The Dangerous Effects of Reading
blog.davidtate.org
The Dangerous Effects of Reading
1–10 of 71 posts
Re: The Dangerous Effects of Reading
#2I'd offer my opinion of this piece, but the irony overwhelms me.
Re: The Dangerous Effects of Reading
#3More appropriately titled: The Dangerous Effects of Reading Crap. Should be paired with a companion piece: The Dangerous Effects of Eating Dung.
Re: The Dangerous Effects of Reading
#4"Side note: how freaking scary would it have been to explain to your great-great-grandfather that people would carry around computers and look at them while in the bathroom or driving - he would have been terrified of this future"
And terrified he should be, I am terrified thinking other people are not paying attention to the traffic.
Re: The Dangerous Effects of Reading
#5I really like this except:
"I need to hear what others think before I form an opinion (If you have ever read a review of a new gadget before it launches: think about how ridiculous this activity is)"
While I agree that I read too many product reviews, on larger issues, I need to read the opinions of people who actually know what they are talking about. I am so sick and tired of people offering up their opinion on complicated issues like economics when they have nothing other than a few crappy talk show hosts to base their opinion on. I wish people would just say, "I don't know how to fix the deficit or whether my candidate has a good plan, but I did check this book out on economics and I am reading through it"
Re: The Dangerous Effects of Reading
#6I don't know if it's that dangerous. One of my biggest fears is to be stranded somewhere and not having anything to read, and I had this fear way before smart-phones were invented. I can still remember how at 14 I was reading "Ender's Game" in the middle of nowhere where my grand-mother had sent me to graze the cows.
From time to time I would just take my eyes out of the book to make sure that the cows hadn't trespassed our neighbor's property, and then I would quickly return to reading. To this day I always carry something to read with me, be it a book, a magazine or something like that.
And regarding the author's remark that his grand-grand-father would be horrified to learn in what strange circumstances we do read nowadays, I remember my peasant grand-mother scolding my grand-father for "preferring to read" instead of doing something more productive like feeding the cows. I heard a similar argument between my parents when I was little, with my father being accused of reading too much, and sure enough my (future to be ex)-wife also reproached me for reading too much.
Re: The Dangerous Effects of Reading
#7You are right. Excessive consumption can get in the way of creation. However, I think consumption can also inform creation.
I have recently made a conscious decision to comment more-often and submit more links to Hacker News. I want to create, engage, contribute and create more content. The transition from using HN as a tech RSS reader to actually engaging more with the community has been a really refreshing one. I do not feel that time spent writing this comment is time wasted. It is time contributed and, hopefully sometimes, appreciated.
PS - Upvote for the _why quote alone :)
when you don’t create things, you become defined by your tastes rather than ability. your tastes only narrow & exclude people. so create.
PPS - I enjoyed the effects of reading your post ;)
Re: The Dangerous Effects of Reading
#8I really like this except: "I need to hear what others think before I form an opinion (If you have ever read a review of a new gadget before it launches: think about how ridiculous this activity is)" While I agree that I read too many product reviews, on larger issues, I need to read the opinions of people who actually know what they are talking about. I am so sick and tired of people offering up their opinion on com…
If you have ever read a review of a new gadget before it launches: think about how ridiculous this activity is
Maybe I'm "too far in the rabbit hole", but exactly what's wrong with this? Is it a bad thing to be informed before spending my money?
I have been burned by buying things that have reviewed well but I ultimately found not up to the task, but I'd rather find out something is a dud before rather than after (e.g., Kindle Fire).
Re: The Dangerous Effects of Reading
#9You are right. Excessive consumption can get in the way of creation. However, I think consumption can also inform creation. I have recently made a conscious decision to comment more-often and submit more links to Hacker News. I want to create, engage, contribute and create more content. The transition from using HN as a tech RSS reader to actually engaging more with the community has been a really refreshing one. I d…
Yeah, honestly, there's a weird dichotomy here. The post mentions things like reading in the bathroom, or reading on the way to work, or whatever. But there's nothing inherent in those that doesn't mean you can't also be creating when you get home. I suppose there is a mention of getting home and just reading/watching TV/playing games on electronics, but other than that every other “excessive consumption” example isn't even necessarily in the way of creating. If your mind is also scanning for ideas while you read, all of those situations can in fact be boons to creation rather than obstacles.
Re: The Dangerous Effects of Reading
#10You stagnate at work for fear of everything you do being judged like every news article or viral video that you view.
I feel like this about blog posts (even sometimes facebook/twitter updates). Is what I have to say so interesting that I need to share it with others? My cumulative reading filter usually says no.