4 ms·

Don't know about you guys, but reading has become more and more of a burden for me. It is as if -- I have greatly narrowed my interest such that most books are

Don't know about you guys, but reading has become more and more of a burden for me. It is as if -- I have greatly narrowed my interest such that most books are not interesting any more. Even the sci-fi and fantasy books, once I loved, lost their magic. Nowadays there are only two types of books that excite me: 1) those about software/hardware engineering, such as iWoz(I even bought a few Tom Swift JR books for my son), Showstopper and Soul of the New Machine, and 2) books about existentialism such as Shestov's philosophy books. I suspect it has something to do with getting older and getting kid(s). What about you guys?

thinkingtoilet 2y ago
I wonder if after you've read the classics and modern greats you have to start searching out and take chances on books you don't know. I also think people will happily walk away from a show or movie but for some reason won't walk away from a book. If you're 30% in and you hate it, just walk away.
- markus_zhang 2y ago
  Yeah I feel that too. It's kinda hard to go away from a book, even a borrowed one and I have no idea why. Maybe I'm trying to convince myself that I should like the book but I don't. I used to read a lot of books including classics and others when I was younger, before 25, but then Internet took off so I barely read books. When my son was born a few years ago I tried to go back and found my interests narrowed to a niche. Anyway, maybe I shouldn't complain as it helps to focus...
- latexr 2y ago
  > I also think people will happily walk away from a show or movie I’m not so sure. I feel like people may walk away from a show in between seasons, when a new one comes out and they realise they aren’t interested anymore. But in the age of binge watching, it’s harder to realise “I’m not actually enjoying this” because each episode is made to be addictive. With movies, my feeling is that even when people realise midway they’re not enjoying it, they experience sunk cost and will watch to the end hoping it gets better. I remember (but I’m not finding) a This American Life segment about a woman who relished in exiting the movie theatre midway through a feature. It wasn’t seen as a common thing. > but for some reason won't walk away from a book. If you're 30% in and you hate it, just walk away. I completely agree. I’d even say you could do it sooner than 30%.
nottorp 2y ago
The question is, have you stopped reading same-ish books only to watch same-ish TV series? While various obligations can reduce your entertainment time, I've noticed that most people complaining about that tend to be able to list tens of Netflix series that they watched. And then wonder why I have no idea what they're talking about and when I have time to read. > Even the sci-fi and fantasy books, once I loved, lost their magic. Have they, or have you finished all the great books that were published before the present, and now need to wait for someone to write new great books? 95% of what gets published in a year in any medium is probably only worth watching/reading if you're very bored. Your saving grace when you are born is there is a century of previously published good stuff. But you're eventually going to run out.
- watwut 2y ago
  > Have they, or have you finished all the great books that were published before the present, and now need to wait for someone to write new great books? I know that for me, the kind of books I used to like lost appeal. I would read them multiple times, but I just do not find them pleasurable anymore. It is not about me finishing all the great books humanity wrote up to now. It is about me changing. For the record, the same thing happened with some movies/series. They used to be super great, when I am trying to rewatch they are not.
- markus_zhang 2y ago
  I don't watch movies or TV shows very much. For TV shows I keep going back to the same ones I loved, that is the X-Files. And I can't even think of a second one I'd go back to watch...damn there is really no other TV show I'm going to watch, unless you count kids show such as Bluey. For movies I'm also going back to the ones I loved to watch. I think I did add maybe a few throughout the years, but it's safe to say that most of the movies in my library are older than 10 years old. The thing about movies and shows is, reality can be weirder and more interesting. Most of the movies and TV shows are pretty naive when they try talking about politics or such.
carlosjobim 2y ago
