I genuinely think the worst thing the internet did to reading was convince people that finishing books is a competitive sport.
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I genuinely think the worst thing the internet did to reading was convince people that finishing books is a competitive sport. You don't need to read 52 books a year. You just need to read. Books you like. At your own pace. And think about them for longer than a TikTok video.
@Daojoan I think the urge to gamify activities is older than the Internet - but it certainly hasn't gotten better since.
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I genuinely think the worst thing the internet did to reading was convince people that finishing books is a competitive sport. You don't need to read 52 books a year. You just need to read. Books you like. At your own pace. And think about them for longer than a TikTok video.
@Daojoan And write about them, whether it be in a personal journal or Medium/Substack, a blog, or wherever else.
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I genuinely think the worst thing the internet did to reading was convince people that finishing books is a competitive sport. You don't need to read 52 books a year. You just need to read. Books you like. At your own pace. And think about them for longer than a TikTok video.
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@Daojoan @briankrebs I love this
I do think it can be beneficial to see reading & thinking as a practice - until recently I had fallen out of reading books & had a fear that I was somehow left behind. Especially when seeing lists and recommendations that seemed so far beyond what I had time or energy for.
Lately I've been reading whatever makes me keep reading, and I'm not focused on a number of books, rather I want reading to be something I do most days and something I do to relax.
@amypotato @Daojoan @briankrebs I spent a couple decades trying to “balance” my reading by alternating fiction and nonfiction. I gave up last year and decided to read as much fiction as I wanted with nonfiction when I felt like it. I probably read about the same amount, but I am SO much happier.
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@Daojoan Now with AI we all can pretend like we read a book every day.
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I genuinely think the worst thing the internet did to reading was convince people that finishing books is a competitive sport. You don't need to read 52 books a year. You just need to read. Books you like. At your own pace. And think about them for longer than a TikTok video.
@Daojoan not even books. Read magazines, newspapers, wikipedia, audiobooks, whatever. Reading is a pleasure, and it all adds to our perspective. Just choose something that is human-written and honest. Medium is far less important.
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@hugoestr @Daojoan I've been doing several "slow reads" lately. Either by reading a chapter a week - currently doing Carl Sagan's Cosmos for that. Or a little each day for really long books. I recently finished the audiobook of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which I started in December and listened to about 30 minutes a day most days. And it worked really well like that. I felt had had time to absorb and remember stuff, rather than rushing onwards and forgetting.
@beecycling @hugoestr @Daojoan I *loved* Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. I saw the tv series first, but it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the book. I get you about absorbing more when you slow down.
I highly recommend The Trotter Nama for a long book to spend time with. A real joy of a book.
https://archive.org/details/trotternamachron00seal
The Goodreads reviewers didn’t seem to get it. Anil Srivastava’s review is a good one and will give you a sense of whether you would enjoy it. It would be lovely to hear as well as read, but a quick search didn’t yield an audiobook version.
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I think the rise in audio books has a lot to do with this. I'm not convinced people are "reading" as much as we used to.
And that's not a slight on audio books, btw.
@RVLara23 @Daojoan if I can "read" a book while biking or driving a car (safely), talking a walk or doing chores - that's a superpower. Even if my comprehension isn't as good, that's still way better than not engaging with a book at all!
Sometimes I use text to speech to read me articles or papers or other written media I am researching (or just enjoying casually). And some audiobooks are just incredible works of art, bringing my beloved books to life in a very new way.Shoutout to #LibriVox !
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I genuinely think the worst thing the internet did to reading was convince people that finishing books is a competitive sport. You don't need to read 52 books a year. You just need to read. Books you like. At your own pace. And think about them for longer than a TikTok video.
@Daojoan seriously wonder if stories in video games can provide the same substance as books can. they're still fiction that can provide much to chew on i think.
idk the idea that video games are inherently fun slop was shoved down my throat as a child but games like MGS2 and SH2 say otherwise
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I genuinely think the worst thing the internet did to reading was convince people that finishing books is a competitive sport. You don't need to read 52 books a year. You just need to read. Books you like. At your own pace. And think about them for longer than a TikTok video.
I have been sadden by folk posting their book reading count, and worse, beating themselves up if they did not reach their arbitrary goals.
Far more important, can you remember what the book was about? Was there a passage, or a storyline that moved you? Do you have new insight into another culture? Do you have new burning desires to visit someplace far away, or sit in a cafe and hear everyone around you speaking in languages you do not know.
I want to know the name of that book.
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@Daojoan you can even stop reading a book you don’t enjoy, or read a book you like several times.
Mad I know. -
@RVLara23 @Daojoan if I can "read" a book while biking or driving a car (safely), talking a walk or doing chores - that's a superpower. Even if my comprehension isn't as good, that's still way better than not engaging with a book at all!
Sometimes I use text to speech to read me articles or papers or other written media I am researching (or just enjoying casually). And some audiobooks are just incredible works of art, bringing my beloved books to life in a very new way.Shoutout to #LibriVox !
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@glitzersachen @Nicovel0 @Daojoan
Ha! The moving pictures are there, just in my head, not the real world.
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Full ack. It always enrages me when my e-book reader announces that I have been on a reading streak. I would have been on a reading streak without this "nudging", but I feel that trying to keep me doing something I would have done anyway out of inclination is trying to devalue my reading. Sort of "you are (only) reading to stay in the reading streak, and we know it's hard for you, so we try to help you by telling you 'good boy'".
Also: I I haven't read for a day, maybe I have been thinking? So WTF, e-book reader.
It's just trying to psych you into buying more books, on it. Sales pitch.
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