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I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

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Re: I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

#201

Post by odysseus »

hyperjeff wrote: post #197
sibeliuss wrote: post #144

For me its easy: Sitting on the computer reading makes me feel depressed. Reading books makes me feel happy. And so I've gradually reduced my footprint on the internet to basically zero -- no social media, only a few sites (mostly HN) bookmarked -- in an effort to make the internet less of a thing. It's working. Sometimes I'm staring at my screen and I have no clue what to even do or where to go, and I close it and t…

Same experience for me. Viewing screens, with their unnatural light and uncanny hyperrealism, rattle my nervous system, and I can feel a subtle internal fight in my brain about what I’m doing. Somehow it’s also easy to get trapped, like you get magnetized. I see this in everyone. It can sometimes cause arguments trying to get someone to break the spell and have them reengage with the world. It’s not just the normal a…

Agree with your second paragraph, but for some books, I've gotten too used to being able to look up words/topics directly from the ebook. I find myself annoyed I can't long press a word with a physical book.

I then end up grabbing my phone and looking up the word/topic, and then it's back to the electronic device that I was trying to get away from with the paper book.

Re: I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

#202

Post by theonething »

padobson wrote: post #168
sibeliuss wrote: post #144

For me its easy: Sitting on the computer reading makes me feel depressed. Reading books makes me feel happy. And so I've gradually reduced my footprint on the internet to basically zero -- no social media, only a few sites (mostly HN) bookmarked -- in an effort to make the internet less of a thing. It's working. Sometimes I'm staring at my screen and I have no clue what to even do or where to go, and I close it and t…

+1 for getting away from the screen. I've stopped buying eBooks for exactly this reason. A glass of wine or bourbon and a book with a soft lamp is a much better way to power down at the end of the day then doom scrolling or vegetating to Netflix. It is a lonely thing though, so YMMV when considering your spouse or roommates.

Something I like about ebooks though is the ability to change font size and other things. My eye sight is not that great even with glasses so I've found the ability to change font size to my liking and comfort indispensable.

When I read an ebook, I still feel a marked difference (overall much more relaxing and better) than reading a web page.

Re: I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

#203

Post by dieselgate »

Interesting to see this on HN as we're all encouraged to read the post before commenting here but it's certainly relevant. Some articles are so fascinating I can't help but read them - for example discoveries that push back the "known date of human arrival to ${location}" or whatever. Maybe OP is experiencing exhaustion of the screen medium, which if the case hope you are able to do what works best for you reading-wise!

Re: I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

#204

Post by odysseus »

thumbelina wrote: post #155
vorpalhex wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been on a kick of reading parenting books. I do a thing when I read where I fact check books when I read them (only things which are claims, usually only if cited or very specific). Out of 7 or 8 books, only a minority have passed without deep deep factual errors. One specific one comes to mind - a book on "Danish Parenting" that cited a monkey study about kids and peer groups. I looked up the original study and…

Any parenting books you recommend? Thanks!

"Potty Training in 3 Days"

Worked for my children. Saved us a bunch of money on diapers as they were both ready and asking to use the potty at slightly over 2 years old.

Re: I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

#205

Post by wrycoder »

radu_floricica wrote: post #147
runjake wrote: post #125

I feel the opposite. I'm reading fewer non-fiction books and more articles and blog posts. Non-fiction books are bloated with fluff to increase the page count to increase the perceived marketability of the book. A lot of the ideas presented in those books could be adequately presented in a 10th of the number of pages. A huge time-saver has been reading the article versions of stuff that has been turned into a book. Y…

This, 10 times. I have such good blogs in my inbox, with easily the quality of the best books I could read, and I don't even have time to go though them. And I don't see any that I'd like to remove - if anything, I'm sure I could easily add to them if I go through each one's blogroll. The last non-fiction books on the other hand were huge disappointments. Even Daniel Kahneman, to my surprise: Noise had a good idea an…

Huh. I can’t take AstralCodexTen, because it’s so long-winded!

Re: I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

#206

Post by odysseus »

jventura wrote: post #69
levesque wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every medium has its gold nuggets. A lot of podcasts are garbage, even amongst the ones with interesting topics -- nothing more than a few bros hanging out and improvising on a topic with a little preparation. There are some very high quality podcasts in the mix, and the same is true of non-fiction books.