Without even knowing you, I think I know exactly what is your problem. You're not reading with an open mind. Most people only read books where they agree with the author and agree with the books content. Get some books that you'd probably find disagreeable, and read them with the benefit of the doubt. Assume the author is right, and if you really can't do that, just remember that the writer is probably dead since long and it's just a reflection of how some people thought at the time. I found that disagreeable viewpoints very seldom takes away any value of a book. Much worse is if it's written badly, repetitive, slow, etc. Have you read the Bible? It's shockingly different from what people believe is written there. It is a post-apocalyptic survival guide, as well as a collection of human stories and ideas that might date back hundreds of thousands of years. Have you read the Quran? Reading it is essential to understanding Muslims and their faith. It is first and foremost an anti-christian book, and the faith is foremost anti-christian. Just as christendom at one time was foremost anti-pagan. There's an immense wealth in mythology from all over the world to read, which takes you on journeys much more profound than any fantasy book. Have you read the communist manifesto? It is a short pamphlet, energetic and quite fun to read. Even an anti-communist can understand why it riled up so many people. Have you read the books written by historical figures, instead of about historical figures. The former is much more interesting, while the latter is written by some dusty professor with an agenda. Think about the most provocative book you can imagine and go and read it. It's just letters on paper, nothing more. As for sci-fi and fantasy, you shouldn't read that. You only have one life, why would you waste it? You can and should read von Brauns book "Mars Project", which is the only science "fiction" book which should have been written. For fiction, there are hundreds of classics, and the older the more interesting. When I read a book and there's an interesting reference to another book, I always download that book as well. This takes you down paths that you never thought existed, and now I have a couple hundred books already on my reading list. If one is a dud, I just delete it.
- ComposedPattern 2y ago
  > Have you read the Bible? It's shockingly different from what people believe is written there. It is a post-apocalyptic survival guide, as well as a collection of human stories and ideas that might date back hundreds of thousands of years. You must mean hundreds or thousands, right? Modern homo-sapiens are not hundreds of thousands of years old. > Have you read the Quran? Reading it is essential to understanding Muslims and their faith. It is first and foremost an anti-christian book, and the faith is foremost anti-christian. Just as christendom at one time was foremost anti-pagan. I've only read parts of the Quran in translation, and I wouldn't say that I understand it that well. It's not organized in a narrative structure like the bible, and there are a lot of parts that are impossible to understand without outside knowledge, like a surah that condemns Abu Lahab but doesn't explain who he was [1]. The Quran is not really the sort of book that you can just read on its own without guidance and expect to understand. So, with the preface that you should take what I have to say about the Quran with a grain of salt, I'm not sure how you could take away that it's primarily an anti-Christian text. Yes, it criticizes Christians and Jews a lot, but it also has good things to say about them. For example: "Indeed, the believers, Jews, Christians, and Sabians—whoever truly believes in Allah and the Last Day and does good will have their reward with their Lord. And there will be no fear for them, nor will they grieve." [2] The main villains of the Quran are polytheists (like Abu Lahab). It talks about them a lot more and never has anything good to say [3]. By contrast, the New Testament barely even mentions polytheists or pagans – most of its criticism is directed against Jews. Muslims traditionally believe that Jesus was the messiah, that he was born of a virgin, that he performed miracles, and that he's going to return and rule the world in a future era [4]. It's also said that Muhammad was identified as a prophet by a Christian monk named Bahira [5]. Early on, Orthodox Christians identified Islam as a heretical form of Christianity, not a different religion [6]. These do not seem like traits of a religion that is foremost anti-Christian. [1] https://quran.com/111 https://quran.com/111 [2] https://quran.com/2/62 https://quran.com/2/62 [3] https://quran.com/search?query=polytheist https://quran.com/search?query=polytheist [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_in_Islam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_in_Islam [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahira https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahira [6] https://archive.org/details/johnofdamascuson0000saha https://archive.org/details/johnofdamascuson0000saha
JKCalhoun 2y ago
Sci-fi and fantasy suited me when I was young as they stretched my mind to possibility. The older and more cynical I have become, they're kind of just bullshit. I'd love to say their escapist but they fail even there as I my escapism increasingly requires a modicum of plausibility. I think there are still some books out there that might ring true in terms of seeing people and society for the way they are, but then there is a lot of Harry Potter.
- mmooss 2y ago
