> Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking, just as the man who spends too much time in the theater is tempted to be content with living vicariously instead of living his own life.
[1] http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/wp-content/uploads/sateve...
"Studying* without thinking leads to incomprehension; thinking without studying leads to peril."
However, I'd like to offer a counter-argument here.
There different ways of reading. Some are passive. Some are active. Reading with a critical mind is anything but detrimental to creativity.
Notably, great authors are often voracious readers, and reading is what they all agreed to be the foundations of their craft. It didn't hinder their creativity. The reason is two-folds: 1) they read critically; 2) they wrote.
The true way to foster creativity, is to create. Unless one read so much that no time is left to do anything else, reading isn't the enemy of creating.
And a further note on vicariously living one's life. I don't really see what's wrong with that. A person gets one life only, and it may be a fortunate one, a challenging one, a boring one, or one that's an absolute dismay. Drudging through the day and fantasizing through the night is hardly the worst form of life, in my opinion.
* "Studying" here refers to the intake of information.
https://ideas.ted.com/dont-have-10000-hours-to-learn-somethi...
I'd love to see someone learn the piano, the violin, or classical guitar. Or jazz improvisation. Or oil painting. Or ballet.
I think about this a lot. The next edition actually addresses exactly this (in draft right now).
As I begin my career as a coach, one woman gave me some great advice: for every hour you read, spend at least an hour coaching. The experience matters—get your nose out of a book.
I struggle with how to balance these!
Sure, it's a waste of time, but are you not going to watch the Hindenburg?
" In his own field of thought Einstein follows every development with keen interest"
There has to be a pretty even balance between consume and produce. I think the ratio is probably 30/70, but whatever your personal ratio is, make sure both sides are serving the other - consume to produce, take feedback from what you produce to consume more.
Reading a book can be like buying a new tool. The information you learn can sometimes transform your entire life. This is often true, regardless of whether or not you intend to teach the contents of the book to someone else.
But, if I was independently wealthy, I'd just stay at university the rest of my life too, pursuing various majors/classes/masters as my fancy takes me. To me, that's the dream life, and reading is a way to sort of mimic that without having to pay.
I find this strategy works very well for so many topics, specifically politics, economics, history, and more. Read 5 books on contemporary economics and you will be infinitely more informed than if you watch economics or market segments on news stations for 5 years. What you'll learn by reading those books is more than just some dry economic tautologies, you'll see the history of economic theory. So and so theorized economics like this, then they were disproven, then someone started talking about behavioral economics, etc etc. That seems to be much more useful than any alternative I know of.
So I figure he wants us all to read as much as possible.
1. map/filter/reduce what you're reading for easy reference later, and 2. add your own observations/opinions/connections in real-time
Thanks for the advice. What's your next tip?
> Get Attention: Post Your Ass Off
Who upvotes this nonsense?
