Books

I like books a lot. This year I’ve been keeping a list of all the books I’ve read because I kept forgetting what I’d read (which might tell you something about the quality of the books).

My main use for a book is nighttime reading. A half hour reading before bed works much better than alcohol and is a lot healthier. I try to only read fiction books that are considered ‘classics.’ If a book is still being read 50, a 100 or 200 years after they’ve been written that probably means it’s a book worth reading. I don’t have time to discover new and upcoming authors. There is also a much higher change that other people have read those classics too and it gives you something to talk about. Saying you’ve read a book too is also a bit of an intelligence hack, so people will think that you’re smarter than you actually are (not that you need it!)

But I’m struggling with non-fiction books these days. Even if I’ve got a couple of hours of downtime I don’t automatically reach for a book. Even on long train journeys I prefer to stare out the window instead.

I’m not sure why this is. On the one hand books are a valuable source of information. It’s good to commit to five-ish hours of reading on a single subject. A good author condenses a lifetimes’ worth of learning and studying into a small package. That’s a valuable thing.

But it’s that same commitment that puts me off. I know that if I read an article in the WSJ, the Economist or any other good publication I’ll come out the other end informed and it’ll only take me a couple of minutes.

It’s also a concentration thing. When I’m reading an article it’s easy to go back to do other work or browsing Facebook. Even though that’s not a good thing. Picking up a book (or kindle) means I don’t have that possibility and that makes it harder.

I sometimes also find it hard to read the type of books where one idea gets hammered in over three hundred pages. I understood what you where trying to say by chapter three, thanks.

The one genre of non-fiction I am enjoying is the biography. Reading stories of how successful people got started and tackled some of the biggest issues in their lives is inspirational.