Looking up the lives of writers inspires me sometimes. Like how sherwood anderson was obsessed with women and basically ran out on his family. Then reading his stories about running away from your own anxiety and ennui only to find more emptiness and defeat, it fills me with a terrifying sense of dread and touches my soul. I can sit and think of his life and feel in great company, though I am isolated in my life.
if youre not completely addicted to electronic dopamine then is good advice, if you are then you should fix your addiction >dont take your smartphone on errands, buy an mp3 player or a pocket sized collection of short stories for when you have long wait times >read at least a couple (start with 3-5 depending on font/page size) pages of a book before bed every night, if you feel like reading more then do it but dont force yourself beyond the minimum >install extensions to block sites you spend too much time on for a few hours a day and set parental controls for apps, you can turn them on but the extra steps will make you think about it every time
And this
I usually only read for fun or for a specific purpose. Like learning a topic of interest, reading fiction that is fun or reading the bible in a foreign language cause it's easy to verify if I'm misunderstanding words or sentences.
I'm hijacking OP's thread to ask a different question:
Do you guys read smaller, shorter books alongside long ones? I'm halfway through Moby Dick but my copy of Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea tugs at my curiosity and taunts me to read it
The only reason i have not yet read Moby Dick is because it's too short.
Honestly if you think it is long enough to warrant a side book as meantime distraction then there is no hope for you. I hope you have fun playing videogames and watching movies though.
If I don't read x amount of pages then the following day for my daily movie I watch some absolute garbage on Tubi.
X is a number randomly selected between 10 and 50.
I only got into reading recently and what worked for me was to: find a book I found the premise interesting of (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), set an easily attainable page goal (15), and set a specific time of the day apart for reading (7pm). The more days went by while doing this, the more eager I was to read. Rather than something I had to get done, it became something I looked forward too. I started reading earlier than 7pm. I started reading more pages than my set goal. I started to get genuinely invested into the book. I finished it a few days ago and am now waiting for my next books to arrive (The Hunger Games, and The Murder Club).
Sir you aren't supposed to read those books, only the greeks, neetch and other stupid shit like the "western canon" is allowed here. Please leave immediately.
motivation is the biggest scam of all time
you are motivated to do shit you enjoy eg you enjoy ice skating, so you go ice skating all the time because you enjoy it
everything else is just discipline
When did they start putting misery/torture porn in children's book?
11 months ago
Anonymous
Who is "they"
11 months ago
Anonymous
Unironically there is some dark subtext. There is a man who tries to get married to the little girl. I'm sure your "dark and twisted" mind can fill in the implications.
11 months ago
Anonymous
It is not porn, but that uncle of theirs is pretty nasty. I didn't really read all of it, my sister loved those books, I think I've read 2 or 3, he locks the kid in a cage and does a bunch of crap. The thing is that he is evil, and those kids are living with him.
Why are you forcing yourself to read? That’s like forcing yourself to watch TV unless you’re actually trying to get through some academic textbook or something
Not forcing. I got what I wanted out of it, I put it down and am thinking about it. I'll read more tomorrow. Yesterday read 40 pages, but who gives a shit I'll do what I please. If that means reading a small amount each day so be it.
Because otherwise all I do is watch youtube and stare at the wall. I want something meaningful and something that will bring me out of this haze and that's what people say reading does.
Consumption of bite sized, surface level, neutered and overproduced slop is as meaningful as actually engaging with a subject on longer time scale that actually requires some active attention and dedication?
God I hope this is bait
11 months ago
Anonymous
PLEASE post your goodreads you insufferable redditor
11 months ago
Anonymous
I don't use either. What are some youtube channels/videos you found meaningful? I'm genuinely interested, I didn't have much luck finding them.
11 months ago
Anonymous
I don’t think watching youtube is meaningful. I just don’t think reading books is either. They are both distractions from real life.
11 months ago
Anonymous
Depends on what you consider meaningful. I don't think books are this lifechanging experience or whatever, but I undoubtedly think it's least harmful content to consume, and that it can change your worldview much more than other mediums of entertainment.
Also I think books are generally most comprehensive way of taping more deeply into certain subjects (which youtube practically can't emulate)
11 months ago
Anonymous
What's meaningful then?
