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Why Some People Become Lifelong Readers

theatlantic.com

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Re: Why Some People Become Lifelong Readers

#71

Post by TheGallopedHigh »

celticninja wrote: post #27
alexhutcheson wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The key is to just put it down and move on to another book if you’re not enjoying it. Many people have a completist attitude towards reading - they continue to slog through to the end of a book once they’ve started, even if they don’t like it. They’ll make slow progress, and it blocks them from picking up a new book. Cut your losses early - your total reading throughput will be much higher, and most nonfiction books…

I used to power through books I didn't like, just to finish them in case they were redeemed somehow. Then I realized, too many books too little time. I dropped Neal Stephenson's Anathem because of this, although I have read every other one of his books and cover to cover. It just didn't click and I didn't fancy re-reading it when it did finally click.

I did this with the much lauded sci-fi “Three body problem”. First half was good, then it took a dive for me and haven’t picked up up 3/4s of the way through.

Re: Why Some People Become Lifelong Readers

#72

Post by Filligree »

gjm11 wrote: post #66
Filligree wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should try Greg Egan's books, if you like SF at all. I think a good introduction would be Schild's Ladder or Axiomatic, but my personal favorite is the Clockwork Rocket trilogy and Dichromatic. The latter two are conceptually related. If you know about metric signatures, you'll be able to tell how. If not, well, you will.

Correction: Dichronauts , not Dichromatic . (DuckDuckGo is smart enough to find the right book; Google kinda-sorta is -- it's the first image search result but doesn't otherwise appear in the first page of results, at least for me; Amazon's search isn't.)

Right, of course. I blame gboard.

Re: Why Some People Become Lifelong Readers

#73

Post by mirimir »

detritus wrote: post #59
mirimir wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After a while, in my opinion, he just wrote the ~same novel, again and again. There's always the tough young woman. And the wimpy guy, typically a druggie. And often, the Case equivalent. But I still like them well enough.

I had this sad realisation with the last Iain M Banks book I read - Hydrogen Sonata. It was a good book, but I felt like I'd seen its skeleton at least three or four times before.

It's pretty common for creators -- authors, artists, bands, etc -- to become formulaic. To some extent, it's just pandering to their estimated audience. Also, they've typically been working on their first few works for years. And then, if they become popular, they're under pressure to produce more and more, faster and faster.

In my opinion, it works best to just write series. You can just use mostly the same characters. Matthew Stover did that well with the Caine series. I gather that he'd been working on it for at least a few years, and had been told that it was unpublishable. So he cut out a first book, and focused on action. Then another, when it sold well enough. And then, years later, after his Star Wars gig, he published the last two. They're basically a metaplot, and collection of back stories, that probably look a lot like the initial project.

Re: Why Some People Become Lifelong Readers

#74

Post by LorenPechtel »

shrumm wrote: post #45

The author talks about picking up a book as an alternative to your phone or watching TV as a post dinner activity. If anything, modern life has consolidated activities from specialised ‘things’ like radios, phones, books, TV to computing devices. I’ve been reading on my iPad and phone for years now. This makes me wonder what the impact is to kids - since they learn so much by watching you. If you pick up a book, you…

Interesting point. These days 99% of my reading is on a screen. I don't have kids to be influenced by this but it makes modern reading pretty much invisible to young kids.

Re: Why Some People Become Lifelong Readers

#75

Post by LorenPechtel »

GrayTextIsTruth wrote: post #39
akjsndkas wrote: post #32

I've never read a book. At least not a non-technical, fictional one. At school I'd just dig up a summary. Didn't stop me from getting a job at a FANG. Whenever I read, I feel like I'm wasting my time. It's slow, boring and feels superficial. Just something arbitrary someone wrote. I can't focus and get no value from it.

i wonder if your tendency to cut corners is reflected in your code (assuming you're a developer) if you've never read an RFC or grinded through technical documentation. Do you enjoy reading other people's code? >Didn't stop me from getting a job at a FANG. probably stopping you from being a top developer at a FAANG

Second this. Being a good developer means lots of reading. In the old days that was usually manuals, these days it's far more likely to be whatever Google coughs up, but I'd sure be a lot slower if I couldn't see what others said about whatever unfamiliar territory I'm trying to navigate.

Re: Why Some People Become Lifelong Readers

#76

Post by kstenerud »

darkerside wrote: post #64
kstenerud wrote: post #35

I used to read a lot and then stopped. There are things that I find more interesting these days, and I've already read the most important books about the subjects I've been interested in. There comes a point where the diminishing returns are too small. There would have to be a tectonic shift in understanding to get me interested in reading another book.

What if the tectonic shift is inside one of those books you'll never read?

What if the tectonic shift is in a place you'll never visit?

What if the tectonic shift is in a television show you'll never watch?

What if the tectonic shift is in a friend you'll never meet?

What if the tectonic shift is in a meditation you'll never do?

What if, what if, what if...

Re: Why Some People Become Lifelong Readers

#77

Post by darkerside »

kstenerud wrote: post #76
darkerside wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if the tectonic shift is inside one of those books you'll never read?

What if the tectonic shift is in a place you'll never visit? What if the tectonic shift is in a television show you'll never watch? What if the tectonic shift is in a friend you'll never meet? What if the tectonic shift is in a meditation you'll never do? What if, what if, what if...

> There would have to be a tectonic shift in understanding to get me interested in reading another book.

Maybe I misunderstood this. I thought you meant that you would need a mindset change before you would be willing to consider reading another book. In that case, suggesting that you may never get that shift without reading is a bit of irony (a Catch-22 if you will).

However, if you meant that you wouldn't read a book unless you knew there were some kind of major insight on it for you, then: 1) my statement probably did come off as trite to the point of deserving sarcasm, and 2) I feel bad that your mind is so closed to considering new opportunities.

Re: Why Some People Become Lifelong Readers

#78

Post by kstenerud »

darkerside wrote: post #77
kstenerud wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if the tectonic shift is in a place you'll never visit? What if the tectonic shift is in a television show you'll never watch? What if the tectonic shift is in a friend you'll never meet? What if the tectonic shift is in a meditation you'll never do? What if, what if, what if...

> There would have to be a tectonic shift in understanding to get me interested in reading another book. Maybe I misunderstood this. I thought you meant that you would need a mindset change before you would be willing to consider reading another book. In that case, suggesting that you may never get that shift without reading is a bit of irony (a Catch-22 if you will). However, if you meant that you wouldn't read a bo…

You're still being condescending. Re-read your last line.

My point is that opportunities are everywhere and never stop coming, and so one must invariably pick and choose where they'll look. It generally makes for a calmer life to not get too worked up over FOMO, because it's incredibly rare to miss out on anything really important in the grand scheme of one's life.

Re: Why Some People Become Lifelong Readers

#79

Post by cgriswald »

Filligree wrote: post #46
cgriswald wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a crapshoot. I’m fortunate in that my mother is a prolific reader. I am too, but she makes me look illiterate. She consumes a ridiculous number of books a year. Lots of it is crap. Some isn’t, and she’s always recommended those ones to me, keeping in mind my own interests. Over the years I’ve met a few others who I trust to recommend books. But most people, even professional reviewers, just don’t work for me. T…

You should try Greg Egan's books, if you like SF at all. I think a good introduction would be Schild's Ladder or Axiomatic, but my personal favorite is the Clockwork Rocket trilogy and Dichromatic. The latter two are conceptually related. If you know about metric signatures, you'll be able to tell how. If not, well, you will.

Thanks for the suggestion. Very appreciated!
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