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Letting go of the idea of keeping up

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Re: Letting go of the idea of keeping up

#31

Post by voisin »

codetrotter wrote: post #27
geuis wrote: post #14

I'm in a weird position. Can anyone provide a summary of this article? I have all the time in the world to read things that are interesting (to me) and really absorb the content. But I've increasingly been noticing a "recipe article" trend with blog posts. People throw 100 words in when 10 will do. This article is an example. I've even gotten to the point with certain important blog posts where I copy paste the conte…

> Can anyone provide a summary of this article? Well that’s too much work. But here is an LLM produced summary of the text: Molly Templeton's article, "On Letting Go of the Idea of 'Keeping Up'," explores the pressures of contemporary reading culture, contrasting it with the joy of reading she experienced in childhood, symbolized by earning gold stars for each book read. She describes how, as an adult, reading has be…

So many of the same things apply to running/Strava and living/Instagram.

Re: Letting go of the idea of keeping up

#32

Post by riccardomc »

spxneo wrote: post #6
steviem wrote: post #2

I read around 150 books a year. Most of it is what I like to call "shitlit", or alternatively inconsequential literature. This does not mean I am better or worse than anyone, just that my default state is reading. Friends eventually read books when recommended them and we talk about then. Reading shouldnt be a target, it should be for enjoyment. I enjoy shitlit, but others may not.

if you read 150 books a year you are well ahead of the crowd. However it would be tough to apply all 150 books contents to real life. If you enjoy reading keep doing it. I would love to be able to read 150 books or let alone make the time for it.

I think this comment encapsulates quite exactly the point of the article: reading as a gamified chore that puts you "well ahead of the crowd" and somehow measures (or influences, even?) how successful, smart, rich, interesting, etc. you are.

Re: Letting go of the idea of keeping up

#33

Post by throwaway2037 »

One pattern that I have noticed amoungst people who work in the "letters" (writing, editing, publishing, journalism, etc.): Since their income is relatively very low for their highly skilled work (it usually requires a university degree), they cannot compete on social status (read: money/wealth). (Leave aside the many people in letters who come from a wealthy family; you will meet many of these people in Global Alpha cities, like London, NYC, Tokyo, etc.) Instead, they create a navel gazing world of intellectual status where they try to "read more than everyone else" and "have a strong opinion about everything". Thus, their peers "feel behind". I think this also well explains why the people in the letters, especially journalists, think Twitter is "so important". It is not. It is tiny echo-chamber in a massive online world.

I want to be very clear about what I wrote above: I am not criticizing the quality of their work. There are plenty of people in the letters who annoy me to no end with their navel gazing, but produce fantastic work. Please keep these two separate!

The best part of this article: She realises it is all bullshit. In short: Read what you like. And, don't worry too much about other people. Another good title for this article: "A Letter to My Younger Self".

Re: Letting go of the idea of keeping up

#34

Post by throwaway2037 »

geuis wrote: post #14

I'm in a weird position. Can anyone provide a summary of this article? I have all the time in the world to read things that are interesting (to me) and really absorb the content. But I've increasingly been noticing a "recipe article" trend with blog posts. People throw 100 words in when 10 will do. This article is an example. I've even gotten to the point with certain important blog posts where I copy paste the conte…

I need to troll a little bit here: Do you watch the whole 90 min film, or the YouTube summary in 10 mins? Or even shorter: Just the 2 mins trailer? Why do you read a whole novel instead just reading the back cover? Why read Der Speigel or The New Yorker long form journalism when you can get the summary in 90 seconds on the toilet with CNN?

