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The Need to Read

wsj.com

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Re: The Need to Read

#81

Post by tristanho »

pnathan wrote: post #77
tristanho wrote: post #73

Very insightful article. I find it crazy how few people I know read. Successful people seem to unanimously agree with the article that books are "one of the best ways to engage with the world, become a better person and understand life’s questions, big and small". From Warren Buffett[0] to patio11[1] to Bill Gates[2] to Patrick/John Collison [3][4] it seems incredibly rare to find a successful investor/CEO/founder wh…

I read a good deal more than my peer group; my current reading queue is more measured in feet at this pages, and I expect to get through it . I'm radically uninterested in 'social' or 'web' as it pertains to reading. A command line tool that interacts with org-mode to take notes and serve as a memex UI would be useful to manage sourcing and linkage of ideas.

I agree with your point on 'social' (although perhaps not 'web' ha), GoodReads seems to have the social end of reading pretty well fleshed out.

What's not really solved right now, imo, is the organization of what you're reading and what to read next. Goodreads does a pretty awful job of this. A command line tool is definitely interesting! Although you wouldn't be able to access your "reading list" from a phone/anywhere. I find a lot of the time while on the go someone tells me about a book and I want to save it for later immediately.

Re: The Need to Read

#83

Post by bobrocket »

vinceguidry wrote: post #25

I've moved most of my reading activity from books to long-form journalism articles, Stratfor, HN, and Quora. That said, books have not completely left my life. There's a certain cross-section of really really smart people, who encode their ideas only in books. These ideas are foundational, they provide the bedrock on which I understand the rest of it. These ideas, you think you've read half a book and gotten the gist…

I find the only nonfiction books I read are practically textbooks on software, physics, or engineering. That said fiction can present new ideas like no other. They change the way you see the world.

I do as you do, reading slowly and focusing on each chapter. I read the chapter and hand write a summary afterwards to allow myself to reflect on everything and ingrain what I have read. This is not be a quick process, but I enjoy it and try my best to improve my poor writing.

I envy the leisure of older generations where entertainment was reading and writing. From my experience the crisp writing of the past has morphed into ambiguity. I can't help but think constant TV, phone, and internet hinders our writing.

Re: The Need to Read

#84

Post by truth_sentinell »

udkl wrote: post #75
rukuu001 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're reading for previously unknown info, that's great. I think though that some books have a large potential benefit (I'm thinking of Mindset right now) because they spend a few 10's of thousands of words changing your mind . Summaries won't have the same effect.

Since you mention mindset, here are Derek's notes on the book : https://sivers.org/book/Mindset The central idea of the book is revealed in it's description on Amazon : Dweck shows how success in school, work, sports, the arts, and almost every area of human endeavor can be dramatically influenced by how we approach our goals. People with a fixed mindset—those who believe that abilities are fixed—are far less likely…

Those random sentences without a context seem like a waste of time IMO. They'd definitely help if you read the book though.

Re: The Need to Read

#85

Post by truth_sentinell »

dominotw wrote: post #8
codingdave wrote: post #4

I agree with the gist of this article, but it feels like the details are trying too hard. Books are great, and do add value to your life and help you educate yourself. But the improvements they make in your life are not automatic - you need to actively engage with the content. Neither are they unique - if you engage with meaningful content, of any kind, you can learn and improve yourself. Books are wonderful. But the…

> Neither are they unique - if you engage with meaningful content, of any kind, you can learn and improve yourself. Youtube has been godsend for me last couple of years. It exposed my own ignorance about how little I knew about the world. Now I usually type in 'BBC documentary' into youtube every night and watch it in bed. Also helps me get rid of some of the self-centered pre-bed anxiety.

I had planned that. Watch a documentary every day (most of them are one hour and a half long, that's the time you probably waste scrolling on facebook anyways, so imagine investing it on knowledge. 365 in a year are going to shift your perspectives 720 degrees.

Re: The Need to Read

#86

Post by truth_sentinell »

lobotryas wrote: post #12
dominotw wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Neither are they unique - if you engage with meaningful content, of any kind, you can learn and improve yourself. Youtube has been godsend for me last couple of years. It exposed my own ignorance about how little I knew about the world. Now I usually type in 'BBC documentary' into youtube every night and watch it in bed. Also helps me get rid of some of the self-centered pre-bed anxiety.

I hope you use f.lux or something similar if you're in front of a screen before going to bed. Otherwise the blue light from the monitor is likely doing your sleep more harm than watching the documentary.

Actually the harm to your sleep is done when using your computer in the night, rather than specifically in bed with your lights off.

Re: The Need to Read

#87

Post by truth_sentinell »

footpath wrote: post #16
blahi wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Self-help books is philosophy for the feeble minded.

There is a quote from one of Roger Ebert's movie reviews: "No one with a feeling for literature and poetry can read the typical best-selling business or self-help book with a straight face, because their six rules or nine plans or 12 formulas are so manifestly idiotic, and couched in prose of such insulting simplicity."

I find most poetry manifestly idiotic as the self-help books.

The reason self-help books are written the way they are written, is because that's all there's to it. They have a formula that's pretty logical and people find it "idiotic" because in the inside, they already know what they have to do, yet for some reason they resort to these books.

I mean, for example, any given how to startup book: - Find a problem - Develop an idea to solve a problem - Get your hands dirty

Abstractly, that's pretty much it. There may be some other insights, but in general, that's what you get. Again, most people, by common sense already know that, but they keep reading self-help books. I have yet to find the reason.

Re: The Need to Read

#88

Post by truth_sentinell »

footpath wrote: post #16
blahi wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Self-help books is philosophy for the feeble minded.

There is a quote from one of Roger Ebert's movie reviews: "No one with a feeling for literature and poetry can read the typical best-selling business or self-help book with a straight face, because their six rules or nine plans or 12 formulas are so manifestly idiotic, and couched in prose of such insulting simplicity."

I find most poetry manifestly idiotic as the self-help books.

The reason self-help books are written the way they are written, is because that's all there's to it. They have a formula that's pretty logical and people find it "idiotic" because in the inside, they already know what they have to do, yet for some reason they resort to these books.

I mean, for example, any given how to startup book: - Find a problem - Develop an idea to solve a problem - Get your hands dirty

Abstractly, that's pretty much it. There may be some other insights, but in general, that's what you get. Again, most people, by common sense already know that, but they keep reading self-help books. I have yet to find the reason.

Re: The Need to Read

#89

Post by niix »

Maybe off topic, but any advice on getting better at reading? I find myself to have too short of an attention span and end up dropping bookings quickly.

Re: The Need to Read

#90

Post by paulryanrogers »

niix wrote: post #89

Maybe off topic, but any advice on getting better at reading? I find myself to have too short of an attention span and end up dropping bookings quickly.

Some popular fiction may help establish a reading habit. Hopefully one that will mature into more substantive material.
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