, and it diminishes exponentially in relation to the number of books read. After a few hundred or thousand, fiction will be like cigarettes - forestalling a craving but providing little to no pleasure.

I've read over 1,000 novels and I still find many high quality works I haven't read. They do make more of them each year, you know...

So yes it's obviously not infinite, but I imagine it's at least 10,000 and that's enough for anyone.

Re: I Went from Reading 40 Books a Year to Reading 0

#29

Post by vundercind »

t-3 wrote: post #19
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #9

I had a very ambivalent reaction to this blog post. Most importantly, I find the author's relationship to reading quite odd. Basically, all he talks about is reading self-help books. Not really any reading for pleasure, nor does he discuss reading to learn about other non-self-help related topics that might interest him, just for learning's sake. So he seems to approach reading primarily from a "how is this going to…

Reading too much fiction also leads to diminishing returns. The number of works that can be considered of high quality is not infinite, and it diminishes exponentially in relation to the number of books read. After a few hundred or thousand, fiction will be like cigarettes - forestalling a craving but providing little to no pleasure.

Here I am despairing at the 90-95% of Bloom’s Western Canon list that I bet I’d love and find moving and sublime, and would each form a new little piece of me, but am definitely never going to get to, and that’s not even close to a list of all the excellent books that exist (mostly, but not all, fiction in that case) given its explicitly limited scope and the implicit limits from its having been assembled by one person (and perhaps a few of his students, IDK, but seems likely)

Unless all one does is read fiction, I don’t think hitting seriously diminishing returns or running out of top-tier material are likely problems. Mere mortals with other interests and hobbies who achieve low-tens of books a year, and not all in that meaty very-high-quality bunch, need not worry.

Re: I Went from Reading 40 Books a Year to Reading 0

#30

Post by HumblyTossed »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #9

I had a very ambivalent reaction to this blog post. Most importantly, I find the author's relationship to reading quite odd. Basically, all he talks about is reading self-help books. Not really any reading for pleasure, nor does he discuss reading to learn about other non-self-help related topics that might interest him, just for learning's sake. So he seems to approach reading primarily from a "how is this going to…

> As we know only too well, reading books is considered the fundamental ingredient for moving from mental inferiority to inspiring intelligence.

I stopped right there.

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