Prose and Petticoats has a wonderful video on the same subject right here! ua-cam.com/video/jqM-MNPyknM/v-deo.htmlsi=NQeoLG0HIEzM38Dc And here are some other videos that have responded to this tag so far! From Steve Donoghue: ua-cam.com/video/fWT5wsLdKT4/v-deo.htmlsi=Im1D80p5OKh-Lmw6 From Paradise Reading: ua-cam.com/video/C0KI3IbmeYU/v-deo.htmlsi=ViwibSYlzz-mhpHH From Joe Spivey: ua-cam.com/video/XQ8WnjrKYVg/v-deo.htmlsi=bLkR2uUJ24x97dMm From Hannah's Books: ua-cam.com/video/M7CCLX7d-b8/v-deo.htmlsi=-dULajHYMPnVP0DT From Curtis Books and Books: ua-cam.com/video/P1sqbW0rOBQ/v-deo.htmlsi=cNHkdmEOH_35T1wE From Triumphal Reads: ua-cam.com/video/NNUyQVvVbXo/v-deo.htmlsi=JQDUVD_CJBg5cp-x From Randy Ray: ua-cam.com/video/LF1To7Awa3I/v-deo.htmlsi=i__0XjAZgsegpDFd From David Novak Reads Poetry: ua-cam.com/video/iBNcZcrPSAA/v-deo.htmlsi=HFwjyOrfKBO_UM7F From Bibliosophie (not directly in response to the tag, but covering similar subject matter): ua-cam.com/video/MjLWEVBULi8/v-deo.htmlsi=57HUy8XH-bfFkI3k From Book Chat with Pat: ua-cam.com/video/6tOTB-5qwXs/v-deo.htmlsi=9fZz7DQ56dvSKcJd From Jzy Shzy: ua-cam.com/video/t0OxZjxmsv8/v-deo.htmlsi=dyTBx_8UTCA3QJU9 From Another Bibliophile Reads: ua-cam.com/video/TWsGgswiGLI/v-deo.htmlsi=Jw-FOdBAHKCPYaS5 From Aaron Facer: ua-cam.com/video/EBgjQThb-xk/v-deo.htmlsi=23IUxW84CVLfouGc From Reading IDEAS: ua-cam.com/video/e1B3EeDTJTs/v-deo.htmlsi=lJSz-_g2JS18Aph8 From Quaint and Curious Volumes: ua-cam.com/video/rrcmbyYOjY0/v-deo.htmlsi=bD4RZEOF7zlnTq6L From BookZealots: ua-cam.com/video/yiLXkh829NI/v-deo.htmlsi=s2258iBsezfxX4fp From Stuart Griffin: ua-cam.com/video/pAPZfR2nCtE/v-deo.htmlsi=qxJ3qRs4TlRkOwQ3 From Books I'm Not Reading: ua-cam.com/video/wwP1FzlRQ5Q/v-deo.htmlsi=VvnG3GYq7cpa6P2M From Books Songs and Other Magic: ua-cam.com/video/DgNJa45C7wc/v-deo.htmlsi=I9-dJyRd-1Zc5t3a From Throughthepages with Dee: ua-cam.com/video/3b5n5dcMlg8/v-deo.htmlsi=Gf1HHqpWpzIPxDPC From Beyond Books: ua-cam.com/video/W0MC6F3IQrM/v-deo.htmlsi=HCsIhdT2q_4SlE0i From Literary Love 123: ua-cam.com/video/UpQj3fFtimc/v-deo.htmlsi=FYhr0YhWnVNichKI From Cobaltdragon: ua-cam.com/video/28x31e0phTU/v-deo.htmlsi=lyASqgOOFmlqLtY_ From MarilynMayaMendoza: ua-cam.com/video/_tdDhl343IE/v-deo.htmlsi=RuumO6dX5ec-52of From Joel Swagman: ua-cam.com/video/DPfkUtE8avg/v-deo.htmlsi=8BwiaJFVJzve0D-R From Book Buds: ua-cam.com/video/ERHyvsot4UM/v-deo.htmlsi=rbJQa5PV7Gv6W-m6 From Genre Books: ua-cam.com/video/6qak1DP6ams/v-deo.htmlsi=k3qVbJDDzZ1bY9YQ From James Holder: ua-cam.com/video/w0xctkjlx08/v-deo.htmlsi=qudif0ImmzwG1Va_ From Book Time with Elvis: ua-cam.com/video/HGnFioBalYA/v-deo.htmlsi=ZOGV2iYzQTS--NvN From E.D. Lewis: ua-cam.com/video/dO5gWpesiFw/v-deo.htmlsi=_1bdYwa3-g1qBL1U From Ginger Bibliophile: ua-cam.com/video/rhjOdzprUw0/v-deo.htmlsi=ZPDyy3IENd9iLr33
"And because books are uninviting in their silence, it becomes necessary to seek them out yourself." Good line, great channel. I look forward to your future efforts.