11 months ago
Anonymous
Writing books or making videos could be meaningful. Working/creating. I enjoy consuming others work as well of course, but it’s not a meaningful use of one’s time. It’s just a distraction. Like watching a movie.
11 months ago
Anonymous
But if you don't read and think how will you create quality work? Or is just creating/working for it's own sake meaningful?
Stop doing other things and you will naturally fill that time with reading if you are into reading, it is that simple. So reduce your time browsing here or something.
You are literally me. Setting a minimum goal of 15 pages worked for me. I can read much more than that now when I'm into it and I'm actually enjoying it. Also learning to actually just pick up books that genuinely interest me instead of trying to read something "great" to better myself. It's hard to get out of that mentality school instilled in you. And it's okay to drop books or read multiple at the same time if it's hard to stay interested.
I just polished off two books today and it feels good.
I'm picking up a foreign language and it will minimum require me reading 30 books to acquire all the new vocab / phrases.
After that I'm moving onto Japan that takes 100. And I don't mean grammar books or whatever but stuff like fiction, actually interesting stuff. Granted all of these books will be on the simpler side at first but I'll have to progress to the harder ones at some point.
I'm incredibly pale by nature and at some point I started to read outside to look healthier and then it kinda stuck and that's just what I've been doing for like two decades. I barely read during the winter which disappoints me a bit but at that point it actually requires a good book.
just read books you want to read. it's literally that easy. i thought endlessly scrolling on tiktok and twitter for 10+ hours everyday had melted my brain and destroyed my attention span so much that i was unable to read books, but it turned out i was trying to force myself to read books i didnt like. i found a 500 page book i liked and finished it in 2 days. if this applies to you, try and break yourself out of the mindset of only trying to only read "real" literature and seem like an intellectual. you aren't obligated to finish books if you don't like them. this isn't high school. it doesn't matter if the book you're reading seems immature or "not real reading", or if you think your attention span has been destroyed by social media, if you pick up a book you find interesting, you won't have to force yourself to read it.
it's similar to cardio for me. when you start from nothing it takes very little to wind you, and just a short break can take away a ton of progress.
the goal is to make reading difficult things effortless, because brute forcing your reading gets exhausting and you can only do so much. do some amount of difficult reading, but supplement that with lots of reading that's more "at your level". And of course don't waste your efforts reading something you just want to "have read". read what grabs your attention.
so maybe that's something like 10-25 minutes of a classic novel or philosophy, and then as much of a lower brow novel or history as you can fit in.
obviously, it helps to ditch the internet doing all this. even the most engrossing books can't compete with getting (you)s
I think this question is based on the faulty premise that reading is good or a worthwhile activity
If you pick up a book and your body and mind are screaming at you to stop, that shows you have good instincts. Instead of reading try making more money, have fun with friends, learn a skill (YouTube preferably, not books), lift weights, etc.
And die with no knowledge of yourself or others. Just be ignorant, do not seek understanding, stay stupid with your stupid friends who also know nothing.
You will die without having lived. He'll become wise by acquiring knowledge through actual life experience and applying it, while you'll become even more of a resentful shell of a human being rotting with all the knowledge you've horded.
So your suggestion is to not read because that's meaningless but to buy a prostitute? Geez. Getting laid isn't hard nor the be all end all of life.
11 months ago
Anonymous
Reading isn't meaningless. My post was obviously exaggerated for (you)s, but for most people the opportunity cost of reading is too high to read anything except the absolutely finest works.
The shorter the better, the more "episodic" the better (e.g. books of the Bible, Montaigne's Essays). Books of aphorisms are great for this reason.
You must understand reading is a LEISURE activity and literature is a LIBERAL art, i.e., the course of study for a FREE man with FREE time. If you aren't motivated to spend your precious free time reading it's likely you know, deep down, you have better things to do
11 months ago
Anonymous
I honestly don't. I make enough money and I'm happy with my social life. I just want more meaning in life in general. Reading seems to be the route to that. And don't get me wrong I do read. I just wish I could read a lot more.
is it worth it to learn this lang for the literature? (i am south slavic so probably won't be that hard). Also where do i get books in the lang, zlib seems to be down again.
