Discussion Forum > No, I don’t want to build better reading habits
Yes!
I've been thinking a lot recently about the downside of "little and often", "Tiny or Atomic Habits" and "Balance" Don't get me wrong there is a lot of upside to those concepts and I find value in them but occasionally I feel like I have over moderated my life by not allowing myself to just get lost in something to see where it takes me. There are unhealthy binges for sure but I'm not sure all binges are unhealthy.
I've never been a binge reader but I do miss the days when I would "binge" on a overly long bicycle ride. I'd go for far more miles than I was in shape for and would end up being extremely sore for a few days but it was always a memorable event and the mental victory of it was always worth the physical price I paid.
I might try a reading binge... I'm curious to know what other beneficial binges I might be missing out on
Brent
I've been thinking a lot recently about the downside of "little and often", "Tiny or Atomic Habits" and "Balance" Don't get me wrong there is a lot of upside to those concepts and I find value in them but occasionally I feel like I have over moderated my life by not allowing myself to just get lost in something to see where it takes me. There are unhealthy binges for sure but I'm not sure all binges are unhealthy.
I've never been a binge reader but I do miss the days when I would "binge" on a overly long bicycle ride. I'd go for far more miles than I was in shape for and would end up being extremely sore for a few days but it was always a memorable event and the mental victory of it was always worth the physical price I paid.
I might try a reading binge... I'm curious to know what other beneficial binges I might be missing out on
Brent
November 29, 2023 at 19:48 |
Brent
Brent
As the poet and critic Randell Jarrell said, "Read at whim! Read at whim!" This is for pleasure, obviously. During the pandemic, I found myself reading lots more graphic novels because I really could not take anything heavier or more demanding. And then after a time, I went back to novels and nonfiction, as my whims took me and my interests changed.
When I was in grad school, reading as a duty and a task required a different mindset, a different set of tools. But even there, when doing research, it was a matter of following your nose, seeing where this or that thread led me.
Nowadays, I tend to pop web pages into a readlater app (I use Readwise) and then some time later -- maybe weeks or months later -- I skim through some of the older entries and delete most of them without reading. They cooled off sitting in the reading queue and had less perceived urgency.
When I was in grad school, reading as a duty and a task required a different mindset, a different set of tools. But even there, when doing research, it was a matter of following your nose, seeing where this or that thread led me.
Nowadays, I tend to pop web pages into a readlater app (I use Readwise) and then some time later -- maybe weeks or months later -- I skim through some of the older entries and delete most of them without reading. They cooled off sitting in the reading queue and had less perceived urgency.
November 30, 2023 at 15:01 |
Mke Brown
Mke Brown
I started a thread a while ago about managing book reading. I need to sort my books and decide which ones to discard and I realized I have to at least look at them to do that. So I put aside about 45 books to get started and put one book for each day of consecutive 45 days on my calendar. I have been reading now for a month every day a book for 30 minutes and taking notes. What I discovered was that many of the books I selected are of the same theme. If I continue with this rate I'll get through all my books in 2 years! Many of these books I've already read at least once so they are review. I am hoping to go back and read my notes. Probably what I should do next is to see if there's any action steps or projects I should start or books to read further or books I am now willing to let go of.
November 30, 2023 at 18:29 |
Mark H.
Mark H.
A couple related thoughts...
When I was in first grade, I was in a book club. We were assigned a book, and I dove in. I couldn't finish it. I felt guilty, but I stopped. The book stayed on my bookshelf at home for many years. In middle school I saw it and the guilt rose up. I started reading it again. I couldn't finish. It happened one more time, maybe high school or college. I made it 10 pages and nope. Then it hit me. I am under no obligation to finish every book I start. This was huge and profound for me.
I've been trying to remove the guilt from my reading. Some of this is guilt over what you described — endless online things that are probably low value, or at least undirected, and definitely not directly related to a specific question I'm trying to answer. Key distinction: they also tend to be things I have not searched for directly. They are just served up by an algorithm to tempt me. The algorithm keeps them vaguely connected to my interests, but I have no idea how many real insights I've gotten from the countless hours of reading. Maybe way less than I think. Maybe way more, because I've stumbled onto some great things. I'm embarrassed that I don't know whether it's a net positive or negative.
However, some is also guilt over what I "should" be reading. All those books I bought. The owner's manual for my new camera. That huge graphic novel I always wanted to read but that needs several weeks to get through. This quote has helped me a lot with that guilt: "Think of your bookcase as a wine cellar. You collect books to be read at the right time, the right place, and the right mood." ~ Luc van Donkersgoed
What doesn't feel guilty: Having a thought about the Moog synthesizer pop into my head, and then looking up and reading several long articles about the history and influence on modern music. Or having an insight, then jumping up and grabbing a book from the shelf to find a specific section, which I usually read while standing right there even if it takes an hour. Why does not prompt guilt? Because it started with me. For some reason, I was spontaneously curious about something specific, unprompted by any curated feed list.
Hmmm... maybe a big part of the guiltiness is whether the information I'm consuming came from a question I asked (Was the Moog synthesizer really influential?), or from someone else click-bait style (I tried 30 productivity systems in 30 days. What happened was...). My desire for completion makes it almost impossible to resist clicking (what happened?!?), even though the question wasn't in my head until I read the article headline.
