4 ms·

There seems to something of a cargo-cult mentality underlined in this article. Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Stephen King and Mark Zuckerberg all read loads of boo

by inops 9y ago

There seems to something of a cargo-cult mentality underlined in this article. Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Stephen King and Mark Zuckerberg all read loads of books (that's how they made their money!) Unless you have some set goal to know a certain body of knowledge (as I presume the four above have), reading should be done leisurely -- not a race to read, and half-understand, as many books as possible.

ycombinete 9y ago
I'd rather re-read books that I've loved, and still have a lot to gain from, this year
- panzer_wyrm 9y ago
  You can always gain something new from Pratchett books. I usually reread the diskworld every other year.
hairofadog 9y ago
I also found the survivorship-biasy part of the article to be a bit goofy, but I found other parts to be pretty spot on. I have fallen out of the habit of reading this past year (I think in part due to stress over political news) and I've been looking for ways to bring it back into my life. These things hit home: * While I don't think reading will make me successful, I do find the habitual focus/relaxation aspects of reading to be beneficial * Regarding paper books vs e-readers, as much as I like the idea of carrying a book in my pocket everywhere, I somehow allow myself to get distracted even on a Paperwhite (I'll start browsing the library and/or shopping for other books), and so I've been thinking of going back to regular old paper books * Decision fatigue! I spend way more time fretting over what to read next than I do reading Regarding audiobooks, I enjoy "reading" books in that format, but I have wondered lately about the downside of constantly being plugged in; it's a great way to pass the time doing dishes, but I imagine it's also good to give your brain time to sit quietly without input. It's also a struggle to resist the temptation lose myself in escapist fiction all the time; there's a thin line (for me, anyway) between the type of reading that exercises your ability to focus and the type of reading that acts as a palliative. On second look, it appears the link was changed from a summary of a Harvard Business Review article on Quartz.com to the actual Harvard Business Review article. The summary had lots of survivorship bias, and the HBR version does not. Thought I had lost my mind for a minute there.
- tristanho 9y ago
  I think the "survivorship bias" argument for reading is a bit overplayed. There's practically _zero_ of these mega-successful people (Gates, Buffett, Zuckerburg, Musk, etc.) who don't read. Astonishingly, I can't think of a single one. While that doesn't prove causation, it definitely points at it! Do you want to try to be the first successful person who didn't read? It's not that reading was this one magical trick that caused them to be successful, but rather that reading was a prerequisite. At least, that's my take.
  - cadlin 9y ago
    Donald Trump?
    - gbersac 9y ago
      Not much...except Hitler speechs : https://www.quora.com/Does-Donald-Trump-read-books https://www.quora.com/Does-Donald-Trump-read-books
    - sn9 9y ago
      I don't know that con men who inherited their wealth count as successful.
    - tchaffee 9y ago
      Not successful. He just inherited Daddy's money and grew that money at a slower rate than the market.
      - baursak 9y ago
        If you define success solely by the amount of money, sure.
        wonderbread23 9y ago
        Is that not the definition of success when running a real estate business? Trump himself is always talking about how much money he made. Or is the goal in real estate development not to make a profit? I get you want to assert your "holier than thou" morals of money, but you gotta pay attention to context.
peruvian 9y ago
Agreed. I'd rather read books in my couch at my own pace than feel stressed about finishing the latest non fiction self help book. The best way to read more books is to make time for it and read books you enjoy.
- british_india 9y ago
  Read hardbacks in the bath tub. That's the secret.
  - iLemming 9y ago
    Oh, btw. you can slip ipad, kindle, android tablet into a regular ziplock bag, zip it in and read it in the bathtub. Trust me - it's completely waterproof.
  - mindcrime 9y ago
    Heh, I do this all the time. I love a nice hot bath, and I love reading, so there ya go. It really is a nice combination.
therealdrag0 9y ago
I've come to realize this. I've always been a reader, but after college and after getting into audio-books, I took to it in earnest. I peaked at reading 75 books in 2012 (and BIG ones too, History of Third Reich, Thinking: Fast and Slow, Ulysses, Godel-Escher-Bach etc...). And after that I was like 'wew. Okay, I enjoyed that and learned a lot and have, but my life isn't THAT much better because of it.' I've definitely traded investing in relationships or other hobbies for it. So I've since to slowed down to about 27 a year, and have found that's a good pace for me.