  What you describe you want is, in a sense, the definition of 'serious' literature. A value of it is that it has real insight about real people and life. A lot of people reject it - because of school/authority associations, because they didn't understand it in high school, for culture war reasons, etc. When you put all that aside and just read the book, it is what you describe - the 'great' writing offering soaring, beautiful, tranformative insight, the work of genius. I think it's hard to understand without experience in the world and life - real responsibility, pressure, failure, success, real injury, healing, trauma, seeing evil and good in yourself - whatever your age. I'm not sure it's accessible for most high schoolers and often people don't try it again.
- markus_zhang 2y ago
  Yeah I get the same feeling about books, movies and TV shows. The moment that they try to talk about politics or something serious, I feel they fell short. Reality is way more complex than what they are trying to reveal. But I'm going to try some hard sci-fi and see what happens.
mattlondon 2y ago
Genuinely I cannot remember the last time I read a book. I read absolute crap-tons of interesting stuff online, but books? Those out-of-date, read-only, closed-perspectives from people with their ideas/thoughts/biases/prejudices they're trying to implant into your brain? Nope. I think there is a lot of elitism about reading and the intellectualism around it. "What books are you reading right now?" is a sort of shibboleth or even one-upmanship ("Oh yes I read that last year - you should read this other thing that I think is better/more clever" etc). Don't play the game. If you don't like reading books and don't get much out of it, don't do it. I get a secret glee when I have mentees and younger folks asking me about what books to read to achieve success or get hired etc, and I tell them "don't waste your time reading books - learn <thing> instead." It ruffles feathers, and I am sure I'll get roasted on here too, but there you go! :)
- JadeNB 2y ago
  > I think there is a lot of elitism about reading and the intellectualism around it. … Don't play the game. If you don't like reading books and don't get much out of it, don't do it. I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment that it's good to get your knowledge wherever you enjoy getting it, as long as it's from a reliable source and you're checking them when possible for any claims you intend to rely on. With that said, I think that: > Genuinely I cannot remember the last time I read a book. I read absolute crap-tons of interesting stuff online, but books? Those out-of-date, read-only, closed-perspectives from people with something they're trying to say? Nope. may go too far the other direction in implying that books have nothing valuable to offer, which I think isn't true. (I'm also curious about the "from people with something they're trying to say" line, which, coming after the others, sounds like it's meant to be criticism. Surely that's true of wherever else you get your information, too? I can't imagine wanting to read the writing, in any form, or watch the videos or listen to the podcasts or whatever, of someone who isn't trying to say something.)
  - mattlondon 2y ago
    > can't imagine wanting to read the writing, in any form, or watch the videos or listen to the podcasts or whatever, of someone who isn't trying to say something.) There is too much "agenda" in most things I read. If you get to the stage of getting a publishing deal, then you likely have "something to say" that is advancing that agenda. Grass-roots publishing online has people trying to push their own agendas too of course, but you don't need to have an "edge" that publishers need to put up your own website or blog or whatever. You can put up something entirely dull and mundane. And the crucial thing IMHO that the internet has that books don't have is the intangible and throw-away nature. How many times have you read a book all the way to the end even though you are not enjoying it or not getting anything out of it? I've found you'll often feel you must finish a book simply because you physically have the copy and that perhaps you spent real money on it too, so it feels like the right thing to do. Online you close the tab the moment you decide it's not what you want, and you don't keep on consuming the author's agenda just because you have the tab open in the same way people feel compelled to finish a book. You can open many tabs at once, scan over hundreds of sources, discarding what you don't need etc in a matter of minutes ... meanwhile with a book you've just got past the preface and you'll keep on donating your limited time alive to read through to the end of the book often even if you don't want to (obviously some people do just abandon a book mid-way through, but I've found that very often most people don't)
tpoacher 2y ago
