# Do You Know Anyone Proud They Don’t Read Books? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 25, 2023, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-proud-they-don-t-read-books/978780 "2023-01-25T14:07:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-proud-they-don-t-read-books/978780/41 "2023-01-26T12:53:53Z")
I’ve known at least one person whose attitude is “I work so hard at my vitally important job that I don’t have time to read for pleasure, you’re so lucky you’re useless and lazy and can afford the time to relax with a book”. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-proud-they-don-t-read-books/978780/42 "2023-01-26T13:20:03Z")
My gf was going out with a friend (who I never liked). I was sitting, reading, when they were leaving. The friend tried to goad me into coming along. She pointed out that I was just reading, and asked me if I’d rather read than go out with her. I answered “yes”. She hasn’t spoken to me since (win/win). ---
**Author:** ![Dandan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@Dandan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dandan)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-proud-they-don-t-read-books/978780/43 "2023-01-26T13:46:03Z")
> [@saje](#): > > Your phrase ‘peak my curiosity’ is correct. Not sure what the “Really?” comment was about. Piques my curiosity to hear how you know this. Dan ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-proud-they-don-t-read-books/978780/44 "2023-01-26T13:48:36Z")
Autocorrect for the win! And lack of proofreading … 🙄 ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-proud-they-don-t-read-books/978780/45 "2023-01-26T15:10:27Z")
> [@saje](#): > > Your phrase ‘peak my curiosity’ is correct. > [@saje](#): > > Autocorrect for the win! And lack of proofreading Apology accepted, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-proud-they-don-t-read-books/978780/46 "2023-01-26T15:27:45Z")
I think a lot of people don’t read because they’re addicted to the slot-machine style disbursal of information, which is both more exciting for the brain and also makes it more difficult to focus on long-form writing. I know a lot of people who say they _can’t_ read anymore because they can no longer concentrate for long periods of time. We know that the Internet has had an impact on how people process information - not really reading the Internet so much as scanning for the specific information they want to see. This affects overall reading comprehension, particularly what meaning is derived from the text, and how we contextualize it. It makes sense to me that this would impact how people read long-form and whether they can retain information that must be truly digested and integrated. Something similar likely happened with the printing press. Prior to this, storytelling was primarily an oral tradition, so you had to devote more brain space to long-term information retention (presumably.) Knowing what we know about the brain’s elasticity, our brains most likely adapted to the sudden emphasis on reading. (Source: A Book. _The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains_ by Nicholas Carr.) ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-proud-they-don-t-read-books/978780/47 "2023-01-26T15:36:34Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > six months to get through _Dune_, About par for the course, I would have thought. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-proud-they-don-t-read-books/978780/48 "2023-01-26T15:49:45Z")
I think it’s been about a year for me and I’m about 33% done. What a slog. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-proud-they-don-t-read-books/978780/49 "2023-01-26T16:07:02Z")
My dad, mom, brothers and sister. Uncles and aunts. First cousins… ALL didn’t read. I would see their homes, bedrooms etc and never saw a book. To my parents credit, though, they didn’t try to shut me down. They never bought me books, even as birthday and Christmas presents but they allowed me to go to the local library which I pretty much demolished as a kid. I could tell they didn’t exactly APPROVE…but they let me. I was also the first to go to college. Not many followed. That would be something! However, what gets me a bit (but not hugely…they are great kids), is that 2 of my 3 kids just don’t read. My son WANTS to. He would go through phases where he would ask for them, what to read and get them but then never read them. He still does this at 36. To his credit, 1 of the 2 grandkids is a voracious reader and he encourages it. My youngest just doesn’t read and my middle kid does read. Not to a huge extent but she does, but it is the same, not-really-high quality material and shows little interest in expanding (she’s 29 now). My wife does read so…I don’t know. Neither of my 3 kids went to college. I guess I have to face what everyone thought when I was a kid and likely still do. I am an outlying freak. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-proud-they-don-t-read-books/978780/50 "2023-01-26T18:34:59Z")
Someone with a degree in engineering once stared at me reading, then broke in with: “How can you just read a book?” It wasn’t pride, it was bewilderment that anyone would do such a strange thing. It was said with the tone of voice used for “Why would you dye your hair green?” Where I’ve noticed pride is hanging out with other musicians who are proud they can’t read music notation and believe that makes them better musicians. They look down on written music as unworthy of true musicians. I’m speaking of folk/blues/rock circles for whom musical illiteracy is a shibboleth to keep away classically trained players and maintain their vaunted purity. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-proud-they-don-t-read-books/978780/51 "2023-01-26T18:52:13Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > They look down on written music as unworthy of true musicians. I’m speaking of folk/blues/rock circles for whom musical illiteracy is a shibboleth to keep away classically trained players and maintain their vaunted purity. Think of these communities as countercultures, philosophically opposed to their dominant culture counterparts. Even if their distictives seem counterproductive or intentionally limiting. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-proud-they-don-t-read-books/978780/52 "2023-01-26T19:28:00Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Someone with a degree in engineering once stared at me reading, then broke in with: “How can you just read a book?” It wasn’t pride, it was bewilderment that anyone would do such a strange thing. It was said with the tone of voice used for “Why would you dye your hair green?” This was my mother, who could not wrap her head around the fact that I wanted to _write_ books. My mother was so literal that she didn’t understand cloud watching. “What do you see up there? I see a bunny.” “I don’t understand this. It’s a cloud.” I was lucky that she always encouraged my interests even if she didn’t understand them. