# Can you read too much? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 11, 2003, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-too-much/201074 "2003-09-11T23:30:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Milum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@Milum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milum)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-too-much/201074/61 "2003-09-15T02:14:28Z")
**"I disagree…one does not always read merely to learn. For some, reading can be like watching a sunset, or spending a day at the beach. Beautiful, pleasurable, entertaining, but without an “educational” benefit. Are they “bad,” then?"** OK now,\*\* Ranchoth\*\*, let us see if you find this tidbit of new learning pleasurable? The play of children is experienced by them as pleasurable. The all of child’s play is learning. A central distinction between mankind and other primates is the absurd length of time it takes us to reach maturity. We need almost all the time of our allotted lifes to become wise so we may guide our young through the intricate and complicated world that human culture has created. Sadly, besides love, learning is the only lasting pleasure available to our kind. Our biological pleasures flip flop between pleasure and pain, in example, the joy of eating; the pain of hunger. But by the necessity brought about by our need for evolutionary continuance, the pleasure that we realize through learning reinforsement continues on until our biology fails. Of course, our beliefs and actions can affect the timing of our demise, for example; if we can find new things to learn our pleasures in living can extend almost until the time of our natural death. Unfortunately as you grow older you have to look harder for things to learn that you don’t already know. Yes I know. There is a universe of things out there that you could discover, but you won’t find them in stale tired old books. By then you’ll have to look hard and harder for new thoughts and discoveries, but if you happen to love life you’ll will. And you’ll find them. After all learning new things is the only pleasure game in town. Take \*\* qwanderer\*\*'s poem for example… \*\*\*Not the piercing joy of my intellectual Silver line; Chills, that used to give me. That doesn’t come often to me now. (I want it back! It was a constant! It kept me alive when I barely lived!)\*\*\* * * * ---
**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-too-much/201074/62 "2003-09-15T02:37:18Z")
> [@](#): > > Yes I know. There is a universe of things out there that you could discover, but you won’t find them in stale tired old books. What are you even talking about? Am I supposed to devote my energies to actually building a time machine so I can go check out what ancient Rome was actually like instead of reading about it? ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-too-much/201074/63 "2003-09-15T03:05:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Greywolf73 \* > \*\*Going to her house was a strange experience because a house without books is just off-kilter somehow. There’s a sense of something missing. \*\* I get that feeling too! I walk into these houses/apartments/whatever and look all around, thinking, “Where are the bookshelves? Where are all the books?” ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-too-much/201074/64 "2003-09-15T03:26:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Milum \* > \*\*Yes I know. There is a universe of things out there that you could discover, but you won’t find them in stale tired old books. \*\* This is utterly incomprehnsible to me. If your books are “stale” or “tired”, perhaps you need to start exploring different authors and genres. Whether you believe it or not, reading can be a deep pleasure for some of us. We may be reading for different reasons-- for entertainment, perhaps, for information, or even just for the simple joy of the eye caressing the written word, but all of us are greatly enjoying the experience. We _are_ exploring the world. I’ll probably never experience the exhilaration of clibing Mt. Everest, but I can read a book by Sir Edmund Hillary, and feel at least some of his excitement. I know I’ll never go to the moon, but I can see it through the eyes of a person who did. Through the written word, one can explore the gamut of human experience in a way which may never be possible in real life. We can explore how others think, and in doing so, learn about ourselves. We can be exposed to new ideas, and in turn, get a few of our own. If reading were as dour and joyless as you seem to think it, few would turn to books for pleasure and entertainment. ---
**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-too-much/201074/65 "2003-09-15T03:29:06Z")
> [@](#): > > Yes I know. There is a universe of things out there that you could discover, but you won’t find them in stale tired old books. What are you even talking about? Am I supposed to devote my energies to actually building a time machine so I can go check out what ancient Rome was actually like instead of reading about it? ---
**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-too-much/201074/66 "2003-09-15T03:30:35Z")
Ugh, sorry. Double posts like that are why I shouldn’t keep windows open forever. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-too-much/201074/67 "2003-09-15T03:58:41Z")
**Milum** , with all…_due_ respect, what the blazes _are_ you talking about? By your claim, the _only_ true sources of pleasure in life are learning and love. But, you seem to have redefined play _and_ reading fiction as “learning.” _Then_ you say that learning is one of the only two lasting pleasures in existence, but that we _shouldn’t_ read for pleasure, because we _can’t_ learn from it? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![tygre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@tygre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tygre)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-too-much/201074/68 "2003-09-15T05:28:25Z")
No. I grew up in a home filled with books, and have a 2 bedroom apartment with multiple bookshelves in every room except the bathroom (just afraid of the dampness damaging my beloved books!). I need more bookshelves almost all the time – I fill empty space! I can’t remember NOT being able to read. I was reading “adult” material very early on, and although I read the typical kid books, I also read a lot of non-fiction and “quality” literature. Today, I read about 5:1 non-fiction to fiction, but I’m also a college student. I read, on average, a book a day. I very seldom go out without a book! I was waiting for an appointment on Saturday, and due to confusion on my part, wound up there half an hour before they opened – but I was prepared and enjoyed several chapters of a mystery novel while I waited. 🙂 My two kids also very much enjoy reading – well, the three year old isn’t yet reading, but the 6 year old is reading well, and together, we read many books on outer space, his current obsession, and he has learned an incredible amount of information. When I was a kid, one summmer, my parents hired a babysitter who was appalled that I preferred to read and stay inside than go outside and play – so to compromise, I read outside most of that summer! I agree with the other posters about homes with no books. My ex is also a big reader, and when we were still together, we went to a party at a friend’s house. The next day, while talking about the party, he said, “did you think there was something strange about their house?” and I agreed. Took us a couple minutes to realize that we had not seen a SINGLE article of reading material in the entire place – and we’d been given the “grand tour” when we arrived! I don’t know WHAT these people do in their spare time! Even watching TV, I often read at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Milum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@Milum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milum)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-too-much/201074/69 "2003-09-15T18:25:10Z")
```auto "What are you even talking about?" saith shy guy. ``` Uh…excuse me. I thought the content of what I wrote would direct you to understand that as you read more and more through time, your chance of finding original and exciting new writings becomes less and less. So you must hunt. Didn’t you all take the time to read the extract from **qwanderer** ’s poem? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-read-too-much/201074.md?page=3)