I have exactly the same experience, and in fact, I'm slowly starting to lose interest in the 'nerdy' books too. However, I don't necessarily think the problem is books. I think the problem is 'time', and how reading has evolved in my life to be less about "the enjoyment of the action of reading" into "the necessity of acquiring the information" (even if that 'necessity' is intended for 'leisure' / 'pleasure'). It's as if the modern world has conditioned us all to skim-read, prioritise, and optimise information-to-words ratio. I wouldn't "mind" sitting down with an unknown book and giving it a good-old college try, in principle, but in practice, any book I read now competes with some other book in my backlog, which I'm also not ever going to read because that too competes with another book in my backlog, and I simply don't have the time, because I should be reading more stuff for work etc instead. I remember I told a friend of mine once, that I was practicing speed-reading, and that I was getting good at it, and reading books faster as a result. I remember the look of horror on his face, he thought it was a terrible idea. The whole point of a book is to read it slowly, he said. There was this idea that, if you speed read it, even if you do in fact read everything in it, you've still only just looked at the all content, but you haven't really experienced or savoured the book, or allowed yourself to get lost in it. And he's right, I think, and his words do still echo and haunt me a tiny bit to this day. I do remember what that feeling of getting lost in a good book was like, and I really miss it. But I don't know how to get it back. Certainly not between breaks while reading reports at work.
- aaronbaugher 2y ago
  That's where I'm at. Not just with books, but with movies and games, it just feels like too much time to commit to a single leisure activity. And I'm not a workaholic or super busy otherwise, so I could make the time to enjoy a book. It's just a mindset I didn't used to have, that says I shouldn't just read a book and enjoy it, but should be taking notes and learning something while I do, or listening to the audiobook so I can do some other tasks at the same time. I'm not sure how that happened, but it feels like it happened to a lot of us.
- wantless 2y ago
  I have begun to recognize a sense of restlessness in myself that prompts me to optimize for information, as you have said, and I think I can begin to name it: anxiety due to withdrawal. It is illuminating to have once been a smoker because the feeling is quite similar. That our tastes have changed is due at least in part to the addiction of information. And a solution, at least in part, is to accept the pain of withdrawal. It can be exceedingly difficult to distinguish good habits from bad where they involve the necessities and pleasures of life, such as food and information. Bad habits tend to comfort us in the moment but weaken us over time; good habits tend toward opposite. When I am honest with myself, I recognize the majority of my information seeking as quelling some anxious feeling rather than building true knowledge or wisdom, and the majority of the information I sought to be naught but empty distractions in the long term. And I also recognize my backlogs as a series of deaths that I have not accepted: I retain them to grasp onto the passing potentiality of my youth; I hold fast to the mirage of different lives.
magicmicah85 2y ago
Perhaps you have just found your niche. Like the person who reads romantasy or the person who reads history, you like engineering and existentialism (not an uncommon pairing) and you get something out of it. From the age of 20 to 38, I had a hard time reading books. I grew up reading Tolkien, Dan Simmons, Timothy Zahn, but the internet exploding in speeds and online content replaced my reading habits. So I moved to just read that. I recently got back into reading books by trying books I used to read. I'm fine with Tolkien, but I couldn't stomach 3 chapters of Heir to the Empire. Star Wars was just boring to me now. And I found that I like mystery/spooky books more than I did before. I can still read Tolkien and Hyperion without a problem and I also like my nonfiction software/hardware stuff too.
- markus_zhang 2y ago
  Yeah you could be right. I'm actually in a similar boat. I used to read a lot of fictions before 25-ish but then I got hooked by the Internet so I rarely read any books since then. I used to enjoy Tolkien and D&D novels a LOT but recently I found them to be meh.
  - magicmicah85 2y ago
    Fiction is hard for me too, but I was able to reincorporate it by making it more social. I joined a local book club and they often read fiction books, so it's usually the better fiction out there and not stuff that I would pick out myself. I almost make it like a reading assignment, but if I don't like it, I will just not read it and say I didn't like it and listen to the discussion. My wife also reads fiction so occasionally I'll read a book she is so we have something to talk about.
oglop 2y ago
It’s more that software books ruin your brain and make you incapable of enjoying good literature. Same for existentialism which you fled into out of despair from working in and reading about software. It is a hollow and empty profession that only breaks humans or turns them into monsters. Or not. Either way you should be worried if you can’t read fiction, it means you’ve lost the ability to put yourself in someone else’s mindset.

