A thing that feels sad to me (in the vein of chapter sections being necessary): the fact that the majority of all long form content that I and anybody I know takes in, is SSC, WaitButWhy, and John Oliver—the only stuff where the hedonic hit rate is at least once per paragraph/breath. I can’t remember the last time I read a book (yes I can, it was 4 months ago when I read InEq in a single sitting. But I really can’t remember before that.).
I get the sense that in the past many people read books, and now I know very few people who read whole books. I remember as a teenager I used to read many non-fiction books. I have maybe read one a year for the past three years.
Quick Googling says that your experience was below average as of a few years ago, with the median person reading six books, 72 percent reading at least one, 60 percent reading at least one fiction and 60 percent reading at least one non-fiction, so one per year is well below the implied mean. So this seems like a ‘local’ problem. I’d definitely call it a problem, and consider myself to be reading far fewer full books than I should versus too much other stuff (and to not be writing enough reviews even of the ones I do read).
Reviews are definitely worthwhile, as are quote blogs like this one. The more books you review and quote, the more books we can add to common knowledge (because the reviews/quotes recommend them to enough people that the contents of the book catch on with them and they use them and recommend them to other people and so on) and the fewer books we have to read (because they either can be distilled to a review/series of quotes or are found to be not worth reading).
As for actually reading, take a book with you on your commute if your commute doesn’t involve driving, and leave another in the bathroom.
(The people who read the most of anyone I know share a certain health issue with Martin Luther, and that’s why they read so much.)
A thing that feels sad to me (in the vein of chapter sections being necessary): the fact that the majority of all long form content that I and anybody I know takes in, is SSC, WaitButWhy, and John Oliver—the only stuff where the hedonic hit rate is at least once per paragraph/breath. I can’t remember the last time I read a book (yes I can, it was 4 months ago when I read InEq in a single sitting. But I really can’t remember before that.).
I get the sense that in the past many people read books, and now I know very few people who read whole books. I remember as a teenager I used to read many non-fiction books. I have maybe read one a year for the past three years.
Quick Googling says that your experience was below average as of a few years ago, with the median person reading six books, 72 percent reading at least one, 60 percent reading at least one fiction and 60 percent reading at least one non-fiction, so one per year is well below the implied mean. So this seems like a ‘local’ problem. I’d definitely call it a problem, and consider myself to be reading far fewer full books than I should versus too much other stuff (and to not be writing enough reviews even of the ones I do read).
Reviews are definitely worthwhile, as are quote blogs like this one. The more books you review and quote, the more books we can add to common knowledge (because the reviews/quotes recommend them to enough people that the contents of the book catch on with them and they use them and recommend them to other people and so on) and the fewer books we have to read (because they either can be distilled to a review/series of quotes or are found to be not worth reading).
As for actually reading, take a book with you on your commute if your commute doesn’t involve driving, and leave another in the bathroom.
(The people who read the most of anyone I know share a certain health issue with Martin Luther, and that’s why they read so much.)