[bisby]

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.)

[edanm]

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.

(I personally mix most of the reasons above.)

[Ntrails]

> 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.

[bisby]

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.

[yazantapuz]

Jorge Luis Borges said something about:

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.

[Amezarak]

> but are constantly watching documentarie

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.