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A book is a somewhat large time investment. Often it is worth it but often it isn't. The main problem is the sheer amount of books out there. Deciding what to r

A book is a somewhat large time investment. Often it is worth it but often it isn't. The main problem is the sheer amount of books out there. Deciding what to read next is a non-trivial decision problem. Currently I'm basing my decisions on ratings, recommendations from friends and book clubs. It would be nice if sites like Goodreads kept statistics on ratings for second/third/... reading (maybe they do?). Such information could help readers identify books that are exceptional regarding second/third/... reading.

Konohamaru 6y ago
> A book is a somewhat large time investment. Often it is worth it but often it isn't. But everyone has time for reddit/hn/facebook. Sometimes for hours at a day. :} I posit that the real problem is that books (especially fiction novels) are engaging but not hypnotic. It's easy to scroll HN because it's literally hypnotic and thus no thinking required. That's why they're called newsFEEDs. You're being spoon-fed news. But books demand that you think, and you can't ignore previous plot developments without becoming disoriented. If you want to read more books, the first three steps are to: 1. Admit you have a problem. The problem is NOT that you have a hard time reading but that you're hypnotized for hours a day. 2. Realize that total abstinence is the solution. If you had the willpower to restrict yourself to 30min a day, you wouldn't be here. You are one of those people too susceptible to hypnosis. 3. Don't punish yourself. Five minutes a day is far better than nothing. 10 minutes is better than five minutes, etc....
- abnercoimbre 6y ago
  You certainly spoke to me in a blunt and frank manner, just like the username would suggest. Thanks!
- johnfn 6y ago
  Hypnosis is a lovely metaphor to describe the not-quite-mindful state that I often browse HN in. I’ve been trying to think of a good way to frame that for a while - thanks!
- closeparen 6y ago
  >2. Realize that total abstinence is the solution. If you had the willpower to restrict yourself to 30min a day, you wouldn't be here. You are one of those people too susceptible to hypnosis. Unfortunately, people who have actually figured out how to do this are not here on the internet to tell you how.
thetechimist 6y ago
Whatever the intent of Goodreads initially, once Amazon bought it, it became a subtle funnel to drive sales of books, ideally through Amazon. While there are options there for libraries and many other booksellers, no one should believe for a minute that Bezos is interested in helping Goodreads be a contemplative site that fosters multiple readings of a small number of deeper reads. The reviews can be helpful, but “tracking” ones books (or simple exercise, etc) is just a Silicon Valley middleman insertion into our otherwise simple lives so they can profit... somehow. Many people at struggle to read books, probably because of smartphones and “internet reading”, but the reality is that this article is spot-on about our modern curse of information overload which gets combined with anxiety. We evolved the internet from our prior librarian mentality. And while it’s perfectly fine to have libraries, book stores, catalogues of information, and encyclopedias, this article is correct that our personal lives could be improved by removing our click-happy ways from not only our web surfing habits, but from some of our book reading habits. Personally, being an avid reader, I found it a relief to delete my Goodreads account some time ago. I also got rid of a number of books on hand, dwindling down to only 12, not counting some reference books. I initially exported my “to read” Goodreads shelf into a spreadsheet, but eventually deleted it (and the 300+ books I had on the list). Not because it was unlikely I would ever read through them all, but because I also had come to some similar conclusions as the author of this article.
- Mediterraneo10 6y ago
  > Whatever the intent of Goodreads initially, once Amazon bought it, it became a subtle funnel to drive sales of books, ideally through Amazon. Goodreads was originally a "subtle funnel to drive sales of books", as any book listing there offered links to buy it through various online retailers, and Goodreads got a cut of those sales as the referrer. However, since most people were buying through Amazon (which had already succeeded in marginalizing its competition), Amazon was paying Goodreads a fortune each month in referral fees. In the end, Amazon felt it was cheaper just to buy Goodreads out entirely than maintain the status quo.
- dorchadas 6y ago
  I think it all depends on how you use Goodreads. I used to use it to track how many books I read a year, participating in their challenges and stuff. I set one for 2020, but have since disregarded it thanks to browsing /r/bookscirclejerk, which convinced me deeper, wider reading was better than trying to do 52 books a year. Since then, I've mainly just categorized books I've read on goodreads, which is nice if I want to see what I've read over the past few years and go back to some of them. Especially when my memory is quite bad. Often I'll rank them, though on a personal scale where 3 is 'enjoyed'. I might stop doing that soon, and just switch to an analog version my grandmother does -- write the book and authors in a notebook and keep for years. I've already starte doing this somewhat: I use an index card as a bookmark and write the book and completion date for whichever books I use it with.
bfoks 6y ago
You can use HN for this. E.g: - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13566733 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13566733 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23467400 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23467400 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17511800 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17511800
arethuza 6y ago
"A book is a somewhat large time investment." I consume a lot of audiobooks - which are great because I only listen to them while doing something else (walking, driving, gardening, home repairs etc.)
asimovfan 6y ago
Read what you enjoy, and then read what the author mentions enjoying reading. Read a P.G. Wodehouse book: my personal suggestion. Preferably one from the Jeeves series. A good book is not worth the investment only if you don't like it. I would assert that there aren't many worthless books that you can really enjoy. Also don't be afraid to drop a book that you find boring even if everyone says it's a great book its a classic etc. A good book will feel like a drug, you won't be able to put it down. It's not an investment its something you do for escapism. If it doesn't feel this way, just don't read it.
Mediterraneo10 6y ago
> It would be nice if sites like Goodreads kept statistics on ratings for second/third/... reading Goodreads already does. (A newish feature, which was kind of surprising when it appeared, because once Amazon bought Goodreads it has largely ceased to develop the site further or fix longstanding bugs. Goodreads is useful, but I strongly recommend that any GR user periodically use the Export function, because surely one day soon we’re going to wake up and the site won’t be there any more.)
sifar 6y ago
Develop an internal barometer for a good book, instead of an external one. Simple - if you enjoyed it, if it made you think, gave a different perspective, if you found something profound, if you keep returning to it, if it is a topic you are interested in. Of course to develop this, one needs to read significant amount of books - even bad ones (and drop them once you find they are not good enough). But once developed, you can largely detect within a few pages whether a book is worth reading. Also appreciating a book depends on you state/age/mental framework at the time. You augment this with human curation from places/forums you appreciate. Also original sources of books/authors you like is a good way to go down the rabbithole.

