I know the feeling - I get it sometimes as well. I don't think it's a "correct" feeling, though. Certainly fiction can be as intellectually stimulating as nonfi

I know the feeling - I get it sometimes as well. I don't think it's a "correct" feeling, though. Certainly fiction can be as intellectually stimulating as nonfiction, and the fiction/non-fiction line is an artificial construction anyway. One way to get over this feeling may be to keep in mind that the raw accumulation of knowledge is not really that valuable anymore - certainly less valuable than mental "agility" (for lack of a better term). In other words, we can look up any facts we need to know pretty easily, but being able to put order to those facts and make correct predictions based on them is a skill that takes practice. I think that some fiction may be better at fostering that skill than most non fiction - especially labyrinthine stuff like Neal Stephenson, Tolstoy, or Thomas Pynchon.