I have a stack of books. I wonder what would happen if I treated that stack as my "feed"? Whenever I feel like I want to scroll, I can scroll through the stack and pick one. If I don't know, then pick the top one. Open and read. Close if it doesn't hold my attention. Then "scroll" to the next one and repeat.
Thanks for the prompt to get me thinking about my reading habits!
When I was in first grade, I was in a book club. We were assigned a book, and I dove in. I couldn't finish it. I felt guilty, but I stopped. The book stayed on my bookshelf at home for many years. In middle school I saw it and the guilt rose up. I started reading it again. I couldn't finish. It happened one more time, maybe high school or college. I made it 10 pages and nope. Then it hit me. I am under no obligation to finish every book I start. This was huge and profound for me.
I've been trying to remove the guilt from my reading. Some of this is guilt over what you described — endless online things that are probably low value, or at least undirected, and definitely not directly related to a specific question I'm trying to answer. Key distinction: they also tend to be things I have not searched for directly. They are just served up by an algorithm to tempt me. The algorithm keeps them vaguely connected to my interests, but I have no idea how many real insights I've gotten from the countless hours of reading. Maybe way less than I think. Maybe way more, because I've stumbled onto some great things. I'm embarrassed that I don't know whether it's a net positive or negative.
However, some is also guilt over what I "should" be reading. All those books I bought. The owner's manual for my new camera. That huge graphic novel I always wanted to read but that needs several weeks to get through. This quote has helped me a lot with that guilt: "Think of your bookcase as a wine cellar. You collect books to be read at the right time, the right place, and the right mood." ~ Luc van Donkersgoed
What doesn't feel guilty: Having a thought about the Moog synthesizer pop into my head, and then looking up and reading several long articles about the history and influence on modern music. Or having an insight, then jumping up and grabbing a book from the shelf to find a specific section, which I usually read while standing right there even if it takes an hour. Why does not prompt guilt? Because it started with me. For some reason, I was spontaneously curious about something specific, unprompted by any curated feed list.
Hmmm... maybe a big part of the guiltiness is whether the information I'm consuming came from a question I asked (Was the Moog synthesizer really influential?), or from someone else click-bait style (I tried 30 productivity systems in 30 days. What happened was...). My desire for completion makes it almost impossible to resist clicking (what happened?!?), even though the question wasn't in my head until I read the article headline.
I have a stack of books. I wonder what would happen if I treated that stack as my "feed"? Whenever I feel like I want to scroll, I can scroll through the stack and pick one. If I don't know, then pick the top one. Open and read. Close if it doesn't hold my attention. Then "scroll" to the next one and repeat.
Thanks for the prompt to get me thinking about my reading habits!
March 8, 2024 at 20:15 |
Scott Moehring
Scott Moehring
For "little and often" reading of classic (ie, public domain) books, I recommend the Serial Reader app. It feeds you ~10-minute dollops of books in its collection. Read a lot of Hercule Poirot stories this way.
You can also upload your own epub file and it will divvy up the ebook into bite-size portions.
You can also upload your own epub file and it will divvy up the ebook into bite-size portions.
March 8, 2024 at 21:51 |
Mike Brown
Mike Brown
Scott & Mike:
I think I wrote an article about reading books some years ago, but I can't find it now.
However there's nothing really difficult about reading books as such (though of course some books may be a difficult read). Here's a simple system which you can adapt to suit your own preferences:
1. Decide on what book you're going to read (funny how often people leave this step out!).
2. Set a timer for ten minutes and read the book for ten minutes. Once the ten minutes is up you can continue reading the book for as long as you like, but you must do the ten minutes without fail.
3. Repeat at least once a day. More is good, but not compulsory.
That's it!
P.S. You may find it helpful to page through the book before starting proper reading, especially if the book is non-fiction and/or has illustrations.
I think I wrote an article about reading books some years ago, but I can't find it now.
However there's nothing really difficult about reading books as such (though of course some books may be a difficult read). Here's a simple system which you can adapt to suit your own preferences:
1. Decide on what book you're going to read (funny how often people leave this step out!).
2. Set a timer for ten minutes and read the book for ten minutes. Once the ten minutes is up you can continue reading the book for as long as you like, but you must do the ten minutes without fail.
3. Repeat at least once a day. More is good, but not compulsory.
That's it!
P.S. You may find it helpful to page through the book before starting proper reading, especially if the book is non-fiction and/or has illustrations.
March 9, 2024 at 13:44 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
A few days ago I formulated the project of building better reading habits by regulating the duration and timing of reading and by reading more serious and substantial things - a Great Book, perhaps, rather than the latest Substack posts.
Yet the material I choose to binge on is often inspiring and nourishing and somehow close to the core of what I feel I should be doing with my life. In general I have no objection to the content of what I binge on.
Then I realized that improving my reading habits was not the thing I really wanted to do. Or, if you like, that this was not the right framing of my problem. What I really wanted was to improve the timing and duration of all the other must/ought/want things. If I can improve my habits in those other areas, “binge reading” wouldn’t matter.
I’ve accordingly dropped "building better reading habits" from my list of approved projects.
The wider lesson I draw is that bingeing, in any area, is no vice - or rather, that it doesn’t count as bingeing when competing activities are guarded.
There is certainly scope for improving my random reading. I can improve my choices of online subscriptions, bookmarked Web pages, social-media platforms, podcasts and so on. But those are not things to worry about too much. The scheduled periods of must/ought/want things are what I should pay attention to.