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I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

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I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

#1
I noticed that I'm no longer reading an article, blog post, etc. I just scroll through it and close the page. It' really very rare that I spend time on some blog post, but I do read books, and I do it more than ever.

Are we slowly losing a joy of reading blog post because there are so many? Are the books gaining popularity again? What are your thoughts?

Re: I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

#3
post #2

We are searching for quality now in this AI driven age.

I agree, but there is also a ton of shitty books, still I'am more eager to read the entire book, than for example 10 blog posts. It seems that blog posts are just to 'thin' and not providing too much value.

Re: I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

#4
I've got this new strategy where I just leave a few books around the house and I've building a habit where I just reach for a book instead of my phone.

It's personally been quite effective, albeit very simple.

Funnily enough, I just finished a book without replacing it and I'm straight back on the phone :)

Anyone else try this?

Re: I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

#6
post #2

We are searching for quality now in this AI driven age.

I agree, but there is also a ton of shitty books, still I'am more eager to read the entire book, than for example 10 blog posts. It seems that blog posts are just to 'thin' and not providing too much value.

I've read incredibly insightful articles online. One of the things that help is RSS and self-curation.

Re: I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

#7
I read the articles and books that interest me.

Blogs are easier to consume, but obviously you cannot expect every author (especially the tecnnical ones) to be a proficient and solid writer or to have paid editors and reviewers.

The problem with many books is that you realize they are crap halfway through the investment. The investment for blogs is much smaller.

Re: I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

#9
I think formats are better suited to express certain types of ideas than others ("the medium is the message"). Blogposts tend to be ideal to express fairly short, singular ideas. Books should develop an entire thought system and connect various ideas, which take much longer, both in producing and consuming. The range of what you can express is also much more expanded, since you need the person to be in the right state of mind to understand or accept an idea; with a book, you can slowly lead them to that state.

Compared to a few years ago, I don't remotely have the same enthusiasm I could have for blogposts, and on the contrary I often find the writing style to be irritating -- especially hyperlinks-rich ones, which break the flow of thought, like internalized distractions. Yet I've also started to write my own blogposts because there are some ideas that I wanted to express in that form and did not find on the internet.

My guess, based on my own experience: you have reaped what you could from the ideas that can conveniently be expressed in blogposts, and it would be very hard to find new ones that would enrich your worldview. You have to go deeper, thus find the format that is more suitable for this.

Re: I don't read web articles anymore, but I read books

#10
I find that articles and blogs are good for questions, books are good for answers - or at least an attempt at that answer.

Sometimes you'll find an article that is as good as a book but other times I read a book proceeding an article and then wish the author would have started by reading some books themselves.

I find other long form content like podcasts or filmed presentations can sometimes hit that quality mark of books too.

Articles / tweets are good for learning the name of a concept I've never heard of.

Books / podcasts / YouTube are a good way to deep dive on the actual concept itself.

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