Konohamaru 6y ago

> A book is a somewhat large time investment. Often it is worth it but often it isn't. But everyone has time for reddit/hn/facebook. Sometimes for hours at a day. :} I posit that the real problem is that books (especially fiction novels) are engaging but not hypnotic. It's easy to scroll HN because it's literally hypnotic and thus no thinking required. That's why they're called newsFEEDs. You're being spoon-fed news. But books demand that you think, and you can't ignore previous plot developments without becoming disoriented. If you want to read more books, the first three steps are to: 1. Admit you have a problem. The problem is NOT that you have a hard time reading but that you're hypnotized for hours a day. 2. Realize that total abstinence is the solution. If you had the willpower to restrict yourself to 30min a day, you wouldn't be here. You are one of those people too susceptible to hypnosis. 3. Don't punish yourself. Five minutes a day is far better than nothing. 10 minutes is better than five minutes, etc....

abnercoimbre 6y ago
You certainly spoke to me in a blunt and frank manner, just like the username would suggest. Thanks!
johnfn 6y ago
Hypnosis is a lovely metaphor to describe the not-quite-mindful state that I often browse HN in. I’ve been trying to think of a good way to frame that for a while - thanks!
closeparen 6y ago
>2. Realize that total abstinence is the solution. If you had the willpower to restrict yourself to 30min a day, you wouldn't be here. You are one of those people too susceptible to hypnosis. Unfortunately, people who have actually figured out how to do this are not here on the internet to tell you how.

