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Another waste of ink article that espouses getting as much as possible done - be as productive as possible - because someday you'll die and lose your chanc

Another ~~waste of ink~~ article that espouses getting as much as possible done - be as productive as possible - because someday you'll die and lose your chance to make progress. Reading for fun is OK. Re-reading is OK. Watching TV is OK. Playing videogames is OK. Enjoying life is OK. Not being productive for more than two seconds is OK.

jrm4 2y ago
Nailed it. Personally, if I were to write something like this, it would be in the realm of "Against taking notes in books?" As in, if you wanna reread it, great, and if not, that's okay too. You might find one thing I enjoy which is how a book can be very different the 2nd or whatever time.
lapcat 2y ago
>Another ~~waste of ink~~ article that espouses getting as much as possible done - be as productive as possible - because someday you'll die and lose your chance to make progress. > Reading for fun is OK. I think you missed the point. It's not about productivity. Quite the opposite. Here's how the author characterizes rereading in one passage: "Rereading, thus conceived, begins to sound a bit like a punishing self-improvement regime. I can imagine a life coach promoting rereading as part of a lifestyle package, along with nootropic supplements." In another passage, the author compares rereading to a futile attempt to recapture lost youth. The point of life being short isn't about maximizing productivity but rather about maximizing enjoyment, which is ironically what you thought you were arguing for. By constantly rereading, you're depriving yourself of the enjoyment of the new, of novelty. Rereading has diminishing returns: "There was an immediacy, intensity, and complete surrender involved in the initial experience that could never be repeated and was sometimes even diminished on the second pass."
- pdonis 2y ago
  > By constantly rereading, you're depriving yourself of the enjoyment of the new, of novelty. Rereading has diminishing returns So does novelty. Sometimes it's better to experience the familiar than the new.
jack_pp 2y ago
Regarding videogames and TV, to some people it isn't. Videogames for some people provide such an effective escape from real life it becomes like a drug in it's short term effects. Similar to alcohol and other substances, for some people it's ok to enjoy from time to time, for some it can ruin their life
- ta_1138 2y ago
  And for some people, the same thing is done with... work. Most of us wouldn't think of it as an escape from real life, but for some people it is. Overworking and dying young from it isn't just an issue for very physically demanding jobs either. Basically anything can become an obsession that makes everything else go away, at least for some people.
  - jack_pp 2y ago
    Sure but with work if you escape the cycle you are left with money and skills that are useful in real life. Games are just a temporary sedative that can lead to depression and anxiety about the real world while not providing anything truly useful. At least they are for me. I had health problems a year ago that lasted for about 4 months so I had an excuse to start playing again so instead of losing 4 months I lost 6 or 7 and then another 2 months to adjust to real life again when I realized I'm wasting my life in a video game and was becoming really depressed
mlyle 2y ago
> getting as much as possible done - be as productive as possible I didn't get this at all as a main thrust of the article. The author doesn't like re-reading the works that impacted him the most, because he feels he loses some of that impact and takes a step backwards in his enjoyment when he rereads. I have felt that, at times. Especially when re-reading too soon. I notice new things; I enjoy the world again; but I often look back at the work less fondly after this is done. In the end, we can't just to who we were reading the work for the first time. I liked reading the article because it helped me understand part of why I often feel that way.

Another ~~waste of ink~~ article that espouses getting as much as possible done - be as productive as possible - because someday you'll die and lose your chanc

jrm4 2y ago

Nailed it. Personally, if I were to write something like this, it would be in the realm of "Against taking notes in books?" As in, if you wanna reread it, great, and if not, that's okay too. You might find one thing I enjoy which is how a book can be very different the 2nd or whatever time.

lapcat 2y ago

>Another ~~waste of ink~~ article that espouses getting as much as possible done - be as productive as possible - because someday you'll die and lose your chance to make progress. > Reading for fun is OK. I think you missed the point. It's not about productivity. Quite the opposite. Here's how the author characterizes rereading in one passage: "Rereading, thus conceived, begins to sound a bit like a punishing self-improvement regime. I can imagine a life coach promoting rereading as part of a lifestyle package, along with nootropic supplements." In another passage, the author compares rereading to a futile attempt to recapture lost youth. The point of life being short isn't about maximizing productivity but rather about maximizing enjoyment, which is ironically what you thought you were arguing for. By constantly rereading, you're depriving yourself of the enjoyment of the new, of novelty. Rereading has diminishing returns: "There was an immediacy, intensity, and complete surrender involved in the initial experience that could never be repeated and was sometimes even diminished on the second pass."

pdonis 2y ago
> By constantly rereading, you're depriving yourself of the enjoyment of the new, of novelty. Rereading has diminishing returns So does novelty. Sometimes it's better to experience the familiar than the new.

jack_pp 2y ago

Regarding videogames and TV, to some people it isn't. Videogames for some people provide such an effective escape from real life it becomes like a drug in it's short term effects. Similar to alcohol and other substances, for some people it's ok to enjoy from time to time, for some it can ruin their life

ta_1138 2y ago
And for some people, the same thing is done with... work. Most of us wouldn't think of it as an escape from real life, but for some people it is. Overworking and dying young from it isn't just an issue for very physically demanding jobs either. Basically anything can become an obsession that makes everything else go away, at least for some people.
- jack_pp 2y ago
  Sure but with work if you escape the cycle you are left with money and skills that are useful in real life. Games are just a temporary sedative that can lead to depression and anxiety about the real world while not providing anything truly useful. At least they are for me. I had health problems a year ago that lasted for about 4 months so I had an excuse to start playing again so instead of losing 4 months I lost 6 or 7 and then another 2 months to adjust to real life again when I realized I'm wasting my life in a video game and was becoming really depressed

mlyle 2y ago

> getting as much as possible done - be as productive as possible I didn't get this at all as a main thrust of the article. The author doesn't like re-reading the works that impacted him the most, because he feels he loses some of that impact and takes a step backwards in his enjoyment when he rereads. I have felt that, at times. Especially when re-reading too soon. I notice new things; I enjoy the world again; but I often look back at the work less fondly after this is done. In the end, we can't just to who we were reading the work for the first time. I liked reading the article because it helped me understand part of why I often feel that way.