The Reading Habit


For people who want to read but just can’t seem to get (make?) the time, the authors of the Farnam Street blog suggested having a target of 25 pages per day. Additionally, they listed some ways to get the time for those 25 pages/day.

Ryan Holiday raised a problem with the 25 pages per day approach:
“Broken up into too many pieces, you’ll miss the whole point of the book, like the proverbial blind man touching an elephant. Those who conquer long books know that it’s not a matter of reading some pages before you fall asleep but rather, canceling your plans for the night and staying in to read instead.”
Valid point, responded the Farnam Street guys. But the point of 25 pages a day was slightly different:
1)      Partly, it was to get over the starting problem that many face (“If I can't read for hours on end, why bother starting?”).
2)     The number was the minimum pages to read a day, not the maximum!

The other problem with the advice was caused inadvertently. All of us have books we love, and we quote them as examples of the benefits of reading. The Farnam Street guys, had cited the 25 pages/day as a way to read books like The Power Broker, War and Peace, Anna Karenina, and The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in just a year. Like me, the names of such books put off many people:
“Some readers took that to mean that they should attempt these huge tomes out of pure masochism and use the 25-page daily mark to plow through boredom.”
The authors of the blog clarified. They weren’t recommending those books to everyone. After all:
“Here’s another unspoken truth: Any central lesson you can take away from War and Peace can also be learned in other ways if that book doesn't really interest you. The same goes for 99% of the wisdom out there — it's available in many places. Unfortunately, too many English lit professors have promoted the idea that “the classics” contain some sort of unique unobtanium of wisdom. Sorry, but that’s bullshit.”

I realized I’ve been following the path they actually recommend:
“The better idea is to read what seems awesome and interesting to you now and to let your curiosities grow organically. A lifelong interest in truth, reality, and knowledge will lead you down so many paths… Not only is this approach way more fun, but it works really, really well. It keeps you reading. It keeps you interested.”
Amen to that!

Comments

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  2. Ramiah KumarFebruary 16, 2019 at 9:23 AM

    Interesting points no doubt and well presented.

    However, the point in this sentence reflects some amount of "simple condemnation": QUOTE Unfortunately, too many English lit professors have promoted the idea that “the classics” contain some sort of unique unobtanium of wisdom. The suggestion is that, "What is there to glorify the classics?" leading further towards, "Classics need not hold worthiness, and that includes wisdom!"

    If we see the point of the sum-up paragraph having: "The better idea is to read what seems awesome and interesting to you now and to let your curiosities grow organically. A lifelong interest in truth, reality, and knowledge will lead you down so many paths." one finds that this indeed is inclusive of the classics! When the classics first appeared, they were certainly not classics; people read them because of "interest in truth, reality, and knowledge will lead you down so many paths".

    Overdoing high pedestals for classics is admittedly silly. If overzealous professors did it, it is not good. By that token, overdoing expressions to the effect "old literature lack intrinsic merit" may lack perspective too.

    My conviction towards 'viewing things in a balanced way' has not got shaken so far.

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