Counterpoint, I’m usually pretty skeptical of people who say something like, “just read this book, it explains it better than I can.” Telling me you read a book and didn’t particularly understand it isn’t a great sell. I also wasn’t interested in doing labor to argue your point of view when I didn’t even think you’re right in the first place.
It’s probably still better to have that convo though, if your alternative is to argue nonsensically.
In practice the resolution is probably “here’s what informed me, I understand you may not be compelled to read it, but if you do and want to discuss it let me know.”
Better I think would be to talk about a few of the points from the book that you thought were most important. This shows you understood the book and which bits might be most interesting to your interlocutor.
That’s a great point. I also don’t like that. It’s like an “isolated demand for labor” to get someone off your back. A tactic I have definitely noticed a few people using on purpose, too. Maybe citing a whole book is just too much for most blog post conversations.
Counterpoint, I’m usually pretty skeptical of people who say something like, “just read this book, it explains it better than I can.” Telling me you read a book and didn’t particularly understand it isn’t a great sell. I also wasn’t interested in doing labor to argue your point of view when I didn’t even think you’re right in the first place.
It’s probably still better to have that convo though, if your alternative is to argue nonsensically.
In practice the resolution is probably “here’s what informed me, I understand you may not be compelled to read it, but if you do and want to discuss it let me know.”
Better I think would be to talk about a few of the points from the book that you thought were most important. This shows you understood the book and which bits might be most interesting to your interlocutor.
That’s a great point. I also don’t like that. It’s like an “isolated demand for labor” to get someone off your back. A tactic I have definitely noticed a few people using on purpose, too. Maybe citing a whole book is just too much for most blog post conversations.