4 ms·

My biggest problem with this thinking is that it seems to consider "books" a unit of measure rather than distinct objects. Surely there are those among us who u

My biggest problem with this thinking is that it seems to consider "books" a unit of measure rather than distinct objects. Surely there are those among us who use the amount of books we've read as a sort of decoration for our intellect, but that's not really the point of reading books.The point is to make the knowledge in the books a part of us so we can live a better life. For that end some books are clearly better than others. However I agree with the idea that it's impossible, and I would argue undesirable, to keep up with the "parade of new titles" put out by publishers. So if we can't keep up but reading is still worth it, then the question becomes "How do we decide what to read?". For my part I've found that the more old books I read the more I realize that many modern books are ful of old ideas with a slight (sometimes very slight) twist. So now I'm working through classics and only reading things sparingly. The criteria I've picked up is: 1. The book must have been around for at least a few generations 2. The book must have had a significant impact on how the world, or a field, is viewed 3. The book must be highly regarded by those who study it, even if they disagree with it 4. The book must deal with topics that are relevant to today (love, leadership, etc.) This naturally leads to many so-called "classics". In reading them I've found that I rarely feel my time has been wasted, I feel I have a broader perspective, and I feel I've been able to elevate a bit above the frothy front end of new pop psychology/business/hero worship titles.

auganov 6y ago
The problem is, if a book fulfills all your 4 criteria it's extremely unlikely its "wisdom" hasn't become common knowledge. No surprise = no information. A truly life changing book would need to have been ignored or misunderstood by the world at large. But most such books will obviously be junk so I'm not sure there's a simple way to discover the good ones.
- cafard 6y ago
  C.S. Peirce said that plain English common sense was basically reheated Aristotle. Is there no information in Aristotle?
  - auganov 6y ago
    In the context of learning some valuable already revered wisdom I don't think you'll find much of it. Now in a general sense there will be a lot of things you didn't expect in any book. So tons of information but not the kind you're looking for. The most interesting thing people who read Marx bring up is how he's been mischaracterized or had some ideas misattributed to him. Which doesn't interest me all that much.
- loughnane 6y ago
  Even if such wisdom had indeed become common knowledge (which I doubt, but don't have time to draft a proper response), just being exposed to a piece of information doesn't do much for the individual. As I said above the goal isn't to stack up books and be briefly exposed to many ideas, but rather to have some ideas become a part of you. Or, put more pithily, it is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you'll be when you can't help it.

auganov 6y ago

The problem is, if a book fulfills all your 4 criteria it's extremely unlikely its "wisdom" hasn't become common knowledge. No surprise = no information. A truly life changing book would need to have been ignored or misunderstood by the world at large. But most such books will obviously be junk so I'm not sure there's a simple way to discover the good ones.

cafard 6y ago
C.S. Peirce said that plain English common sense was basically reheated Aristotle. Is there no information in Aristotle?
- auganov 6y ago
  In the context of learning some valuable already revered wisdom I don't think you'll find much of it. Now in a general sense there will be a lot of things you didn't expect in any book. So tons of information but not the kind you're looking for. The most interesting thing people who read Marx bring up is how he's been mischaracterized or had some ideas misattributed to him. Which doesn't interest me all that much.
loughnane 6y ago
Even if such wisdom had indeed become common knowledge (which I doubt, but don't have time to draft a proper response), just being exposed to a piece of information doesn't do much for the individual. As I said above the goal isn't to stack up books and be briefly exposed to many ideas, but rather to have some ideas become a part of you. Or, put more pithily, it is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you'll be when you can't help it.