4 ms·
And, at a certain point, be on guard against too much reading, as Einstein warned[1]: > Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creati
by miles 6y ago
And, at a certain point, be on guard against too much reading, as Einstein warned[1]:
> Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking, just as the man who spends too much time in the theater is tempted to be content with living vicariously instead of living his own life.
[1] http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/wp-content/uploads/satevepost/einstein.pdf http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/wp-content/uploads/sateve...
- pmoriarty 6y agoUnfortunately, the overwhelming majority of people are very far from having to worry about too much reading.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- briefcomment 6y agoI don't think so, I think they just fall into the second category of "theatregoers" aka "streamers".
- watwut 6y agoNah. They do too much reading. Except it is on twitter and facebook.
- fogetti 6y agoAnd stackoverflow and hacker news...
- thursday0987 6y agolooking at hacker news is reading.
- MeinBlutIstBlau 6y agoThat's an incredible quote that should be plastered over every single news posting on reddit and Facebook. Maybe people would realize reading about politics is completely a waste of time.
- phobosanomaly 6y agoIt's like watching the Hindenburg. Sure, it's a waste of time, but are you not going to watch the Hindenburg?
- malwrar 6y agoThere’s been too much news lately covered w/ Hindendenburg-esque severity, at some point being a spectator to this many burning airships is just exhausting :P
- phobosanomaly 6y agoTell me about it. This year has just drained my soul out of my eye sockets.
- MeinBlutIstBlau 6y agoThat's how I felt about every "big" thing that was going to remove trump from office. Then nothing happened and reddit would backpedal. Soon enough it just became the little boy who cried wolf.
- phobosanomaly 6y agoWell, his efforts to secure preemptive pardons for himself, his family, and his legal team do indicate that he is aware he has done some stuff that might be frowned upon in court once he's out of office.
- qntty 6y agoAlso a little ironic that he suggests reading about a school of thought (zen) that famously talked about how useless reading is.
- SuoDuanDao 6y agoThere's a very interesting TED talk in which someone talks about how to learn a skill to a decent level in 40 hours. He makes a similar point - that one should read a few books to learn what the key skills are, but not use reading as a procrastination-aide.
- mariodiana 6y agoA brief write-up and a link to the TED talk may be found here: https://ideas.ted.com/dont-have-10000-hours-to-learn-something-new-thats-fine-all-you-need-is-20-hours/ https://ideas.ted.com/dont-have-10000-hours-to-learn-somethi...
- powersnail 6y agoLearn a skill to a decent level in 40 hours is only possible if the skill is simple, for instance, playing a few chords on a ukulele. I'd love to see someone learn the piano, the violin, or classical guitar. Or jazz improvisation. Or oil painting. Or ballet.
- SparksZilla 6y agoThanks for sharing this. I love this quote, but I had not seen/heard it before. I think about this a lot. The next edition actually addresses exactly this (in draft right now). As I begin my career as a coach, one woman gave me some great advice: for every hour you read, spend at least an hour coaching. The experience matters—get your nose out of a book. I struggle with how to balance these!
- zmodem 6y agoThanks for sharing! That whole article is wonderful.
- cambalache 6y agoOK, but then the interview continues> " In his own field of thought Einstein follows every development with keen interest"
- runawaybottle 6y agoAs others mentioned already, just replace Reading with Social Media in that quote for 2020 and you’ll get nothing but the truth.
- gexla 6y agoThat's enough questions for Jerry. Anything which fits the "X your ass off" is probably bad advice unless you're running from something which is going to eat you.
- powersnail 6y agoConfucius also has a similar remark: "Studying* without thinking leads to incomprehension; thinking without studying leads to peril." However, I'd like to offer a counter-argument here. There different ways of reading. Some are passive. Some are active. Reading with a critical mind is anything but detrimental to creativity. Notably, great authors are often voracious readers, and reading is what they all agreed to be the foundations of their craft. It didn't hinder their creativity. The reason is two-folds: 1) they read critically; 2) they wrote. The true way to foster creativity, is to create. Unless one read so much that no time is left to do anything else, reading isn't the enemy of creating. And a further note on vicariously living one's life. I don't really see what's wrong with that. A person gets one life only, and it may be a fortunate one, a challenging one, a boring one, or one that's an absolute dismay. Drudging through the day and fantasizing through the night is hardly the worst form of life, in my opinion. * "Studying" here refers to the intake of information.