Why I don’t read N number of books per year
Reading is amazing, I never really realised that until I bought my very own Kindle. I only started reading Harry Potter in 2014, that’s how slow I was in the reading realm, don’t judge!
I used to think reading was extremely time consuming, I have to sit there for 6 hours looking at different combinations of 26 alphabets, compared to their movie counterpart that only takes a couple of hours, complete with sound and motion graphics. But of course, I know the difference now — books take you on a journey in your mind, where landscapes and characters are conjured up by your own imagination, people with their own voices and idiosyncrasies that is unique to the reader themselves.
However, that only applies to fictitious Wizarding Worlds, Westeros, and Middle Earths. For non-fiction, it is another story.
Great writers are great readers, many people in this platform acknowledges this. But I do have something against non-fiction books — be it self-help, business, or educational materials, they have one major flaw — they are just too fucking long-winded.
Many books like these are huge, with hundreds of pages teaching, preaching, beseeching us how to do stuff.
But a lot of times they are just books for the sake of being books.
They repeat, reiterate points, going off in all sorts of tangents and distractions, beating around the bush. These bounded form of dead trees refuse to get to the point because then it would be too short to be a book.
Because obviously, “The thicker the book, the better the book!”
These books can be shorten to half, or even more, of their size and the same idea will still be conveyed, maybe even more effectively because all the fluff is shaved away and it becomes more focused. Plus, it takes a shorter amount of time to read, and the author can take less time to think of and write all the unnecessary “air” to fill into his “potato chip bag”. We are all better off if we change our view on books.
How Medium helped me
One great solution to this non-fiction books tragedy is the internet. There are plenty of websites where people can write their own enlightenment and revelations, giving advice and encouragement, and providing succinct and useful listicles to help everyone improve their lives on any issue and topic. Mostly these take less than 10 minutes to read — no fluff, no trudging through chapters of bovine waste to set a scene.
Of course, I’m not going generalise all non-fiction books and authors, as they can be really handy and helpful at times. But there are times that are just too frustrating to get through a book because of the bush-beating and wild goose chases. And oftentimes we just continue reading because we are afraid we might miss some important bits if we were to skip ahead.
Reading should be enjoyable
Just like reading a good fiction book, non-fiction books should also enkindle certain joy, and not be a torture just because the author just hangs the carrot in front of you and make you run and chase it.
And the worst part? In the end you don’t get the carrot, then you realise it is all for naught.
Thanks for reading! If you have the same sentiments as me, hit that 💚 so others can see it too! That would be amazing! Feel free to drop a comment if you have something to say!
← P R E V I O U S: Effort ≠ Outcome
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