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How I Consume Books

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Re: How I Consume Books

#81

Post by louhike »

alexhutcheson wrote: post #50
moab wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely agree. Unfortunately this kind of "always optimizing" viewpoint seems to have spread like a virus over this past decade. It is sometimes difficult to remember that spending time to read/understand things slowly is not a waste of time, but an important way to appreciate the work of a master in a way that speeding through it at 1.5x on an audiobook simply will not provide. Do we speed-walk through the Louvre…

> Do we speed-walk through the Louvre to see the masterpieces as quickly as possible? This cracked me up, because I actually did that. I only had a couple hours, and the size of the museum is almost overwhelming.

We often say in France that it's better to look at what part of the Louvre are of the most interest to you and only go to these ones. Even spending several hours in a row is no use as you will probably be tired in the end and won't appreciate what you'll see.

Re: How I Consume Books

#82

Post by TeMPOraL »

wildleaf wrote: post #16
nostalgk wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Reading any good book and fully understanding it takes a lot more than a simple once-through hearing. Sure, you might catch the themes and be able to have a water cooler conversation, but the best books are the ones that aren't page turners; ones that you spend all night on, and only make it through 20 pages. Besides, when I read something really good, like Hitchhiker's Guide, I usually flip it over and star…

The idea that consuming fiction is a waste of time always irks me. The entire concept of 'wasting time' is so contrived it makes my stomach churn. It reminds me of people who become a doctor for the money. You're mistaking the game for reality.. play whichever game you want but make sure you're doing it for the right reasons.

> It reminds me of people who become a doctor for the money.

The flip side of that is that the career you want to be in very rarely looks like advertised; people going in for the money are the ones who end up the least disillusioned when they enter the job market.

Re: How I Consume Books

#84

Post by asark »

hawski wrote: post #33
nostalgk wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Reading any good book and fully understanding it takes a lot more than a simple once-through hearing. Sure, you might catch the themes and be able to have a water cooler conversation, but the best books are the ones that aren't page turners; ones that you spend all night on, and only make it through 20 pages. Besides, when I read something really good, like Hitchhiker's Guide, I usually flip it over and star…

I know that I'm in minority, but could you tell me what do you find great about Hitchhiker's Guide? I find it ok-ish. It feels overly chaotic for me. Like it really tries to wave the idea of improbability at me and eventually shove it. Of course everything is exaggerated for comedic effects, but for me it's like it tries too hard. The result is very incoherent. It reminds me of a few movies I enjoyed dearly when I wa…

Books that set out to be comedy don't really work for me. HHGTTG is probably the best I've read but even that was just... tolerable. Biggest laughs I've had came from "normal" fiction, sprinkled in here and there. Dickens is good at that. Best laugh I've had from a book may have been from a set up chapter followed by a punchline first sentence of the next in Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora, a book that's otherwise occasionally funny but not at all a comedy. I had to put it down for a while to stop laughing.

By contrast, comedy's almost the only thing that works for me in silent film. And not just the slapstick (though that's great) but also visual-narrative comedy. That and mind-blowingly-large-scale spectacle, like the epics usually manage for some part of their runtime. Serious, personal drama? Nope. Books or talkies for that.

Re: How I Consume Books

#85

Post by richardthered »

hawski wrote: post #33
nostalgk wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Reading any good book and fully understanding it takes a lot more than a simple once-through hearing. Sure, you might catch the themes and be able to have a water cooler conversation, but the best books are the ones that aren't page turners; ones that you spend all night on, and only make it through 20 pages. Besides, when I read something really good, like Hitchhiker's Guide, I usually flip it over and star…

I know that I'm in minority, but could you tell me what do you find great about Hitchhiker's Guide? I find it ok-ish. It feels overly chaotic for me. Like it really tries to wave the idea of improbability at me and eventually shove it. Of course everything is exaggerated for comedic effects, but for me it's like it tries too hard. The result is very incoherent. It reminds me of a few movies I enjoyed dearly when I wa…

It's comedy. Most sci-fi and fantasy novels are serious, so having a comedic bent is unusual, which is interesting.

Beyond that, though, comedy itself can be interesting because it looks at life from a different perspective. Much of comedy is based around the idea of looking at the mundane aspects of life, and getting a fresh perspective.

Why do we drive on 'parkways' but park on 'driveways'? etc.

We have governments, and bureaucracy in our daily lives.

What would that look like if you extended that concept to an intergalatic civilization? You'd have a race of bureaucrats that end up destroying our planet to make room for a new construction project.

It's common for sci-fi stories to focus on the fantastical and awe-inspiring aspects of the story, like teleportation and faster-than-light travel.

This, however, focuses on the mundane aspects of life. Yes, there are fantastical elements to the story, like 'improbability drives' and such. But the focus of the story is on the banalities of life. The daily quirks and joys and annoyances that affect us all.

Arthur Dent is dealing with local red tape, and the local pencil-pushers try to destroy his house to make way for a highway. His universe then grows dramatically as he learns that there is a vast universe out there, teaming with intelligent life. And guess what? He's still stuck dealing with bureaucrats that want to destroy his home.

