3 ms·
If a book's ideas can be absorbed in 15 minutes, was it ever really a book? I've seen these business summaries on offer elsewhere--it always struck me as an ap
by ordinaryradical 8y ago
If a book's ideas can be absorbed in 15 minutes, was it ever really a book?
I've seen these business summaries on offer elsewhere--it always struck me as an approach to signaling, not learning. In this model the "reader" can manufacture the appearance of knowledge of a subject without taking the time to invest oneself in it. Or perhaps now the books even manufacture the appearance of knowledge while being tiny ideas unworthy of serious consideration.
I think if I was working with anyone who used a service like this though, I would have second thoughts about them. Isn't this just trend-chasing dressed up as knowledge acquisition?
- dtujmer 8y agoI don't know if it is necessarily signalling, but I too have a dislike for this type of "reading". I think it mostly depends on the book itself - for example, you probably won't get a lot from a 15-minute summary of Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter, but maybe you'll get like 70% from a book like Nudge by Sunstein and Thaler.
- muzani 8y agoSunmaries are not there to prevent you from reading a book, but to highlight which books are worth reading. Most books spend about 80% of the content defending an idea. Something like 33 Strategies of War can easily be summarized into 15 minutes, but it will lose its charm, as the book relies on historical storytelling to get its points across.