thinkingtoilet 2y ago

I wonder if after you've read the classics and modern greats you have to start searching out and take chances on books you don't know. I also think people will happily walk away from a show or movie but for some reason won't walk away from a book. If you're 30% in and you hate it, just walk away.

markus_zhang 2y ago
Yeah I feel that too. It's kinda hard to go away from a book, even a borrowed one and I have no idea why. Maybe I'm trying to convince myself that I should like the book but I don't. I used to read a lot of books including classics and others when I was younger, before 25, but then Internet took off so I barely read books. When my son was born a few years ago I tried to go back and found my interests narrowed to a niche. Anyway, maybe I shouldn't complain as it helps to focus...
latexr 2y ago
> I also think people will happily walk away from a show or movie I’m not so sure. I feel like people may walk away from a show in between seasons, when a new one comes out and they realise they aren’t interested anymore. But in the age of binge watching, it’s harder to realise “I’m not actually enjoying this” because each episode is made to be addictive. With movies, my feeling is that even when people realise midway they’re not enjoying it, they experience sunk cost and will watch to the end hoping it gets better. I remember (but I’m not finding) a This American Life segment about a woman who relished in exiting the movie theatre midway through a feature. It wasn’t seen as a common thing. > but for some reason won't walk away from a book. If you're 30% in and you hate it, just walk away. I completely agree. I’d even say you could do it sooner than 30%.

nottorp 2y ago

The question is, have you stopped reading same-ish books only to watch same-ish TV series? While various obligations can reduce your entertainment time, I've noticed that most people complaining about that tend to be able to list tens of Netflix series that they watched. And then wonder why I have no idea what they're talking about and when I have time to read. > Even the sci-fi and fantasy books, once I loved, lost their magic. Have they, or have you finished all the great books that were published before the present, and now need to wait for someone to write new great books? 95% of what gets published in a year in any medium is probably only worth watching/reading if you're very bored. Your saving grace when you are born is there is a century of previously published good stuff. But you're eventually going to run out.

watwut 2y ago
> Have they, or have you finished all the great books that were published before the present, and now need to wait for someone to write new great books? I know that for me, the kind of books I used to like lost appeal. I would read them multiple times, but I just do not find them pleasurable anymore. It is not about me finishing all the great books humanity wrote up to now. It is about me changing. For the record, the same thing happened with some movies/series. They used to be super great, when I am trying to rewatch they are not.
markus_zhang 2y ago
I don't watch movies or TV shows very much. For TV shows I keep going back to the same ones I loved, that is the X-Files. And I can't even think of a second one I'd go back to watch...damn there is really no other TV show I'm going to watch, unless you count kids show such as Bluey. For movies I'm also going back to the ones I loved to watch. I think I did add maybe a few throughout the years, but it's safe to say that most of the movies in my library are older than 10 years old. The thing about movies and shows is, reality can be weirder and more interesting. Most of the movies and TV shows are pretty naive when they try talking about politics or such.

