3 ms·

>Ben Dolnick. Mr. Dolnick is a novelist. >Once I’m actually enjoying a book, it really does feel as if the pages are turning themselves; [...] And pleasure is

by jasode 8y ago

>Ben Dolnick. Mr. Dolnick is a novelist. >Once I’m actually enjoying a book, it really does feel as if the pages are turning themselves; [...] And pleasure is, after all [...] the reason that I read. Many proponents of reading (like Ben Dolink) don't seem to accept that some people just don't like to read for pleasure the same way they do. People are different. I love reading and I've read a hundred of the well-known classics including the thick tomes of Moby Dick, War & Peace, and Les Miserables. But 99% of my friends do not read books for fun. I totally understand that because not every brain derives the same pleasure from reading. Therefore, I'm not going to "advise" them that they should be reading more. On another note, I still heavily read non-fiction tech books but I've stopped reading all fiction more than 5 years ago. I found out quitting fiction isn't that strange as even famous novelists like Philip Roth and Larry McMurtry also quit reading fiction.[1][2] Sometimes people just quit getting the dopamine hit from fiction -- or never really got it in the first place. They just read whatever was required in high-school and college to pass some tests and that's it. I know there will still be some confident folks that are sure that anyone can be "taught" to love fiction. My personal experiences make me doubt that. To me, it's like the fitness enthusiasts claiming you'll get "runner's high" and exercise will feel good. But I've been running regularly for decades and I've never had runner's high; running is always a chore. Certain people get a dopamine hit from workouts but I never did. I think people are just different in what activities bring genuine pleasure. If you read Mr. Dolnick's self-reported joy of consuming fiction and for some reason, it doesn't inspire you to do the same, there's nothing wrong with you. [1] https://www.google.com/search?q=philip+roth+quit+reading+fiction https://www.google.com/search?q=philip+roth+quit+reading+fic... [2] https://www.google.com/search?q=Larry+McMurtry+"lost+interest+in+reading+fiction" https://www.google.com/search?q=Larry+McMurtry+"lost+interes...

gutnor 8y ago
I agree that the generalisation probably does not work. However, considering a lot of people like fiction in most their other forms, except books, we have to be careful not to overcompensate in the other direction. From the 99% person you know that don't like reading, I'm convinced a significant number would actually love it, if introduced to it properly. Like, I agree that a lot people will never get the runner high from cycling. But the crowd that gets it from hitting the gym should be prime material to convert to cycling. I blame school. I never got any love of sport from PE. I didn't get the love of reading from reading assignments either (), but society is telling me that not loving sport is weird so I tried again, while not loving reading is expected. () Up until the day a teacher just had a list that wasn't just all classic and you were not expected to use the reading as a basis for a disertation on some historical or social quirk, or extract profound philosophical meaning about the human nature. I picked a book with a story I liked, first time ever since childhood.
- sefrost 8y ago
  Absolutely. English Literature (mandatory at my school) meant I didn’t pick up a book for pleasure for over five years after that. Mainly they ruined reading for me with an intense over analysis that I could never get to grips with. That wasn’t the only thing though. We used to go around the room with one person reading a page at a time, some people could barely read and it was absolute agony because it would take months to get through a book.

by jasode 8y ago

gutnor 8y ago

I agree that the generalisation probably does not work. However, considering a lot of people like fiction in most their other forms, except books, we have to be careful not to overcompensate in the other direction. From the 99% person you know that don't like reading, I'm convinced a significant number would actually love it, if introduced to it properly. Like, I agree that a lot people will never get the runner high from cycling. But the crowd that gets it from hitting the gym should be prime material to convert to cycling. I blame school. I never got any love of sport from PE. I didn't get the love of reading from reading assignments either (), but society is telling me that not loving sport is weird so I tried again, while not loving reading is expected. () Up until the day a teacher just had a list that wasn't just all classic and you were not expected to use the reading as a basis for a disertation on some historical or social quirk, or extract profound philosophical meaning about the human nature. I picked a book with a story I liked, first time ever since childhood.

sefrost 8y ago
Absolutely. English Literature (mandatory at my school) meant I didn’t pick up a book for pleasure for over five years after that. Mainly they ruined reading for me with an intense over analysis that I could never get to grips with. That wasn’t the only thing though. We used to go around the room with one person reading a page at a time, some people could barely read and it was absolute agony because it would take months to get through a book.