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Well, some people would like to sell us on the point that you can only form your character, be a good leader, a successful person, if you read $amount books, or

Well, some people would like to sell us on the point that you can only form your character, be a good leader, a successful person, if you read $amount books, or at least "the right ones". Not everybody got the money or the time to do that. And it's not about poor people or imitating their lifestyle, to suffer willingly or whatnot, but it's the "I'm better than you, because I read lot of books"-expression that more and more people communicate. And in that case they are pretty similar to the over the top minimalists: "If you own more things than me, you are not enlightened enough." The same goes for some readers "If you haven't read this and that... better stop talking to me." Maybe it's just my LinkedIn filter bubble, but the German tech/entrepreneur scene is filled with that. Everybody's writing a book and if you haven't read it, you're out of the game.

bonoboTP 6y ago
There are communities and subcultures for everything. I guess there are circles where having traveled to n countries is the brownie points or knowing the lyrics to all the XYZ artist's songs or knowing all about anime or whatever. People come up with all kinds of subcultures. Obsessing over business/self help/entrepreneur books is just one such subculture. I guess they are not bragging about reading Anna Karenina but the latest best selling get-rich-by-this-mental-trick book endorsed by Elon Musk. The solution is not to read linkedin. Telling people to read fewer books is too general of an advice. Books span a huge range of different topics. Reading Kim Kardashian biography is not the same as reading a book on game theory or medieval history or a classic novel or a good sci-fi or an exciting psychothriller or whatever. The same way, someone could saw "Do less sports!" because there are bodybuilding addicts and crossfit evangelists on Instagram who think you're subhuman if you don't work out 4 hours every day. Sure, there is such a subculture, but the general population does way too little sports. Similarly with reading.

bonoboTP 6y ago

There are communities and subcultures for everything. I guess there are circles where having traveled to n countries is the brownie points or knowing the lyrics to all the XYZ artist's songs or knowing all about anime or whatever. People come up with all kinds of subcultures. Obsessing over business/self help/entrepreneur books is just one such subculture. I guess they are not bragging about reading Anna Karenina but the latest best selling get-rich-by-this-mental-trick book endorsed by Elon Musk. The solution is not to read linkedin. Telling people to read fewer books is too general of an advice. Books span a huge range of different topics. Reading Kim Kardashian biography is not the same as reading a book on game theory or medieval history or a classic novel or a good sci-fi or an exciting psychothriller or whatever. The same way, someone could saw "Do less sports!" because there are bodybuilding addicts and crossfit evangelists on Instagram who think you're subhuman if you don't work out 4 hours every day. Sure, there is such a subculture, but the general population does way too little sports. Similarly with reading.