carlosjobim 2y ago

Without even knowing you, I think I know exactly what is your problem. You're not reading with an open mind. Most people only read books where they agree with the author and agree with the books content. Get some books that you'd probably find disagreeable, and read them with the benefit of the doubt. Assume the author is right, and if you really can't do that, just remember that the writer is probably dead since long and it's just a reflection of how some people thought at the time. I found that disagreeable viewpoints very seldom takes away any value of a book. Much worse is if it's written badly, repetitive, slow, etc. Have you read the Bible? It's shockingly different from what people believe is written there. It is a post-apocalyptic survival guide, as well as a collection of human stories and ideas that might date back hundreds of thousands of years. Have you read the Quran? Reading it is essential to understanding Muslims and their faith. It is first and foremost an anti-christian book, and the faith is foremost anti-christian. Just as christendom at one time was foremost anti-pagan. There's an immense wealth in mythology from all over the world to read, which takes you on journeys much more profound than any fantasy book. Have you read the communist manifesto? It is a short pamphlet, energetic and quite fun to read. Even an anti-communist can understand why it riled up so many people. Have you read the books written by historical figures, instead of about historical figures. The former is much more interesting, while the latter is written by some dusty professor with an agenda. Think about the most provocative book you can imagine and go and read it. It's just letters on paper, nothing more. As for sci-fi and fantasy, you shouldn't read that. You only have one life, why would you waste it? You can and should read von Brauns book "Mars Project", which is the only science "fiction" book which should have been written. For fiction, there are hundreds of classics, and the older the more interesting. When I read a book and there's an interesting reference to another book, I always download that book as well. This takes you down paths that you never thought existed, and now I have a couple hundred books already on my reading list. If one is a dud, I just delete it.

ComposedPattern 2y ago
> Have you read the Bible? It's shockingly different from what people believe is written there. It is a post-apocalyptic survival guide, as well as a collection of human stories and ideas that might date back hundreds of thousands of years. You must mean hundreds or thousands, right? Modern homo-sapiens are not hundreds of thousands of years old. > Have you read the Quran? Reading it is essential to understanding Muslims and their faith. It is first and foremost an anti-christian book, and the faith is foremost anti-christian. Just as christendom at one time was foremost anti-pagan. I've only read parts of the Quran in translation, and I wouldn't say that I understand it that well. It's not organized in a narrative structure like the bible, and there are a lot of parts that are impossible to understand without outside knowledge, like a surah that condemns Abu Lahab but doesn't explain who he was [1]. The Quran is not really the sort of book that you can just read on its own without guidance and expect to understand. So, with the preface that you should take what I have to say about the Quran with a grain of salt, I'm not sure how you could take away that it's primarily an anti-Christian text. Yes, it criticizes Christians and Jews a lot, but it also has good things to say about them. For example: "Indeed, the believers, Jews, Christians, and Sabians—whoever truly believes in Allah and the Last Day and does good will have their reward with their Lord. And there will be no fear for them, nor will they grieve." [2] The main villains of the Quran are polytheists (like Abu Lahab). It talks about them a lot more and never has anything good to say [3]. By contrast, the New Testament barely even mentions polytheists or pagans – most of its criticism is directed against Jews. Muslims traditionally believe that Jesus was the messiah, that he was born of a virgin, that he performed miracles, and that he's going to return and rule the world in a future era [4]. It's also said that Muhammad was identified as a prophet by a Christian monk named Bahira [5]. Early on, Orthodox Christians identified Islam as a heretical form of Christianity, not a different religion [6]. These do not seem like traits of a religion that is foremost anti-Christian. [1] https://quran.com/111 https://quran.com/111 [2] https://quran.com/2/62 https://quran.com/2/62 [3] https://quran.com/search?query=polytheist https://quran.com/search?query=polytheist [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_in_Islam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_in_Islam [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahira https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahira [6] https://archive.org/details/johnofdamascuson0000saha https://archive.org/details/johnofdamascuson0000saha

JKCalhoun 2y ago

Sci-fi and fantasy suited me when I was young as they stretched my mind to possibility. The older and more cynical I have become, they're kind of just bullshit. I'd love to say their escapist but they fail even there as I my escapism increasingly requires a modicum of plausibility. I think there are still some books out there that might ring true in terms of seeing people and society for the way they are, but then there is a lot of Harry Potter.

