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Going to university has completely destroyed my capability to appreciate novels. After years of reading maths/programming/electrical engineering books and the l

by Kenji 10y ago

Going to university has completely destroyed my capability to appreciate novels. After years of reading maths/programming/electrical engineering books and the like, when I pick up a novel and it says "Tim said this, and Julie replied that", etc., I am bored out of my mind. Why should I care what they say, get to the point. You could compress this 700 page thing into 10 pages and barely any of the content is lost (in other words, low information density). I wish I could sill appreciate novels, but in most cases I can't. In my eyes, most novels are trash and there are only a few worth reading.

taneq 10y ago
It sounds like you're reading terrible novels (and I agree, most of them are terrible). There's some great stuff out there, though - very high information density. ;) Are there any genres you like?
- Kenji 10y ago
  I like anything that is engaging. Sci-fi, fantasy, crime fiction. Doesn't really matter. I don't think the books are the problem. I am in the middle of a very, very good book ("Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman") and I can't even finish that because I can't get myself to just sit down and read.
forgetsusername 10y ago
>In my eyes, most novels are trash and there are only a few worth reading. Relatively few, maybe, in the context of all the books, ever. But there are far more "good" books than most people can read in a lifetime.
jerf 10y ago
"In my eyes, most novels are trash and there are only a few worth reading." That's actually the expected result, by the way. Sturgeon's Law, roughly "ninety percent of everything is crap", is one of those ha-ha-only-serious sorts of things. You can put math around it if you want; if the quality of a given type of media is normally distributed (probably with the bottom end cut off by it never getting published), the best of the best is generally much much better than the vast bulk of what is out there, and so if you measure by the standard of what the best puts out, almost everything is crap. One of the things that keeps the world going around is that we all have different distributions, though; what is for me a +6sigma novel might be well below average to you. I'd say to you that bloated page counts are definitely a common thing. It's what you get when you pay by the word. I'd also say that any story can be reduced to a couple of sentences, if you're being really cynical ("One day, Bob defeated the evil overlord and peace reigned throughout the land."). There are stories out there that are quite dense and everything has a point. But, yes, they are the exceptions. The trick is in finding them.
- npsimons 10y ago
  > I'd also say that any story can be reduced to a couple of sentences, if you're being really cynical Lord of the Rings LITE(tm): Some guys take a long vacation to throw a ring in a volcano. See also: https://www.youtube.com/user/HISHEdotcom https://www.youtube.com/user/HISHEdotcom
ianleeclark 10y ago
A lot of books are there for the journey and can't be summarized in a few sentences.
- contingencies 10y ago
  That may be true but like Kenji I also feel a lot of novels are a really, really long way to make simple (or sometimes no) points. I feel the same about a lot of TV serials, movies, etc. I care not for character, environment or plot development, and only consume long enough to embrace the marvel of their conception, which to me is the real art. Mostly I can't stand podcasts or radio, either, and rarely listen to music. In friendly casual conversation, people used to imply jovially that I was very strange or missing out on something, but over time (I am now 34) I believe that the peaceful mental mode of being engendered by these habits is a strong personal asset. Incidentally I write and read history (a lot), and don't agree with the article's suggestion that history and literature are somehow uniquely pedestal-worthy.
jonjacky 10y ago
“I was impressed for the ten thousandth time by the fact that literature illuminates life only for those to whom books are a necessity. Books are unconvertible assets, to be passed on only to those who possess them already.” -- Nick Jenkins

by Kenji 10y ago

taneq 10y ago

It sounds like you're reading terrible novels (and I agree, most of them are terrible). There's some great stuff out there, though - very high information density. ;) Are there any genres you like?

Kenji 10y ago
I like anything that is engaging. Sci-fi, fantasy, crime fiction. Doesn't really matter. I don't think the books are the problem. I am in the middle of a very, very good book ("Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman") and I can't even finish that because I can't get myself to just sit down and read.

forgetsusername 10y ago

>In my eyes, most novels are trash and there are only a few worth reading. Relatively few, maybe, in the context of all the books, ever. But there are far more "good" books than most people can read in a lifetime.

jerf 10y ago

"In my eyes, most novels are trash and there are only a few worth reading." That's actually the expected result, by the way. Sturgeon's Law, roughly "ninety percent of everything is crap", is one of those ha-ha-only-serious sorts of things. You can put math around it if you want; if the quality of a given type of media is normally distributed (probably with the bottom end cut off by it never getting published), the best of the best is generally much much better than the vast bulk of what is out there, and so if you measure by the standard of what the best puts out, almost everything is crap. One of the things that keeps the world going around is that we all have different distributions, though; what is for me a +6sigma novel might be well below average to you. I'd say to you that bloated page counts are definitely a common thing. It's what you get when you pay by the word. I'd also say that any story can be reduced to a couple of sentences, if you're being really cynical ("One day, Bob defeated the evil overlord and peace reigned throughout the land."). There are stories out there that are quite dense and everything has a point. But, yes, they are the exceptions. The trick is in finding them.

npsimons 10y ago
> I'd also say that any story can be reduced to a couple of sentences, if you're being really cynical Lord of the Rings LITE(tm): Some guys take a long vacation to throw a ring in a volcano. See also: https://www.youtube.com/user/HISHEdotcom https://www.youtube.com/user/HISHEdotcom

ianleeclark 10y ago

A lot of books are there for the journey and can't be summarized in a few sentences.

contingencies 10y ago
That may be true but like Kenji I also feel a lot of novels are a really, really long way to make simple (or sometimes no) points. I feel the same about a lot of TV serials, movies, etc. I care not for character, environment or plot development, and only consume long enough to embrace the marvel of their conception, which to me is the real art. Mostly I can't stand podcasts or radio, either, and rarely listen to music. In friendly casual conversation, people used to imply jovially that I was very strange or missing out on something, but over time (I am now 34) I believe that the peaceful mental mode of being engendered by these habits is a strong personal asset. Incidentally I write and read history (a lot), and don't agree with the article's suggestion that history and literature are somehow uniquely pedestal-worthy.

jonjacky 10y ago

“I was impressed for the ten thousandth time by the fact that literature illuminates life only for those to whom books are a necessity. Books are unconvertible assets, to be passed on only to those who possess them already.” -- Nick Jenkins