[D-Machine]

Who cares? So much books are just slop (pulp), or, these days, over 70% filler. Even if they are "decent" fiction or non-fiction, the majority still are almost entirely shallow entertainment, whether explicitly or implicitly as simplistic "edutainment" of some kind. There are blogs, articles, technical papers, heck, even user discussions that contain far greater depth and/or demand far greater attention and mental work than the vast majority of "books" out there today.

Just thinking "reading books" is something good or impressive borders on anti-intellectual in the world of the internet. A much better indicator of real intelligence is e.g., does a person read actual scientific papers or technical documents, or sites like ACX, HN, SeriousEats (or any other site which dives into any hobby or art with research and with long-form articles), do they know about e.g. SciHub and LibGen and Anna's Archive, do they know about people like James Hoffmann if they are into coffee, or Kenji Lopez if into home cooking, and I'm sure hundreds of other careful and obscure podcasts and individuals, discussion forums, and other digital textual sources.

Yes, please have read some serious books and works in your life, at some point (preferably some classic and modern literature and philosophy, but anything with real depth is good). But worship of "books" simpliciter is pure midwit in 2025 (and was so already in 2010, at bare minimum).

[TheAceOfHearts]

I find enjoyment in everything you mentioned (been reading since the Slate Star Codex days!) and I read a good mix of all book types, so I want to offer some gentle push-back. Reading fun fantasy books allows you to take your inner child and imagination out to play, not everything needs to be serious, intellectually challenging, or highly stimulating. Sometimes you have to let your imagination run free and just have fun. Holding space for your imagination to run free also opens yourself up to receiving inspiration or new unexpected ideas.

At the start of this year I read through Rick Rubin's book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being. This book wasn't telling me anything new, but it reminded me of a lot of things that I had forgotten while making me hold space for those ideas related to creativity.

Sometimes I encounter criticism of Newton for having "wasted" time studying and learning alchemy, and people lament how much more he could've gotten done if it wasn't for those distractions. But we don't know if those alchemy-related detours are load-bearing for his achievements!

The sweetest of fruits is fertilized by mountains of shit.

[D-Machine]

> I want to offer some gentle push-back

Nothing you've said here is push-back or contradicts anything I've said, IMO.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying slop, junk food, fast food, camp, kitsch, low-brow entertainment, or any kind of mindless dreck or low-quality anything. The same goes for enjoying mediocrity. It would be hell to only ever spend time consuming tedious, difficult, challenging, or novel things.

What is wrong is pretending that a broad category like "books" is any kind of indicator of intelligence or meaningful cultural cachet. I.e. "'Americans are reading less books' is bad" suggests zero consideration of things like differences in value and depth, and that is what is anti-intellectual (or midwit) about such remarks.

[card_zero]

I believe it would not be quite uſeleſs, to allow young ladies, according to their leiſure, and their capacity, the reading of ſome ſelect profane authors, that have nothing dangerous in them for the paſſions. This likewiſe is the means to give them a diſtaſte of moſt plays and romances: give them therefore into their hands Greek and Roman hiſtories, in the beſt tranſlations ...

Instructions for the education of daughters, 1750

[D-Machine]

Right. It's not that you read (or where you read it, or how much you read), but what you read that matters. Always has been the case.

Replace "read" with "consume" for contemporary relevance, or to make it particularly clear how dumb "Reading [consuming] lots is good".

EDIT - A contemporary bestselling book example: https://www.amazon.com/Morning-Glory-Milking-Cambric-Creek-e...

[Revolution1120]

Yes, sheet music is also a book. I read a lot of sheet music every year. And I really hate books that are full of fluff.