thetechimist 6y ago

Whatever the intent of Goodreads initially, once Amazon bought it, it became a subtle funnel to drive sales of books, ideally through Amazon. While there are options there for libraries and many other booksellers, no one should believe for a minute that Bezos is interested in helping Goodreads be a contemplative site that fosters multiple readings of a small number of deeper reads. The reviews can be helpful, but “tracking” ones books (or simple exercise, etc) is just a Silicon Valley middleman insertion into our otherwise simple lives so they can profit... somehow. Many people at struggle to read books, probably because of smartphones and “internet reading”, but the reality is that this article is spot-on about our modern curse of information overload which gets combined with anxiety. We evolved the internet from our prior librarian mentality. And while it’s perfectly fine to have libraries, book stores, catalogues of information, and encyclopedias, this article is correct that our personal lives could be improved by removing our click-happy ways from not only our web surfing habits, but from some of our book reading habits. Personally, being an avid reader, I found it a relief to delete my Goodreads account some time ago. I also got rid of a number of books on hand, dwindling down to only 12, not counting some reference books. I initially exported my “to read” Goodreads shelf into a spreadsheet, but eventually deleted it (and the 300+ books I had on the list). Not because it was unlikely I would ever read through them all, but because I also had come to some similar conclusions as the author of this article.

Mediterraneo10 6y ago
> Whatever the intent of Goodreads initially, once Amazon bought it, it became a subtle funnel to drive sales of books, ideally through Amazon. Goodreads was originally a "subtle funnel to drive sales of books", as any book listing there offered links to buy it through various online retailers, and Goodreads got a cut of those sales as the referrer. However, since most people were buying through Amazon (which had already succeeded in marginalizing its competition), Amazon was paying Goodreads a fortune each month in referral fees. In the end, Amazon felt it was cheaper just to buy Goodreads out entirely than maintain the status quo.
dorchadas 6y ago
I think it all depends on how you use Goodreads. I used to use it to track how many books I read a year, participating in their challenges and stuff. I set one for 2020, but have since disregarded it thanks to browsing /r/bookscirclejerk, which convinced me deeper, wider reading was better than trying to do 52 books a year. Since then, I've mainly just categorized books I've read on goodreads, which is nice if I want to see what I've read over the past few years and go back to some of them. Especially when my memory is quite bad. Often I'll rank them, though on a personal scale where 3 is 'enjoyed'. I might stop doing that soon, and just switch to an analog version my grandmother does -- write the book and authors in a notebook and keep for years. I've already starte doing this somewhat: I use an index card as a bookmark and write the book and completion date for whichever books I use it with.

bfoks 6y ago

You can use HN for this. E.g: - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13566733 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13566733 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23467400 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23467400 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17511800 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17511800

arethuza 6y ago

"A book is a somewhat large time investment." I consume a lot of audiobooks - which are great because I only listen to them while doing something else (walking, driving, gardening, home repairs etc.)

asimovfan 6y ago

Read what you enjoy, and then read what the author mentions enjoying reading. Read a P.G. Wodehouse book: my personal suggestion. Preferably one from the Jeeves series. A good book is not worth the investment only if you don't like it. I would assert that there aren't many worthless books that you can really enjoy. Also don't be afraid to drop a book that you find boring even if everyone says it's a great book its a classic etc. A good book will feel like a drug, you won't be able to put it down. It's not an investment its something you do for escapism. If it doesn't feel this way, just don't read it.

Mediterraneo10 6y ago

> It would be nice if sites like Goodreads kept statistics on ratings for second/third/... reading Goodreads already does. (A newish feature, which was kind of surprising when it appeared, because once Amazon bought Goodreads it has largely ceased to develop the site further or fix longstanding bugs. Goodreads is useful, but I strongly recommend that any GR user periodically use the Export function, because surely one day soon we’re going to wake up and the site won’t be there any more.)

sifar 6y ago

Develop an internal barometer for a good book, instead of an external one. Simple - if you enjoyed it, if it made you think, gave a different perspective, if you found something profound, if you keep returning to it, if it is a topic you are interested in. Of course to develop this, one needs to read significant amount of books - even bad ones (and drop them once you find they are not good enough). But once developed, you can largely detect within a few pages whether a book is worth reading. Also appreciating a book depends on you state/age/mental framework at the time. You augment this with human curation from places/forums you appreciate. Also original sources of books/authors you like is a good way to go down the rabbithole.