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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

#61

Post by rdlw »

imgabe wrote: post #58

I think the Goodreads challenge is silly. Every year I set it to one book. I'm already beating it by 600%! Why create fake tasks to stress yourself out? Reading should be enjoyable, not a chore. And not all books are created equal. If you spend all year reading Remembrance of Things Past is that bad because you only read one book instead of reading 50 forgettable pop psychology business book of the month books? I don…

I create fake tasks to stress myself out and compel myself to do things that make me feel better in the long run. I don't use Goodreads but I've been trying to read 20-24 books this year (I'm on track for 20). Obviously word count can drastically change the difficulty of this, but I'm not worrying about it since I know what I'm reading—if I only end up with 15 in December, but one of them is War and Peace, I'll still feel like I accomplished my goal.

Knowing that I'm a week behind or whatever tells me that I've been focusing on things that don't make me as happy as reading books does, and I should make an effort to spend less of my day watching YouTube and more of it reading books (that's what I spent that time on, not reading Proust).

I don't think I'd call it stress, I think anxiety is a more accurate term, but it's a helpful form of anxiety. I've also been reading with friends on a schedule, and the anxiety of having to be ready for our next meeting makes me read more too. Again, I find it really useful and it's made me generally happier day-to-day.

Re: Letting go of the idea of keeping up

#63

Post by tsunamifury »

rdlw wrote: post #61
imgabe wrote: post #58

I think the Goodreads challenge is silly. Every year I set it to one book. I'm already beating it by 600%! Why create fake tasks to stress yourself out? Reading should be enjoyable, not a chore. And not all books are created equal. If you spend all year reading Remembrance of Things Past is that bad because you only read one book instead of reading 50 forgettable pop psychology business book of the month books? I don…

I create fake tasks to stress myself out and compel myself to do things that make me feel better in the long run. I don't use Goodreads but I've been trying to read 20-24 books this year (I'm on track for 20). Obviously word count can drastically change the difficulty of this, but I'm not worrying about it since I know what I'm reading—if I only end up with 15 in December, but one of them is War and Peace, I'll still…

It has it actually benefited you?

I’ve found hat most books are roundly useless in application — which is fine if you are having fun. But if you’re not your just wasting time.

Re: Letting go of the idea of keeping up

#64

Post by tsunamifury »

pas wrote: post #49
Animats wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Okay, I saw Pikkety's Capital on a different friend's bookshelf. He has some good things to say, but he wrote more than he had to to say them. That book is too big.

And likely it's simply wrong. https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2023/12/th... ( https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/inequality-might-be-going-down... ) > That book is too big. Most non-fiction books are best "consumed" by watching a few talks or podcast episodes by the author(s) and a few others by critics.

I live in Pacific Heights, likely one of the top 5 richest neighborhoods in the world. Let me tell you this really directly… inequality is not going down, these people just have no fucking clue how extreme it’s become because they aren’t amoung it and keep comparing terrible datasets that completely lack the outlier data that makes up most of the extreme inequality.

And pacific heights won’t come up at the top 5 richest neighborhoods in the world because the data publicaly available is crap… you need to see know and run in the circles to see how much shadow wealth is going around

Re: Letting go of the idea of keeping up

#65

Post by dmje »

This sort of gamification is so widespread. It makes perfect sense to me in some areas, but in others (reading being one), it doesn’t at all. Reading is so personal and so important to savour, that the idea of “getting through the book” just seems to run counter to the whole spirit.

I’ve got a massive stack of books that I want to read and I feel some frustration sometimes that I can’t get through them quicker, because I want to read more! But this is an internal metric and not one I’ve ever compared to anything or anyone else.

I’m a fiction reader mainly; maybe this sense isn’t the case if I had a stack of business books? I don’t know.

Re: Letting go of the idea of keeping up

#66

Post by tsunamifury »

noduerme wrote: post #60

Social media has scrambled people's minds so badly. In the past, only narcissists and sociopaths needed to spend their time building a public image of themselves and checking in to see what people thought about it. Scoring yourself with stars or notches for the books you read - or like my dad, a box of donuts every time he slept with a new woman - that's some fucked up abnormal unhealthy shit. What this shows is that…

I think you might find this helpful: https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2019/2/19/status-as-a-service

Re: Letting go of the idea of keeping up

#67

Post by dmje »

SeriousM wrote: post #57

Reading is part of my daily job, my education path, and in my free time. Even here on HN (ignoring the fact that the internet is no book). I have so many open tabs in my browser with articles I want to read because I see value in reading them eventually, but I can't keep up with all the new content that gets produced. Then I read the article with different eyes, the eyes of a youtube consumer. I have a huuuuge list o…

I liked Oliver Burkeman on this with his “too many needles” idea [0].

Personally, I hoard a bunch of stuff using Omnivore and then on a semi regular basis I go through that and just throw away 90% of it. I find this two stage process useful: stage 1 is gathering All The Things, stage 2 is after a while sifting and keeping only the stuff I’m really interested in. Ultimately though, I try nowadays to apply a Buddhist angle on it: I hold all this stuff very lightly, knowing that it’s as close to infinite as makes no difference, and letting it go!

[0] https://www.oliverburkeman.com/river

Re: Letting go of the idea of keeping up

#68

Post by gloryjulio »

starkparker wrote: post #51

At one of my jobs the entire team read at least a book a week, often more and seemingly non-stop. Every standup started with every person talking about what we'd read that week. I'd never been a huge longform reader (more like a book a month, at best) and rarely had anything to contribute. Sometimes I'd say "our documentation" because that's what I'd been working on, and when I wasn't working _I wasn't reading_ becau…

I would change job unless the pay is extremely good. This is almost about privacy invasion. Why do they care so much people do at their own time?

Re: Letting go of the idea of keeping up

#69

Post by rpcope1 »

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.

You know, this whole idea of applying what you read to your own life, even if it's good literature is really funny. I've been rereading a lot of southern gothic lit, and thinking about applying Wise Blood or Confederacy of Dunces to guide my life actually seems kind of hilarious (even though O'Connor especially has some interesting commentary packed in her works).

Re: Letting go of the idea of keeping up

#70

Post by vasco »

starkparker wrote: post #51

At one of my jobs the entire team read at least a book a week, often more and seemingly non-stop. Every standup started with every person talking about what we'd read that week. I'd never been a huge longform reader (more like a book a month, at best) and rarely had anything to contribute. Sometimes I'd say "our documentation" because that's what I'd been working on, and when I wasn't working _I wasn't reading_ becau…

I'll be honest, they sound rude for laughing behind your back, but I really disagree with the notion that you're reading "as much" by reading some reddit articles or docs pages.

People who keep up a book per week or month ALSO read those things. I've found many people that don't read have this notion that just going on reddit for an hour a day "is the same thing", but it's nothing like sitting down and properly diving into long form.

That being said nobody should feel bad for not doing it. It's like running a marathon, don't say it's the same because you go for a walk with the dog, but nobody should be expected to run one.

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