mmooss 2y ago
What you describe you want is, in a sense, the definition of 'serious' literature. A value of it is that it has real insight about real people and life. A lot of people reject it - because of school/authority associations, because they didn't understand it in high school, for culture war reasons, etc. When you put all that aside and just read the book, it is what you describe - the 'great' writing offering soaring, beautiful, tranformative insight, the work of genius. I think it's hard to understand without experience in the world and life - real responsibility, pressure, failure, success, real injury, healing, trauma, seeing evil and good in yourself - whatever your age. I'm not sure it's accessible for most high schoolers and often people don't try it again.
markus_zhang 2y ago
Yeah I get the same feeling about books, movies and TV shows. The moment that they try to talk about politics or something serious, I feel they fell short. Reality is way more complex than what they are trying to reveal. But I'm going to try some hard sci-fi and see what happens.

mattlondon 2y ago

Genuinely I cannot remember the last time I read a book. I read absolute crap-tons of interesting stuff online, but books? Those out-of-date, read-only, closed-perspectives from people with their ideas/thoughts/biases/prejudices they're trying to implant into your brain? Nope. I think there is a lot of elitism about reading and the intellectualism around it. "What books are you reading right now?" is a sort of shibboleth or even one-upmanship ("Oh yes I read that last year - you should read this other thing that I think is better/more clever" etc). Don't play the game. If you don't like reading books and don't get much out of it, don't do it. I get a secret glee when I have mentees and younger folks asking me about what books to read to achieve success or get hired etc, and I tell them "don't waste your time reading books - learn <thing> instead." It ruffles feathers, and I am sure I'll get roasted on here too, but there you go! :)

JadeNB 2y ago
> I think there is a lot of elitism about reading and the intellectualism around it. … Don't play the game. If you don't like reading books and don't get much out of it, don't do it. I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment that it's good to get your knowledge wherever you enjoy getting it, as long as it's from a reliable source and you're checking them when possible for any claims you intend to rely on. With that said, I think that: > Genuinely I cannot remember the last time I read a book. I read absolute crap-tons of interesting stuff online, but books? Those out-of-date, read-only, closed-perspectives from people with something they're trying to say? Nope. may go too far the other direction in implying that books have nothing valuable to offer, which I think isn't true. (I'm also curious about the "from people with something they're trying to say" line, which, coming after the others, sounds like it's meant to be criticism. Surely that's true of wherever else you get your information, too? I can't imagine wanting to read the writing, in any form, or watch the videos or listen to the podcasts or whatever, of someone who isn't trying to say something.)
- mattlondon 2y ago
  > can't imagine wanting to read the writing, in any form, or watch the videos or listen to the podcasts or whatever, of someone who isn't trying to say something.) There is too much "agenda" in most things I read. If you get to the stage of getting a publishing deal, then you likely have "something to say" that is advancing that agenda. Grass-roots publishing online has people trying to push their own agendas too of course, but you don't need to have an "edge" that publishers need to put up your own website or blog or whatever. You can put up something entirely dull and mundane. And the crucial thing IMHO that the internet has that books don't have is the intangible and throw-away nature. How many times have you read a book all the way to the end even though you are not enjoying it or not getting anything out of it? I've found you'll often feel you must finish a book simply because you physically have the copy and that perhaps you spent real money on it too, so it feels like the right thing to do. Online you close the tab the moment you decide it's not what you want, and you don't keep on consuming the author's agenda just because you have the tab open in the same way people feel compelled to finish a book. You can open many tabs at once, scan over hundreds of sources, discarding what you don't need etc in a matter of minutes ... meanwhile with a book you've just got past the preface and you'll keep on donating your limited time alive to read through to the end of the book often even if you don't want to (obviously some people do just abandon a book mid-way through, but I've found that very often most people don't)

