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> That said, I find it odd that people assume that reading a book is always higher quality than reading the internet etc. - many books are pretty low quality.
by sebastiennight 3mo ago
> That said, I find it odd that people assume that reading a book is always higher quality than reading the internet etc. - many books are pretty low quality.
You've received several answers on the "quality" side due to books being harder to create, but I'll cover two more arguments:
1. Nobody's "reading the internet" anymore, especially not on their phones. They're mindlessly scrolling short-form video, either muted or blasting them really loud with no headphones, if my experience of Spanish subway is accurate.
2. Even if all books were just printed directly from random internet pages, and there was zero difference in quality, it would be a huge step-up to go from reading one internet page at a time, to focusing on the same content for 200+ pages in a row. There is huge value in giving ourselves the longer attention span.
- broken-kebab 3mo ago>Nobody's "reading the internet" anymore Even as hyperbole it's too extreme.
- sillyfluke 3mo agoReally? I find phone book reading to be a very primitive experience without researching SOTA book apps. Is there an app that turns ebooks into a single infinite scroll longform article with intuitive bookmarking and easy book purchase/discovery?
- sebastiennight 3mo agoThis plus a text-to-speech/audiobook feature with autoscrolling would probably do a lot for book consumption (I mean I, for one, would sign up for that waitlist)
- larakerns 3mo agoWe have all these features and more. In private beta now, sign up for the waiting list at: https://noveltree.ca https://noveltree.ca
- verzali 3mo agoOkay, but listening to a book is not the same as reading a book.
- sebastiennight 3mo agoOh, to clarify I was not putting forward the idea of "the audiobook", but rather, having the book read to you as you're reading it (with your own eyes), just because I've heard multiple people mention how it helps them keep their focus on the page. It's just an experiment in additional stimulation basically.
- timthelion 3mo agoI guess I'm nobody then. I almost only read the internet.
- sebastiennight 3mo agoYou and I both, but come on. Do we really want to compare HN readership numbers to TikTok's viewership? Walk around in the subway someday and count, out of 100 people, how many are reading on their phone vs scrolling. I have not seen a person read an article or book on their phone in ages. Yes they exist but even Google is making it harder to find content to read by burying text-based pages below AI summaries and video results.
- xboxnolifes 3mo agoEven so, you should be aware that you're outside the norm. Hell, it's a thing that HN complains all the damn time about. To not notice is to be intentionally ignorant. "Why make a video when you can scan an article quickly", "Why is everything on walled garden video platforms", "Everyone is just watching tiktok and instagram reels."