Life isn't always about psychic powers and laser guns. Sometimes it's just about crushing on a girl that you like, and having her run off the with asshole with a better ride.

That's an interesting story, even if the asshole has two heads and the 'ride' is a spaceship.

Re: How I Consume Books

#86

Post by richardthered »

Kiro wrote: post #42
nostalgk wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Reading any good book and fully understanding it takes a lot more than a simple once-through hearing. Sure, you might catch the themes and be able to have a water cooler conversation, but the best books are the ones that aren't page turners; ones that you spend all night on, and only make it through 20 pages. Besides, when I read something really good, like Hitchhiker's Guide, I usually flip it over and star…

I'm pretty sure most fiction books I read don't have any deeper meaning. You make it sound like everything out there is some deep philosophical hard sci-fi. I would never want to read something where I spend the whole night just to make it through 20 pages. Sounds exhausting and not enjoyable at all.

I think what you get out of a book is more about the person reading it, and what they are looking for, than it is about the story itself.

Dr. Seuss's "Oh, the places you'll go" could be read by one person as just a whimsical children's tale. Someone else, though, might see it as an interesting allegory on the journeys that a person might face in their own life.

Likewise, I might look at a squirrel burying nuts in the ground, and see just a squirrel. But a buddhist monk might derive some great wisdom from watching the very same thing.

Re: How I Consume Books

#87

Post by asark »

perfunctory wrote: post #10
polyvisual wrote: post #3

My mother was a librarian for 30 years and I gained a love of books from her; I just I wish I had more time to read. Between my day job in Fin Tech, my sideline business in my handmade leather goods and with two children at primary school, I basically have ten minutes before I fall asleep in bed at the end of the day to squeeze in a few pages.

> I just I wish I had more time to read. When I started working two days a week a colleague of mine said he was jealous and wished he could do the same. While he agreed that objectively there was absolutely no reason he couldn't actually do the same. Isn't it about setting priorities? What stops you from for example spending less time on your side business and more time reading? Please don't take it as judgemental, I…

> When I started working two days a week a colleague of mine said he was jealous and wished he could do the same. While he agreed that objectively there was absolutely no reason he couldn't actually do the same.

Spoiler warning for a season 1 episode of Black Mirror: this is precisely the gut-punch realization delivered at the end of the "future" "sci-fi" episode Fifteen Million Merits. It is set in the future, and it is sci-fi, but it is not at all about the future or about sci-fi—it's entirely about now. A horrible, pointless, sterile existence—but where are the enforcers, if this is some kind of dystopia? Robot drones, cyborg lackeys of the system packing heat, sadistic future-cops? There are none. Not a single one. Perhaps the outside world was ruined so there's no escape? Oh, but no, it wasn't. It's right there. The episode's given us no reason to believe anyone who wanted to couldn't walk right out into it. But they don't. And neither do we (mostly).

Re: How I Consume Books

#88

Post by Veen »

Kiro wrote: post #58
jimhefferon wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> most fiction books I read don't have any deeper meaning That's fine; keep doing what you enjoy. But there is life-changing fiction, so it is not as though there is nothing a person could choose to read that would be great.

Both you and the post I replied to seem to imply that fiction books without any deeper meaning cannot be good or great.

Both you and the post I replied to seem to imply that fiction books without any deeper meaning cannot be good or great.

They can be good or great entertainment, but that's not what is generally meant when educated people say that a book is great literature. The artistic value of a book is almost independent of how entertaining it might be.

(I say "almost independent" because people who care about the "deeper meaning" get great pleasure from taking their time to discover it.)

Re: How I Consume Books

#89

Post by padraigf »

Loughla wrote: post #36
Hemospectrum wrote: post #4

I was honestly looking forward to an explanation of what utensils to use, and what sort of wines to pair them with. As it turns out, lignin is not especially nutritious to human beings, so perhaps “read books” would be a more helpful choice of words. Obviously the implication is that you only read a book once, but I’m not sure I can get on board with that. I think I’ll go reread Red Dragon , which has a lot to say on…

This may not be the best forum for this, but I actually have a (what I believe to be) really good story about consuming books. The first time I read Howl by Ginsberg, it was a copy given to me by someone who, as I look back now, was trying to guide my life away from its trajectory at the time. I was young, had, again as I look back now, an un-diagnosed mental illness, and was self-medicating through a combination of…

Wow, think I need to read that. (not that I'm in such a bad state, it's just a good recommendation)

Re: How I Consume Books

#90

Post by Loughla »

commandlinefan wrote: post #68
polyvisual wrote: post #3

My mother was a librarian for 30 years and I gained a love of books from her; I just I wish I had more time to read. Between my day job in Fin Tech, my sideline business in my handmade leather goods and with two children at primary school, I basically have ten minutes before I fall asleep in bed at the end of the day to squeeze in a few pages.

> I wish I had more time to read. My wife doesn't like to read and gets really upset when I do. I have the time, but not the environment.

>My wife doesn't like to read

I get that, I don't understand people who do that, but I at least understand they exist.

>and gets really upset when I do.

Wait. What? Define for me, really upset. How is that okay? It's a harmless nothing hobby. How can someone (who is not a giant asshole) get really upset about that?

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