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It's something people that don't read books tell themselves. Same with the appearance of book-summary services or even speed reading. The power of a book is ho
by vasco 3y ago
It's something people that don't read books tell themselves. Same with the appearance of book-summary services or even speed reading.
The power of a book is how long you sit down thinking about the topics as much as the words on it. Anything that reduces the reading time will also reduce the thinking time which reduces the value.
Sure many modern books could've been shorter, specially the kind of pop-sci books most people read, but still I never heard this argument made by someone who's read any sensible number of books in their life. And if you're under, say 50-100 books, you haven't read enough for me to believe you understand how other people think.
- daveguy 3y agoThis right here. When I read for recreation or work I read slowly. I like to take each sentence and paragraph in context of the whole piece. Sometimes I re-read sentences, paragraphs or pages when I think there is a significant enough idea there. I used to think I was a slow reader, but then I realized I am a careful reader. You definitely get a deeper understanding out of a piece of work when you read carefully than when you just process the words. I don't think it's possible to distill most books into a few paragraphs. It's as stark as the difference between knowing about something and living through something.
- _yb2s 3y ago'I am not a speed reader. I am a speed understander.' -Isaac Asimov
- QuantumGood 3y agoThat's a solid heuristic, but commitment to studying can cause you to get a lot of book summaries.