[Negitivefrags]

I see this attitude fairly pervasively in hacker news when it comes to consuming media.

When famous tech people like Bill Gates post lists of books, there is almost never any fiction on there.

It's like reading is frowned upon as a waste of time unless it's non-fiction. You can get away with literary fiction but only if it's high-brow enough that it still feels like learning.

Can I not just read a fantasy book because I find it entertaining?

[vizeroth]

American adults read so little that this attitude only comes from a minority of the minority. For the most part, people see it as a waste of time because they may only read 1-4 books a year, so they might feel those books should have some meaningful purpose in their lives (or they only read a book because it is supposed to be great or have some use they can apply to their lives).

Read more, worry less about what others think. I read an average of a book a week (and I'm a slow reader), and most people find that to be argument enough to read whatever I want.

[braveo]

I don't read as much as I used to, and when I really think about it I get regretful. I definitely read more than 1-4 books/year, but I just don't have the time to devote to it anymore.

I strongly prefer actual books, but I've been doing a lot of reading on my iphone over the past few years due to being able to read when I have spots of downtime (waiting on oil change, for example).

[amazing_jose]

I read somewhere that Bill Gates' wife forced him to read at least one general magazine every month because he was completely disconnected from reality. He only consumed financial books and magazines and never watched the news. He used to find famous people in parties and events and never recognise them or know why they were famous.

[arcanus]

> He used to find famous people in parties and events and never recognise them or know why they were famous.

That sounds like a feature, not a bug to me.

[dwaltrip]

Not when you are the head of a huge philanthropic organization.

[gozur88]

It may also be that famous tech people don't want to admit they read the entire Harry Potter series the year the company was struggling. You don't get into the C-suite by not worrying about what people think.

[SBCRec]

Of course you can. It is your time to spend, not Bill Gates or any one elses. I don't read fiction although I enjoy reading history books even though some of them could be considered fiction by critics.

[PavlovsCat]

"obligatory quote"

> To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.

-- C.S. Lewis

[braveo]

Or it's that they're posting a specific type of list.