by inops 9y ago

ycombinete 9y ago

I'd rather re-read books that I've loved, and still have a lot to gain from, this year

panzer_wyrm 9y ago
You can always gain something new from Pratchett books. I usually reread the diskworld every other year.

hairofadog 9y ago

I also found the survivorship-biasy part of the article to be a bit goofy, but I found other parts to be pretty spot on. I have fallen out of the habit of reading this past year (I think in part due to stress over political news) and I've been looking for ways to bring it back into my life. These things hit home: * While I don't think reading will make me successful, I do find the habitual focus/relaxation aspects of reading to be beneficial * Regarding paper books vs e-readers, as much as I like the idea of carrying a book in my pocket everywhere, I somehow allow myself to get distracted even on a Paperwhite (I'll start browsing the library and/or shopping for other books), and so I've been thinking of going back to regular old paper books * Decision fatigue! I spend way more time fretting over what to read next than I do reading Regarding audiobooks, I enjoy "reading" books in that format, but I have wondered lately about the downside of constantly being plugged in; it's a great way to pass the time doing dishes, but I imagine it's also good to give your brain time to sit quietly without input. It's also a struggle to resist the temptation lose myself in escapist fiction all the time; there's a thin line (for me, anyway) between the type of reading that exercises your ability to focus and the type of reading that acts as a palliative. On second look, it appears the link was changed from a summary of a Harvard Business Review article on Quartz.com to the actual Harvard Business Review article. The summary had lots of survivorship bias, and the HBR version does not. Thought I had lost my mind for a minute there.

tristanho 9y ago
I think the "survivorship bias" argument for reading is a bit overplayed. There's practically _zero_ of these mega-successful people (Gates, Buffett, Zuckerburg, Musk, etc.) who don't read. Astonishingly, I can't think of a single one. While that doesn't prove causation, it definitely points at it! Do you want to try to be the first successful person who didn't read? It's not that reading was this one magical trick that caused them to be successful, but rather that reading was a prerequisite. At least, that's my take.
- cadlin 9y ago
  Donald Trump?
  - gbersac 9y ago
    Not much...except Hitler speechs : https://www.quora.com/Does-Donald-Trump-read-books https://www.quora.com/Does-Donald-Trump-read-books
  - sn9 9y ago
    I don't know that con men who inherited their wealth count as successful.
  - tchaffee 9y ago
    Not successful. He just inherited Daddy's money and grew that money at a slower rate than the market.
    - baursak 9y ago
      If you define success solely by the amount of money, sure.
      - wonderbread23 9y ago
        Is that not the definition of success when running a real estate business? Trump himself is always talking about how much money he made. Or is the goal in real estate development not to make a profit? I get you want to assert your "holier than thou" morals of money, but you gotta pay attention to context.

peruvian 9y ago

Agreed. I'd rather read books in my couch at my own pace than feel stressed about finishing the latest non fiction self help book. The best way to read more books is to make time for it and read books you enjoy.

british_india 9y ago
Read hardbacks in the bath tub. That's the secret.
- iLemming 9y ago
  Oh, btw. you can slip ipad, kindle, android tablet into a regular ziplock bag, zip it in and read it in the bathtub. Trust me - it's completely waterproof.
- mindcrime 9y ago
  Heh, I do this all the time. I love a nice hot bath, and I love reading, so there ya go. It really is a nice combination.

therealdrag0 9y ago

I've come to realize this. I've always been a reader, but after college and after getting into audio-books, I took to it in earnest. I peaked at reading 75 books in 2012 (and BIG ones too, History of Third Reich, Thinking: Fast and Slow, Ulysses, Godel-Escher-Bach etc...). And after that I was like 'wew. Okay, I enjoyed that and learned a lot and have, but my life isn't THAT much better because of it.' I've definitely traded investing in relationships or other hobbies for it. So I've since to slowed down to about 27 a year, and have found that's a good pace for me.