not really on topic, but this thread made me remember that copypasta from IQfy >I NEED 150 POINTS A GAME TO BE SCORED BY Black folk TO STIMULATE MY DOPAMINE FRIED AMERICAN BRAIN I NEED Black folk TO DUNK 50 TIMES A GAME AND FLEX I CANT GO ON WITH A TIE I NEED I NEED TO SEE TOUCHDOWNS I NEED TO SEE SOMEONE SCOOOOOORRREEEEEE EVERY 5 SECONDS AND COCA COLA COMMERCIAL RIGHT AFTER
Disconnect your router until the evening so you are forced to either read, watch tv or go outside. 2 of these are good, if your first instinct is watching television you are a subhuman consumer cattle
Just read Black person REAAAAAAAAAAAAAD
throw out your computer and smartphone.
I am not a mentally weak, screen-addicted loser
Yet here you are.
That’s not the gotcha that your dopamine-fried brain thought it would be
by actually reading that which you find interesting. If you're not motivated, you might want to pick another book, until you are.
This pretty much, also read in bursts to avoid burnout
Looking up the lives of writers inspires me sometimes. Like how sherwood anderson was obsessed with women and basically ran out on his family. Then reading his stories about running away from your own anxiety and ennui only to find more emptiness and defeat, it fills me with a terrifying sense of dread and touches my soul. I can sit and think of his life and feel in great company, though I am isolated in my life.
Force yourself to read, stop with the infinite scrolling apps that rot your attention span.
I find books i want to read. I’m motivated to read them because i want to. If I don’t want to read a book I don’t.
if youre not completely addicted to electronic dopamine then is good advice, if you are then you should fix your addiction
>dont take your smartphone on errands, buy an mp3 player or a pocket sized collection of short stories for when you have long wait times
>read at least a couple (start with 3-5 depending on font/page size) pages of a book before bed every night, if you feel like reading more then do it but dont force yourself beyond the minimum
>install extensions to block sites you spend too much time on for a few hours a day and set parental controls for apps, you can turn them on but the extra steps will make you think about it every time
Adderall
You just find easier and personally more enjoyable books to read! Exerting oneself doesn't work for long.
This
And this
I usually only read for fun or for a specific purpose. Like learning a topic of interest, reading fiction that is fun or reading the bible in a foreign language cause it's easy to verify if I'm misunderstanding words or sentences.
I'm hijacking OP's thread to ask a different question:
Do you guys read smaller, shorter books alongside long ones? I'm halfway through Moby Dick but my copy of Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea tugs at my curiosity and taunts me to read it
Yeah I do this exactly. My figurative reading shelf looks like battlements.
The only reason i have not yet read Moby Dick is because it's too short.
Honestly if you think it is long enough to warrant a side book as meantime distraction then there is no hope for you. I hope you have fun playing videogames and watching movies though.
Imagine skipping every book under 600 pages, you must be a fricking idiot. Ever hear of poetry, moron?
Which movies do you recommend?
1.The Chess players by Satyajit Ray.
2.Dr. Strangelove.
3.Downfall
You sound insufferable
surprised you got as many responses as you did for such shit bait
I finished 4 smaller books while reading don quixote
Have a specific purpose for reading
Just light a fire under your ass. Figuratively speaking obviously.
way ahead of ya- wait... figuratively?
!!! I DID IT LITERALLY WOAHHHHH
(your welcome for this joke to lighten your day sirs :))
😀
Good one, sir.
Good morning sir
If I don't read x amount of pages then the following day for my daily movie I watch some absolute garbage on Tubi.
X is a number randomly selected between 10 and 50.
>read books with page count 100-350
>can actually read them completely without dropping
>feel motivated to read more
Amphetamine-like stimulants
I only got into reading recently and what worked for me was to: find a book I found the premise interesting of (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), set an easily attainable page goal (15), and set a specific time of the day apart for reading (7pm). The more days went by while doing this, the more eager I was to read. Rather than something I had to get done, it became something I looked forward too. I started reading earlier than 7pm. I started reading more pages than my set goal. I started to get genuinely invested into the book. I finished it a few days ago and am now waiting for my next books to arrive (The Hunger Games, and The Murder Club).
