[kthejoker2]

My own personal take is "only read something if you intend to teach it to someone else." Otherwise the stakes are too low.

There has to be a pretty even balance between consume and produce. I think the ratio is probably 30/70, but whatever your personal ratio is, make sure both sides are serving the other - consume to produce, take feedback from what you produce to consume more.

[t0mbstone]

I think you are failing to account for the most obvious reason why you should be reading things: So you can use the information YOURSELF, for your OWN purposes.

Reading a book can be like buying a new tool. The information you learn can sometimes transform your entire life. This is often true, regardless of whether or not you intend to teach the contents of the book to someone else.

[dorchadas]

This is why I read. I just enjoy learning new things, so I try to read widely across a variety of interests, and read between pop books on a topic and academic works (sadly, I've found I can't read much fiction anymore). It's not so I can teach someone else, or even synthesize it all together for some grand research project (though maybe if I started taking notes...), but simply because I enjoy learning and broadening my interests, and it gives me more stuff to talk about with different people.

But, if I was independently wealthy, I'd just stay at university the rest of my life too, pursuing various majors/classes/masters as my fancy takes me. To me, that's the dream life, and reading is a way to sort of mimic that without having to pay.