> I was also going through a phase in my life where I believed reading more fiction would help power up my imagination.
I kind of hate this mindset. Why does reading always have to be with the goal of self improvement? When someone binge watches a new TV series on Netflix no one asks them what skill they were trying to sharpen by enjoying that media.
I also dislike the mindset that reading == intellectual. I know plenty of people who read a LOT but it's all Twilight or 50 Shades of Grey type stuff. And I know people who never read books, but are constantly watching documentaries or otherwise always learning.
People should be able to have hobbies and self improvement separate and each one delivered in whichever medium they happen to prefer.
(And I'm not trying to say bad things about either of the books I mentioned, but rather illustrate that certain types of books aren't going to make you a scholar, just because you read a lot. Read what you enjoy.)
As someone who reads a lot - probably more than 99% of people, I guess? - I mostly agree.
> People should be able to have hobbies and self improvement separate and each one delivered in whichever medium they happen to prefer.
Agreed.
> Read what you enjoy.
Semi-agree on this one.
There are different reasons to read. You can read for pure entertainment. You can read to learn things. You can read to be motivated. You can read to calm down. You can read to be part of the conversation.
Reading what you enjoy is good advice, and it's a valid approach, but so is reading something that's a little but hard and not very enjoyable, because you want to expand your knowledge, to learn and grow.
Read what you want for whatever reason you want, would be my recommendation.
> Read what you want for whatever reason you want, would be my recommendation.
My minor counter here is "don't let the reason you read [something] be because someone has made you feel like you should"?
I (personally) observe pushing through a thing you actively don't enjoy for external validation etc will just demotivate and bleed into the entire activity. That's not to say you should not try a book because somebody suggests/recommends it. But try, don't feel obliged in order to gain approval.
In the same vein, don't avoid reading "trash" for fun because people are asses. Be it young adult swashbuckling, adult romance or elves and wizards - don't let anyone make you feel bad about your preferences.
Thank you. this is much more what I was trying to convey by "read what you enjoy". I meant less "enjoy" as in "read because you enjoy it" and more "because you want to". If you WANT to read a book that challenges you, even if it's a bit tedious, then do so. But not because of the external validation.
if Shakespeare interests you, that’s fine. If you find him tedious, leave him. Shakespeare hasn’t yet written for you. The day will come when Shakespeare will be right for you and you will be worthy of Shakespeare, but in the meantime there’s no need to hurry things.
I don't know why this is, but every single documentary I have seen on a subject that I know something about has been factually atrocious. I strongly discourage people from watching any documentaries. Maybe a few nature-following-animals documentaries are OK, but for some reason I don't understand the average documentary is completely mendacious, with facts altered, twisted to be dramatic, omitted because they contradict some narrative, set pieces completely wrong, the creation of some narrative that doesn't even make real sense, etc.
It's not that there aren't awful books, of course there are, but documentaries seem to be almost uniformly awful, even ones very highly rated, where books are usually the actual source material anyway. On top of this, documentaries are much better suited as propaganda vehicles, and are often used that way.
Of course, it may be I am more sensitive than most people to these issues; other people may find lower truthiness levels acceptable if it's the only way to garner their attention.
Just because you categorize something as a leisure activity doesn't mean someone shouldn't do it with an objective in mind.
Daily creative writing, journaling, (trying to) learn to dance, reading books in Spanish when I'd get more enjoyment reading in English. These are all things I've done with goals in mind beyond leisure. In fact I don't particularly enjoy them enough to do them without an objective, else I wouldn't have had to go out of my way to do them.
You don't enjoy everything or else you wouldn't have to try at anything.
> When someone binge watches a new TV series on Netflix no one asks them what skill they were trying to sharpen by enjoying that media.
But they weren't demanding this of anyone else. It was an objective for themself. You are actually the one demanding something of someone else just because you have different preferences. ;) Is that a great mindset?
As someone who reads books for fun (including hardcore technical books) I get where you're coming from. But I think the author understands that books can be both fun and useful. In fact they point it out several times. There's nothing wrong with reading books (or watching netflix) for fun, but there's nothing wrong with doing it because it's useful either.
Perhaps, but the fact that they needed to include that line almost defensively speaks to the culture, as if they had to justify why they were reading fiction books.
There are many ways of reading, the selection and the diversity (old and contemporary writers) of what you read helps you see how you could appreciate a more critical view of what you are reading.
Reading a novel before watching someone's rendering of the same novel into, say Netflix, may expand your imagination and possibly show you how limited the director's version of the same story. I felt that with Stephen King's thrillers, Pet Sematary and Thinner, then watching them as movies.
I can get through about six to eight books a year on the self improvement route and a couple dozen or more if I just have fun with it.
Revisiting old audiobooks is especially good for those times you are doing a mundane task or just need something comfortable for one of those days/weeks.
TV series and movies can also be watched with a goal in mind, whether secondary to the fun or not. Examples are seeing how culture changed or how a genre evolved.
I kind of hate this mindset. Why does reading always have to be with the goal of self improvement? When someone binge watches a new TV series on Netflix no one asks them what skill they were trying to sharpen by enjoying that media.