Sir you aren't supposed to read those books, only the greeks, neetch and other stupid shit like the "western canon" is allowed here. Please leave immediately.
motivation is the biggest scam of all time
you are motivated to do shit you enjoy eg you enjoy ice skating, so you go ice skating all the time because you enjoy it
everything else is just discipline
By having 1000 unread books on my shelves. They mock me. But I will defeat them. Eventually.
You find a book you really want to read.
Uh. I don't want to read books, or at least I haven't found something that I want to read yet.
Why are you reading books then
How do you do that?
Can anyone recommend something where everything that can go wrong for the characters, goes wrong? Basically, torture, misery porn. Don't judge me
A series of unfortunate events
Why does the cover make it look like a children's book?
Because it is.
When did they start putting misery/torture porn in children's book?
Who is "they"
Unironically there is some dark subtext. There is a man who tries to get married to the little girl. I'm sure your "dark and twisted" mind can fill in the implications.
It is not porn, but that uncle of theirs is pretty nasty. I didn't really read all of it, my sister loved those books, I think I've read 2 or 3, he locks the kid in a cage and does a bunch of crap. The thing is that he is evil, and those kids are living with him.
I only read around 20 pages today and underlined a few pages. That's it. But I assume that's how it starts. I'm happy with that.
Why are you forcing yourself to read? That’s like forcing yourself to watch TV unless you’re actually trying to get through some academic textbook or something
Not forcing. I got what I wanted out of it, I put it down and am thinking about it. I'll read more tomorrow. Yesterday read 40 pages, but who gives a shit I'll do what I please. If that means reading a small amount each day so be it.
Coffee
Instant? I drink Nescafe Instant Gold Blend.
it's rad.
Just read every day. Don't force yourself with some daily schedules or quotas. One day you can read for an hour, next day for 15 minutes.
Why do people make themselves read more than they want to and what exactly do these people read? Self help books?
Because otherwise all I do is watch youtube and stare at the wall. I want something meaningful and something that will bring me out of this haze and that's what people say reading does.
Only psued redditors think reading books is more meaningful than watching youtube videos.
Consumption of bite sized, surface level, neutered and overproduced slop is as meaningful as actually engaging with a subject on longer time scale that actually requires some active attention and dedication?
God I hope this is bait
PLEASE post your goodreads you insufferable redditor
I don't use either. What are some youtube channels/videos you found meaningful? I'm genuinely interested, I didn't have much luck finding them.
I don’t think watching youtube is meaningful. I just don’t think reading books is either. They are both distractions from real life.
Depends on what you consider meaningful. I don't think books are this lifechanging experience or whatever, but I undoubtedly think it's least harmful content to consume, and that it can change your worldview much more than other mediums of entertainment.
Also I think books are generally most comprehensive way of taping more deeply into certain subjects (which youtube practically can't emulate)
What's meaningful then?
Writing books or making videos could be meaningful. Working/creating. I enjoy consuming others work as well of course, but it’s not a meaningful use of one’s time. It’s just a distraction. Like watching a movie.
But if you don't read and think how will you create quality work? Or is just creating/working for it's own sake meaningful?
https://www.youtube.com/@Armageddon4145
Stop doing other things and you will naturally fill that time with reading if you are into reading, it is that simple. So reduce your time browsing here or something.
You are literally me. Setting a minimum goal of 15 pages worked for me. I can read much more than that now when I'm into it and I'm actually enjoying it. Also learning to actually just pick up books that genuinely interest me instead of trying to read something "great" to better myself. It's hard to get out of that mentality school instilled in you. And it's okay to drop books or read multiple at the same time if it's hard to stay interested.
I just polished off two books today and it feels good.
Reading is what I do when I lack the motivation to do something actually productive.
I'm picking up a foreign language and it will minimum require me reading 30 books to acquire all the new vocab / phrases.
After that I'm moving onto Japan that takes 100. And I don't mean grammar books or whatever but stuff like fiction, actually interesting stuff. Granted all of these books will be on the simpler side at first but I'll have to progress to the harder ones at some point.