tpoacher 2y ago

I have exactly the same experience, and in fact, I'm slowly starting to lose interest in the 'nerdy' books too. However, I don't necessarily think the problem is books. I think the problem is 'time', and how reading has evolved in my life to be less about "the enjoyment of the action of reading" into "the necessity of acquiring the information" (even if that 'necessity' is intended for 'leisure' / 'pleasure'). It's as if the modern world has conditioned us all to skim-read, prioritise, and optimise information-to-words ratio. I wouldn't "mind" sitting down with an unknown book and giving it a good-old college try, in principle, but in practice, any book I read now competes with some other book in my backlog, which I'm also not ever going to read because that too competes with another book in my backlog, and I simply don't have the time, because I should be reading more stuff for work etc instead. I remember I told a friend of mine once, that I was practicing speed-reading, and that I was getting good at it, and reading books faster as a result. I remember the look of horror on his face, he thought it was a terrible idea. The whole point of a book is to read it slowly, he said. There was this idea that, if you speed read it, even if you do in fact read everything in it, you've still only just looked at the all content, but you haven't really experienced or savoured the book, or allowed yourself to get lost in it. And he's right, I think, and his words do still echo and haunt me a tiny bit to this day. I do remember what that feeling of getting lost in a good book was like, and I really miss it. But I don't know how to get it back. Certainly not between breaks while reading reports at work.

aaronbaugher 2y ago
That's where I'm at. Not just with books, but with movies and games, it just feels like too much time to commit to a single leisure activity. And I'm not a workaholic or super busy otherwise, so I could make the time to enjoy a book. It's just a mindset I didn't used to have, that says I shouldn't just read a book and enjoy it, but should be taking notes and learning something while I do, or listening to the audiobook so I can do some other tasks at the same time. I'm not sure how that happened, but it feels like it happened to a lot of us.
wantless 2y ago
I have begun to recognize a sense of restlessness in myself that prompts me to optimize for information, as you have said, and I think I can begin to name it: anxiety due to withdrawal. It is illuminating to have once been a smoker because the feeling is quite similar. That our tastes have changed is due at least in part to the addiction of information. And a solution, at least in part, is to accept the pain of withdrawal. It can be exceedingly difficult to distinguish good habits from bad where they involve the necessities and pleasures of life, such as food and information. Bad habits tend to comfort us in the moment but weaken us over time; good habits tend toward opposite. When I am honest with myself, I recognize the majority of my information seeking as quelling some anxious feeling rather than building true knowledge or wisdom, and the majority of the information I sought to be naught but empty distractions in the long term. And I also recognize my backlogs as a series of deaths that I have not accepted: I retain them to grasp onto the passing potentiality of my youth; I hold fast to the mirage of different lives.

magicmicah85 2y ago

Perhaps you have just found your niche. Like the person who reads romantasy or the person who reads history, you like engineering and existentialism (not an uncommon pairing) and you get something out of it. From the age of 20 to 38, I had a hard time reading books. I grew up reading Tolkien, Dan Simmons, Timothy Zahn, but the internet exploding in speeds and online content replaced my reading habits. So I moved to just read that. I recently got back into reading books by trying books I used to read. I'm fine with Tolkien, but I couldn't stomach 3 chapters of Heir to the Empire. Star Wars was just boring to me now. And I found that I like mystery/spooky books more than I did before. I can still read Tolkien and Hyperion without a problem and I also like my nonfiction software/hardware stuff too.

markus_zhang 2y ago
Yeah you could be right. I'm actually in a similar boat. I used to read a lot of fictions before 25-ish but then I got hooked by the Internet so I rarely read any books since then. I used to enjoy Tolkien and D&D novels a LOT but recently I found them to be meh.
- magicmicah85 2y ago
  Fiction is hard for me too, but I was able to reincorporate it by making it more social. I joined a local book club and they often read fiction books, so it's usually the better fiction out there and not stuff that I would pick out myself. I almost make it like a reading assignment, but if I don't like it, I will just not read it and say I didn't like it and listen to the discussion. My wife also reads fiction so occasionally I'll read a book she is so we have something to talk about.

oglop 2y ago

It’s more that software books ruin your brain and make you incapable of enjoying good literature. Same for existentialism which you fled into out of despair from working in and reading about software. It is a hollow and empty profession that only breaks humans or turns them into monsters. Or not. Either way you should be worried if you can’t read fiction, it means you’ve lost the ability to put yourself in someone else’s mindset.