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-proud-they-don-t-read-books/978780/53 "2023-01-26T20:18:16Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > And to be fair, anybody who imagines that the disproportion between the long labor of creators and the ephemeral attention of consumers is somehow unique to book-writing has never built a bridge. Or even cooked a really fancy dinner. Yes, but the autor of a book can hope that the sum of the times his readers spend on his book surpasses the time needed to write it. A bridge should also last longer than it took to build, though it took longer to build than it takes to cross it. Fancy dinners, though, ah, well, _c’est l’art pour l’art!_ And on top of it they taste delicious. And cooking is fun! At least for some. > [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I know a lot of people who say they _can’t_ read anymore because they can no longer concentrate for long periods of time. I am familiar with the argument. I still can read and do, thank Godott, but I admit it gets harder. Age also plays a role, I believe: my eyes are not getting better. ☹ I am afraid I am also missing a lot of nuance in comics and graphic novels. Concerning the article in The Atlantic quoted by the OP I think it his funny that **the author seems not to have read** those two Atlantic articles: > **[Against Donald Trump](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/11/the-case-for-hillary-clinton-and-against-donald-trump/501161/)** > > For the third time since The Atlantic’s founding, the editors endorse a candidate for president. The case for Hillary Clinton. in particular the bit ~~about~~ against Trump: > “he appears not to read” and: > **[The President Who Doesn't Read](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/americas-first-post-text-president/549794/)** > > Trump’s allergy to the written word and his reliance on oral communication have proven liabilities in office. I mean, had he read them, he would have quoted them, would he not? What better example _pour encourager les autres_ can there possibly be to make the argument for reading compared to the tanTrump? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-proud-they-don-t-read-books/978780/54 "2023-01-26T20:27:30Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Yes, but the autor of a book can hope that the sum of the times his readers spend on his book surpasses the time needed to write it. Yeah. I could relate to the angst in that quote. Especially in my genre, romance, you would be expected to publish 5-7 books a year to keep up with readers’ insatiable consumption, which is roughly comparable to inhaling fast food, I would say. They’re not really looking at a book’s quality or being very thoughtful about it. And if you don’t publish a few months after your first book, they will drop you. Whereas my first book took six years to write and, while I have a complete manuscript, still doesn’t deliver fully on its promise, so I have to rework it. But I want to write something that is thoughtful and more complex. And I’m not saying thoughtful and complex romance books don’t exist, because I’ve read them. But there is a certain reader mentality that wants a very specific kind of entertainment on demand right now that is frankly impossible for me to produce. I’m not fast enough. So I’m going to have to find a different kind of audience. And if I complain about that periodically, oh well. ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-proud-they-don-t-read-books/978780/55 "2023-01-26T22:08:19Z")
My Kindle doesn’t do that–and I’m glad of it. Gamification is a pox. I don’t know anyone who’s proud of it. I have a good friend who’s smart, educated, etc., but just _doesn’t_ read. Another friend used to not read; her husband gave her a Kindle as a Christmas present for no apparent reason. She was vaguely irritated, but felt she had to give it a try, and to her surprise, found that with the font size cranked up she enjoys reading. It’s not that her vision is uncorrected: she concluded that she has some minor reading impairment. In any case, it was a big change for the better. And yes, this is not what OP asked. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-proud-they-don-t-read-books/978780/56 "2023-01-26T22:13:17Z")
> [@phs3](#): > > My Kindle doesn’t do that–and I’m glad of it. Gamification is a pox. Agree. Wonder why my kindle does this. I got an award today for “Perfect Week”. ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-proud-they-don-t-read-books/978780/57 "2023-01-26T22:25:21Z")
I was visiting my sister in another city once. She and her husband didn’t have a spare bed, and rather than put me on the couch, they suggested I crash at her husband’s sister’s place, for which they were apartment-sitting. I agreed. That evening I spent far more time than I care to think about scouring the place for something–ANYTHING! to read. The only book I found was a Berke Breathed anthology. Good stuff, but not what I had in mind. Oh, and the apartment owners were both lawyers; one later became a judge. Not even any law books or legal newspapers! ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-proud-they-don-t-read-books/978780/58 "2023-01-26T22:34:04Z")
That reminds me of years ago when I was staying in a rural Mexican village, and the hosts gave me their only four books to read. One of them was a Nicholas Sparks book… Sigh. And the other was a nonfiction book about how you shouldn’t divorce your husband for cheating on you. Double sigh. Also socially awkward. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-proud-they-don-t-read-books/978780/59 "2023-01-26T23:18:21Z")
Within the last year, I noticed my SIL had a small row of maybe 7 books on a shelf in her family room. Nothing terribly long or challenging. One was about her dog’s breed. Turned out they were the only books in their house, and she had not read all of them. Not sure her husband had read any of them - or any other book in the past decade. My wife gifted her Sense and Sensibility over a year ago (we call FIL’s 2d wife Fanny Dashwood.). She maintains that she intends to read it, but just hasn’t gotten around to it. Hard to comprehend. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-proud-they-don-t-read-books/978780/60 "2023-01-26T23:23:11Z")
Not having a ton of books in your house does not equal doesn’t like to read. I used to read a ton of books, and they were almost always just borrowed from the library. I never saw the point of paying for something I can get free and will read once. And nowadays if I read something it’s likely to be on my Kindle. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-proud-they-don-t-read-books/978780.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-anyone-proud-they-don-t-read-books/978780.md?page=4)