I'm incredibly pale by nature and at some point I started to read outside to look healthier and then it kinda stuck and that's just what I've been doing for like two decades. I barely read during the winter which disappoints me a bit but at that point it actually requires a good book.
just read books you want to read. it's literally that easy. i thought endlessly scrolling on tiktok and twitter for 10+ hours everyday had melted my brain and destroyed my attention span so much that i was unable to read books, but it turned out i was trying to force myself to read books i didnt like. i found a 500 page book i liked and finished it in 2 days. if this applies to you, try and break yourself out of the mindset of only trying to only read "real" literature and seem like an intellectual. you aren't obligated to finish books if you don't like them. this isn't high school. it doesn't matter if the book you're reading seems immature or "not real reading", or if you think your attention span has been destroyed by social media, if you pick up a book you find interesting, you won't have to force yourself to read it.
it's similar to cardio for me. when you start from nothing it takes very little to wind you, and just a short break can take away a ton of progress.
the goal is to make reading difficult things effortless, because brute forcing your reading gets exhausting and you can only do so much. do some amount of difficult reading, but supplement that with lots of reading that's more "at your level". And of course don't waste your efforts reading something you just want to "have read". read what grabs your attention.
so maybe that's something like 10-25 minutes of a classic novel or philosophy, and then as much of a lower brow novel or history as you can fit in.
obviously, it helps to ditch the internet doing all this. even the most engrossing books can't compete with getting (you)s
I think this question is based on the faulty premise that reading is good or a worthwhile activity
If you pick up a book and your body and mind are screaming at you to stop, that shows you have good instincts. Instead of reading try making more money, have fun with friends, learn a skill (YouTube preferably, not books), lift weights, etc.
And die with no knowledge of yourself or others. Just be ignorant, do not seek understanding, stay stupid with your stupid friends who also know nothing.
You will die without having lived. He'll become wise by acquiring knowledge through actual life experience and applying it, while you'll become even more of a resentful shell of a human being rotting with all the knowledge you've horded.
>nobody knew anything before the invention of writing
???
What if I've done all those things and they aren't satisfying?
Have you tried buying a lovely prostitute for a night?
So your suggestion is to not read because that's meaningless but to buy a prostitute? Geez. Getting laid isn't hard nor the be all end all of life.
Reading isn't meaningless. My post was obviously exaggerated for (you)s, but for most people the opportunity cost of reading is too high to read anything except the absolutely finest works.
The shorter the better, the more "episodic" the better (e.g. books of the Bible, Montaigne's Essays). Books of aphorisms are great for this reason.
You must understand reading is a LEISURE activity and literature is a LIBERAL art, i.e., the course of study for a FREE man with FREE time. If you aren't motivated to spend your precious free time reading it's likely you know, deep down, you have better things to do
I honestly don't. I make enough money and I'm happy with my social life. I just want more meaning in life in general. Reading seems to be the route to that. And don't get me wrong I do read. I just wish I could read a lot more.
>start reading a book
>if I don't like it within the first few pages, drop it
>if I do like it, devour it
That's it. Learning to drop what you don't like ironically makes you read much more.
Give me your top 4 reading recommendations.
Also, what all computing devices do you use?
And how do you find books you want to read?
https://recommendmeabook.com/
I don't "get motivated". I enjoy reading so I read. That's it.
Based. If you have to be "motivated', you don't like reading, simple as
is it worth it to learn this lang for the literature? (i am south slavic so probably won't be that hard). Also where do i get books in the lang, zlib seems to be down again.
why don't you learn a popular language instead like German, Russian, Spanish or Chinese or something?
I don't need motivation. I read however much I feel like. It's not a job homie lmao
I read to put off working out and work out to put off reading.
not really on topic, but this thread made me remember that copypasta from IQfy
>I NEED 150 POINTS A GAME TO BE SCORED BY Black folk TO STIMULATE MY DOPAMINE FRIED AMERICAN BRAIN I NEED Black folk TO DUNK 50 TIMES A GAME AND FLEX I CANT GO ON WITH A TIE I NEED I NEED TO SEE TOUCHDOWNS I NEED TO SEE SOMEONE SCOOOOOORRREEEEEE EVERY 5 SECONDS AND COCA COLA COMMERCIAL RIGHT AFTER
You use a twenty year woman(yum) as a bookmark?
Find something you really like reading
Cigarettes or snus
Disconnect your router until the evening so you are forced to either read, watch tv or go outside. 2 of these are good, if your first instinct is watching television you are a subhuman consumer cattle