Re: Letting go of the idea of keeping up

#35

Post by sleepingreset »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #33

One pattern that I have noticed amoungst people who work in the "letters" (writing, editing, publishing, journalism, etc.): Since their income is relatively very low for their highly skilled work (it usually requires a university degree), they cannot compete on social status (read: money/wealth). (Leave aside the many people in letters who come from a wealthy family; you will meet many of these people in Global Alpha…

Channel 5 is pure journalism. The gold standard, really

https://www.youtube.com/@Channel5YouTube

Re: Letting go of the idea of keeping up

#36

Post by cgriswald »

grugagag wrote: post #17
geuis wrote: post #14

I'm in a weird position. Can anyone provide a summary of this article? I have all the time in the world to read things that are interesting (to me) and really absorb the content. But I've increasingly been noticing a "recipe article" trend with blog posts. People throw 100 words in when 10 will do. This article is an example. I've even gotten to the point with certain important blog posts where I copy paste the conte…

It’s understandable and may work for you but I have the feeling it’s a bad habit. But again, if it works for you all the better.

I think it is more or less just an automation of what used to be a more manual process of reading from the outside in.

Re: Letting go of the idea of keeping up

#37

Post by throwaway2037 »

steviem wrote: post #2

I read around 150 books a year. Most of it is what I like to call "shitlit", or alternatively inconsequential literature. This does not mean I am better or worse than anyone, just that my default state is reading. Friends eventually read books when recommended them and we talk about then. Reading shouldnt be a target, it should be for enjoyment. I enjoy shitlit, but others may not.

Do you blog or keep a list? I would be nice to see what you read. I tend to only read fiction written by women. (I read enough non-fiction via the Financial Times newspaper.) As a man, it is really eye-opening to "see the other (emotional) side". Usually, the stories are much more about character development, than trying to save the world ("do something big") that I often see in fiction written by men.

Re: Letting go of the idea of keeping up

#38

Post by throwaway2037 »

deebosong wrote: post #10
steviem wrote: post #2

I read around 150 books a year. Most of it is what I like to call "shitlit", or alternatively inconsequential literature. This does not mean I am better or worse than anyone, just that my default state is reading. Friends eventually read books when recommended them and we talk about then. Reading shouldnt be a target, it should be for enjoyment. I enjoy shitlit, but others may not.

Respect. I'm gonna start using "shitlit" from hereon out. And also, there are people I respect who said they read 100+ books a year, and that you should, too. But while others in my circles were eager to jump on the train, for me, I thought it would be performative, and be about having read said 100+ books than digesting any of it. And what more, I recall that I best retain info via reading if I have skin in the game…

For "shitlit", I highly recommend novels written by Charles Bukowski. They are very funny.

Re: Letting go of the idea of keeping up

#39

Post by meristohm »

geuis wrote: post #14

I'm in a weird position. Can anyone provide a summary of this article? I have all the time in the world to read things that are interesting (to me) and really absorb the content. But I've increasingly been noticing a "recipe article" trend with blog posts. People throw 100 words in when 10 will do. This article is an example. I've even gotten to the point with certain important blog posts where I copy paste the conte…

Strikes me (in my 40s, regularly read books and sometimes full articles in magazines) as lazy. When I understood I will not be reading all the things, and that a lot of what is written is trash (to me, anyway, given my values and sense of purpose), and that books are technology that replaced oral tradition, it became a whole lot easier to be very selective about what I read. I've started many books now that, before, I'd feel compelled to finish.

You're not happy you have to do this- why do you have to do this, again?

Re: Letting go of the idea of keeping up

#40

Post by [deleted] »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #34
geuis wrote: post #14

I'm in a weird position. Can anyone provide a summary of this article? I have all the time in the world to read things that are interesting (to me) and really absorb the content. But I've increasingly been noticing a "recipe article" trend with blog posts. People throw 100 words in when 10 will do. This article is an example. I've even gotten to the point with certain important blog posts where I copy paste the conte…

I need to troll a little bit here: Do you watch the whole 90 min film, or the YouTube summary in 10 mins? Or even shorter: Just the 2 mins trailer? Why do you read a whole novel instead just reading the back cover? Why read Der Speigel or The New Yorker long form journalism when you can get the summary in 90 seconds on the toilet with CNN?

[deleted]
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