I mean that's all definitely true but if you consider that you're trying to pick up new motifs, different ideas, and understand how people organize the thought

I mean that's all definitely true but if you consider that you're trying to pick up new motifs, different ideas, and understand how people organize the thought and concept behind their code, reading another person's code is invaluable. I think the tricky part comes with looking for quality code. One should go in with an open eye looking to satisfy what you're trying to solve, and read enough to learn how to do that oneself. I don't think casual reading of code will ever be as entertaining as a novel, but if you want to get better by solving specific problems it is a great way to go.