[fho]

> passages that do not really add anything to the central message

I really hate that thing where the authors tease you with an interesting story like "Mr X did this really interesting thing" and the third paragraph starts with "Mr X grew up in a nondescript village and now we take a detour to highlight how he grew up that has basically nothing to do with the thing I expected to read about here" ...

Anyway ... I grew up in Germany in the early 80s and my parents were completely normal people ...

[smsm42]

I think people are taught to write this way, it's called "human interest" or something. Presumably, if they tell me Xs story starting with their grandparents, I'd be more read to extend empathy to Xs story later on. Except that by the time it gets to the interested part, I'm usually to tired to care...