My point was that questions like “What is the goal of reading?” don’t really arise when optimizing generally, only when optimizing reading.
If I want to improve my performance at some task and reading is the best way to do it then so be it, but its not clear why I would be comparing the benefits of “reading to improve at foo” to the benefits of “reading to make conversation” in particular rather than the benefits of exercise (say).
When I read now it is normally because I have some pressing reason to read a particular book. The things I read (which are typically either very technical or descriptions/analysis of some event or person I am curious about) would not be turned up by trying to prioritize among books.
I do agree that prioritizing books is a useful activity if you spend much time reading, and that thinking about optimization—however you want to slice it up—is generally a good idea. I like your post. I was just offering an observation which I have found helpful (and which has caused me not to spend much time either reading or thinking about which books to read).
I see, that makes sense. I find it easiest to prioritize within a domain like “books”, vs. among all possible skill-increasing activities. Also, when it comes to “generally increasing my knowledge / improving my map”, that is something that I think it makes sense to allocate a fixed bucket of time to, although one should also compare alternatives like documentaries, blogs, and conversations as ways of doing it.
My point was that questions like “What is the goal of reading?” don’t really arise when optimizing generally, only when optimizing reading.
If I want to improve my performance at some task and reading is the best way to do it then so be it, but its not clear why I would be comparing the benefits of “reading to improve at foo” to the benefits of “reading to make conversation” in particular rather than the benefits of exercise (say).
When I read now it is normally because I have some pressing reason to read a particular book. The things I read (which are typically either very technical or descriptions/analysis of some event or person I am curious about) would not be turned up by trying to prioritize among books.
I do agree that prioritizing books is a useful activity if you spend much time reading, and that thinking about optimization—however you want to slice it up—is generally a good idea. I like your post. I was just offering an observation which I have found helpful (and which has caused me not to spend much time either reading or thinking about which books to read).
I see, that makes sense. I find it easiest to prioritize within a domain like “books”, vs. among all possible skill-increasing activities. Also, when it comes to “generally increasing my knowledge / improving my map”, that is something that I think it makes sense to allocate a fixed bucket of time to, although one should also compare alternatives like documentaries, blogs, and conversations as ways of doing it.