Stop Reading Lousy Books
And avoid the sunk-cost fallacy trap
We’ve all experienced this before one way or another: You browse through a bookshelf, and a book title grabs your attention immensely as if it’s exclaiming “this is you!”
You do a quick browse of the contents and skim through it, further convincing yourself that this is THE ONE BOOK you need in order to change your life.
You head for the cashier immediately, ready to break into your new companion once you reach home.
Then, The Unexpected Happens.
The wow factor depletes along with a few chapters into the book, and you now find yourself half-invested into this mediocre piece of random literature.
“But I’m already halfway through! Might as well…”
Here’s another idea: Just quit.
Doesn’t matter if you’re more than halfway into the book.
Just drop it, and pick up another one. One that’s worth your time.
It’s Just Statistics
Ever spilled a drink before? You’ve held on to cups for as long as you can remember, yet it still happens. None of us has a 0% failure rate when it comes to transporting a cup of drink from one place to another.
It’s the same with books; not every book we pick are winners.
The content might not hold up the first impressions you’ve gotten from the covers of the books. Sometimes, it might not even the problem with the book; you might not be the target audience, so the book is just unsuitable for you.
Whatever the case, it’s better to decide if the good content lies behind (and skip there), or just stop altogether.
The Final Decision
So what how can we decide when to quit a book? Here’re some questions you can ask yourself:
- Are you enjoying it? This might sound cheesy, but it’s the easiest test. For non-fiction, I find it similar to a conversation. He/she can agree or disagree with you completely, but the most enjoyable conversations are the ones where your eyes light up, you nod your head nonstop, and the a-ha moments keep coming. The best books appeal to us like that.
- Are you looking forward to picking it up again? You should have some idea of where the author is going by now, especially with the chapter titles. Is it something you are enthusiastic to discover?
- Skim the book again. Do you have the same impression as your first skim? Maybe you had an idea of what it’s about back then. What about now? Has your perspective changed for the worse?
- What do the reviews say? At this stage, 2 to 4-star reviews might tell you what you need to know about the rest of the book, and some perspectives; 2-star reviews tell you why this book isn’t good, and 4-star reviews tell you why it’s useful. You can then decide which camp you belong to.
There’re no definite answers to these questions, but they will provide a fresh perspective for you to make the choice.
In my own experience, dropping books help me pick new books better. Now, if I stumble upon a book pulling me, I’ll go back and sleep on it, and maybe check out some reviews. If I still feel strongly about it, I don’t mind making a trip just to get it. It happened to me for “How To Be Everything”, which I also wrote about here, and it’s been one of the best reads for me personally.
With “lousy” books, if you press on to finish the last 30% in agony, you didn’t save that 70% you invested; you simply wasted another 30% of the time to read it.
Rather than falling deep into the sunk cost fallacy, let’s give other books a chance to impact your life for the better.