One podcast I really like is The Art of Manliness podcast [0]. I learn about a lot of interesting topics and get good book recommendations from it. All episodes are interviews with book authors regarding a specific book. Brett, the interviewer, seems to be very well prepared for the questions and the conversation has always a good pace with every episode mostly under 50 minutes. [0] https://www.artofmanliness.com/pod…

This podcast is a good way to get the gist of a book directly from the author in 50 minutes without having to actually read through the whole (padded) slog.

I learned about a simple way to improve my balance on the last episode I listened to: stand on one foot while brushing your teeth. Is this manly? I'm not sure.

Re: I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

#207

Post by wpietri »

azemetre wrote: post #196
cryptos wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A good example for such a bloated book is "Clean Architecture" by Robert C. Martin. The ideas of the book are more or less completely explained in a single blog post or one of his talks (about 1 hour), but the book has a few hundred pages (432) where he delves into history and talks to you about how he used archaic computers 40 years ago (to render himself as a veteran and to underline some point in the main text). A…

Have you read the packtpub book? I'm very weary on buying from that publisher as I gotten burned too many times. IME they are often both poorly written and horridly incorrect. This was around 2018-ish so maybe they've gotten better but they definitely have the "self publish" stigma with little editorial guidance in my view. Not saying this is the case here, as the other looks decent and has a history of writing conte…

Oh wow, I have a special hatred for them. I bought one thing from them and then spent years trying to get off their email lists. It took me something like 12 separate email requests (plus who knows how many times clicking on unsubscribe links). As a company they are dead to me.

Re: I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

#208

Post by muffinman26 »

mcdonje wrote: post #80
FlyingSnake wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am still not over how spectacularly that TV series imploded into nothingness.

I don't get the hate for the ending. I think a lot of the criticisms missed the point. Everyone wanted a person who was consistently going mad over the course of the story to take the throne.

I think the disconnect here is that first few books/season of A Song of Ice and Fire set up the reader/viewer to expect a downer ending. They are engaging specifically because they break conventions by killing off so many of the protagonists.

In a traditional story a happy ending is satisfying because it fulfils expectations, but in A Song of Ice and Fire the 'happy' ending manages to leave the viewer hanging because it breaks the implicit promise of the first few seasons. I fully expected (and wanted) the series to end with the last human dying as the dragons face off against the White Walkers.

Re: I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

#209

Post by DoingSomeThings »

allturtles wrote: post #182
runjake wrote: post #125

I feel the opposite. I'm reading fewer non-fiction books and more articles and blog posts. Non-fiction books are bloated with fluff to increase the page count to increase the perceived marketability of the book. A lot of the ideas presented in those books could be adequately presented in a 10th of the number of pages. A huge time-saver has been reading the article versions of stuff that has been turned into a book. Y…

> Non-fiction books are bloated with fluff to increase the page count to increase the perceived marketability of the book. This applies to many non-fiction best-sellers in the self-help and pop science categories, but is very unfair as a generalization about non-fiction. (And bloat is not restricted to non-fiction, either: do we really need 10,000 pages of Wheel of Time or Stormlight Archive?). I'm looking at my book…

Re "Epic Fantasy"

I'm a recent fan and discovered I enjoy the worlds. I find them engrossing. imo Sanderson could cut down 10-20% (Rhythm of War in particular suffered from length). But, I did appreciate his own defense of length in the genre.

https://www.tor.com/2014/03/04/words-of-radiance-and-the-art...

His insight seems to boil down to

1. Treat it as multiple books if you prefer. 2. "I get the chance to write what I enjoy. I understand it's not for everyone. That doesn't bother me."

Re: I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

#210

Post by Aaronstotle »

keiferski wrote: post #174
runjake wrote: post #125

I feel the opposite. I'm reading fewer non-fiction books and more articles and blog posts. Non-fiction books are bloated with fluff to increase the page count to increase the perceived marketability of the book. A lot of the ideas presented in those books could be adequately presented in a 10th of the number of pages. A huge time-saver has been reading the article versions of stuff that has been turned into a book. Y…

I don’t know exactly when it happened, but nonfiction books have become 80% filler with a few dozen pages of worthwhile ideas. This didn’t use to be the case and if you read a popular book from say, 1910, they are often too information sense.

I've been a huge fan of Erik Larson's book because he writes non-fiction in a very exciting ways where it doesn't feel like filler.

The Splendid & the Vile was the most enjoyable book of his imo.

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