Why even read books?

[AION]

Especially on topics you already know. Most authors just rehash the same old same old with a special sauce of their own making. 

Especially on topics that are very mechanical in thought it is useless. Like I’m into marketing right now. And those books are such a grind with endless stupid anecdotes and masturbation of their ego. 

Just throw the ePub file in an AI grinder and link it to your existing common place book and bam it just filters out the juice. AI is basically the equivalent of man domesticating the work horse. It seems very mundane to do the monkey work. 
 

Currently I only read a book

• if I’m new to the topic/field
• if it is good fiction
• if it is a classical piece or worthy of my time 

Edited March 31 by AION

[Terell Kirby]

2 minutes ago, AION said:

Currently I only read a book

• if I’m new to the topic/field
• if it is non fiction
• if it is a classical piece or worthy of my time 

Enjoyment alone is enough

[Spiritual Warrior]

I don't know what kinds of books you're reading but I have gotten infinite wisdom from some of the books that I have read. 

Hearing other people points of view about the human experience is very valuable.

Not to mention the golden nuggets that you can contemplate from a master in his or her own field. 

I think reading books is essential for someone that wants to be multi perspectival and well educated. 

Reading in combination with meditation and contemplation is how you truly actualize yourself to the Truth in my opinion. 

Edited March 30 by Spiritual Warrior

[AION]

21 minutes ago, Spiritual Warrior said:

I don't know what kinds of books you're reading but I have gotten infinite wisdom from some of the books that I have read. 

Hearing other people points of view about the human experience is very valuable.

Not to mention the golden nuggets that you can contemplate from a master in his or her own field. 

I think reading books is essential for someone that wants to be multi perspectival and well educated. 

Reading in combination with meditation and contemplation is how you truly actualize yourself to the Truth in my opinion. 

That is why I put a disclaimer at the end of my OP to mention the type of books that I do read. It is not either/or. I do read books that are valuable and worthy of my time but considering my life span is not infinite but finite I have to make hard choices and not read every single book that draws my attention.

[AION]

22 hours ago, Terell Kirby said:

Enjoyment alone is enough

I have more time to enjoy fiction classics. Currently listening to Les Miserable. Amazing psychology in that book.

Edited March 31 by AION

[LifeEnjoyer]

Reading is pure discipline

[Spiritual Warrior]

4 minutes ago, AION said:

That is why I put a disclaimer at the end of my OP to mention the type of books that I do read. It is not either/or. I do read books that are valuable and worthy of my time but considering my life span is not infinite but finite I have to make hard choices and not read every single book that draws my attention.

That's fair. 

Honestly for me, I just read every book on Leo's book list. I rarely read anything else. Maybe that's cause Im a fan boy. But I also realize that finding the most powerful, life altering books is challenging and I think Leo has done the dirty work already in finding the books that line up with Truth the most. 

Edited March 30 by Spiritual Warrior

[Hojo]

I only read archie comics so I wouldn't know why people read.

[Peo]

1 hour ago, LifeEnjoyer said:

Reading is pure discipline

Not really, you dont need discipline to read. What takes discipline is doing the exercies that the author of the book suggest you do everyday for x days. Also taking notes takes discipline. 

[LifeEnjoyer]

@Peo You're right.

[Cireeric]

2 hours ago, LifeEnjoyer said:

Reading is pure discipline

I read hours everyday out of pure excitement

[Ulax]

I like reading literature because I think it’s interesting and educational to read about other perspectives on the human experience.

If you just read non fiction you lose a lot of the humanity of things imo. For example if you read war and peace you will gain a lot that simply reading a history book about the Napoleónic wars won’t touch on imo

[AION]

All we do is use the wisdom of the collective of humanity. Just imagine if you had to figure out everything by yourself. Yesterday I had such a deep insight that shook me and gave me more humility than I have. Basically the collective consciousness of humanity is part of everybody and all we need to do is to add our cherry on top. Most people prefer to reinvent the wheel to masturbate the ego or they can’t just navigate themselves out of their mental fodder. I’m not into getting stuck in those mental swamps. I have been there long enough. It is all about individuation aka reaching for the stars. It is all about being that beautiful flower on a pile of shit. 

Edited March 31 by AION

[Leo Gura]

After a certain point, after you read 150 books, few books are worth reading. Many books these days are just padded with time-wasting fluff.

Still, history, biography is good and necessary.

And sometimes you just find exceptional books which have serious unique content.

You gotta distingush between fluff rehashed books made for profit, and serious books. Much of the self-help or business or pop-psychology mainstream books are purely made for profit. They are gimmicks and marketing tools for the author more than real books. They were probably not even written by the author.

Edited March 31 by Leo Gura

[Daniel Balan]

@Leo Gura The only books worth reading are the books on Leo's book list. 

[Leo Gura]

4 minutes ago, Daniel Balan said:

@Leo Gura The only books worth reading are the books on Leo's book list. 

That's not true.

There are many other good books. But after a certain point they start to repeat and give diminishing returns.

What you can learn from the books about mastering yourself is quite limited. The real work is outside the books.

Most new books published today are marketing gimmicks. But occassionally you find a gem.

Edited March 31 by Leo Gura

[Daniel Balan]

Just now, Leo Gura said:

There are many other good books

If those books would have been good enough they'd all be on your booklist. Checkmate.  

[Leo Gura]

Just now, Daniel Balan said:

If those books would have been good enough they'd all be on your booklist. Checkmate.  

No

[Daniel Balan]

4 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

No

Look. I'm extremely careful with how I spend the little money I have! To me is common sense to buy a book recommended by someone like you who I look up to, than to buy a book which was marketed the hell out of. Example Jordan Peterson's books which all have flashy covers. And until I finish every book from your book list, why care about buying books I know nothing about?

[OBEler]

@Leo Gura I would pay for an updated book list where you rate again how good the book really is.

Some books you rate higher because you didn't discover better books at that time which are better written about that topic. For example your fist spiritual book ever readed, you would rate that probably high because it blows your mind. But after discovering countless other good books about spirituality this book might be just average.

Also some books promise you big things and hype you up. If you believe in it and think you found the holy Grail without testing out then you rate this book also higher than it should be.

Edited March 31 by OBEler