I absolutely loved this video. Thank you for doing it. It gave me a lot to think about. I especially love the practical advice to put the phone far away and replace it with a book. I have books by my bed but more often than not grab my phone instead. You're so right, literature doesn't beg for our attention like other mediums. I immediately thought of the book as the middle child of the arts and as a perfect proxy for the author. Most authors don't beg for attention. They take time to get to know, but once you know them, they have original insights, beautiful turns of phrases, and worlds inside of them.
The answers you gave to these questions were perhaps the most thoughtful and detailed responses I've ever heard. Even simple questions that I see asked all the time left me feeling validated, reassured, and thinking deeply and differently about myself and my reading habits. Thank you for making such a wonderful video. I'll need to rewatch this and take notes. I heard echos of Mortimer J. Adder's "How to Read a Book" in this video. Have you read it?
Thank you! This comment is immensely gratifying. I haven't read Adler's work yet, but I have been teaching English for about eight years. Much of my thinking in this regard comes from speaking on the subject at length for a long while. (I just checked out your channel. You have great taste in books!)
@@ToReadersItMayConcern Thank you! I ought to go back to making videos. I want to make sure I balance my time between making content about books vs actually reading them! But I really enjoy the many thoughtful long form videos that are on this platform and I really enjoyed making them myself.
@@BenjaminHeels That is a tough aspect of running a BookTube channel, that balance between reading for yourself and dedicating time to the channel. This is partially why I've moved away from reviews: I don't want to feel self-conscious pressure to discuss the books I read as I read. One possible way out of that grind, maybe, is to discuss ideas in books instead of the books strictly, i.e. as you read and come across something interesting or have a worthwhile thought, just make a video about that, and you can mention the book and other books that thought connects to. That feels to me conducive to reading slowly, carefully, and for yourself, because it's not about finishing each book for a video but rather about what you discover while reading generally. Many of the videos on this channel were ideas that popped up in the middle of reading a particular book, and I expanded that idea in some way or realized I could make a list of suggested reading out of it (then the idea(s) emerge in the video but people think it's just a list video when really it's my chance to bring up those ideas). And if you have something worthwhile to say about an entire book, you can make a review of that book at any time. No one requires that your book review be immediately after finishing that book. I hope you keep experimenting when you can. The more great BookTubers the better!
I love that you touch on the subject of listening to music while reading. You also mention your reading space. I would LOVE to see it in one of your future videos ;) That question of ‘why do I want to read this’ is so useful, and the fact that we have to be selective, because we won't be here forever... I usually don’t have anyone to talk to about the type of books I read, and I sometimes miss this. I notice a huge difference in how well I retain the story when I read with others and talk about it. Absolutely amazing video - every second of it was interesting.
That's funny, I almost inserted a short clip of my reading space but then thought no one would really care to see it. Oops! I'll have to insert footage of it sometime in a future video! You touch on a challenge for readers that grows worse as one's reading becomes more specific and esoteric: it becomes difficult to find others who are curious about and understand the topics you're reading about. I've noticed this as I've read more philosophy and history-these subjects require a lot of background information, which makes them less tenable for casual conversation. Sometimes it helps to make connections yourself, if not vocalized then at least mentally, as you watch videos or listen to others or read other books. So long as you're regularly recalling in some way what you've read, that will help with memory. I kind of thought that making a BookTube channel would solve this problem completely, and it somewhat does, but speaking to a camera is not quite the same as speaking directly to another person. I think reaction is vital, and that's missing when recording alone in a room. With how you format your reviews, that would seem to help: you seem to walk through so many of the key points in a helpful manner.
@@ToReadersItMayConcern I absolutely would love to see people's reading spaces! (If they choose to share that.) That's one thing I am lacking in life. For various reasons I won't get into, including some back issues, I don't have a comfortable reading chair. My desk chair is great for computer work, but it's not the right height/style for reading. My financial situation does not allow for buying one right now. It sounds like such a silly problem. But it really is a huge one for me. I used to get most of my reading done on public transit to & from work. But since I've been working from home for years now (long pre-Covid) I no longer have that built in time.
Excellent stuff, as usual! Having a specific reading chair is a great tip. “I cherish reading so much” yes man! I feel exactly the same. I love the way booktube connects likeminded people!
Many thanks! No, your videos are not too long because they are so informative and well spoken. :) Many thanks for tagging others - I just discovered TheActiveMind! ps. I will reply properly to you on the other video over the next few days. Many thanks for your patience.
This was an absolute pleasure to listen to. I’ve felt so many of these feelings about books (& UA-cam videos) but haven’t been able to articulate them. Great work!
Oh, thank you so much! This is perhaps a topic I'll return to time and time again: I'm always striving to improve my habits, and if I can help others, too, then that's just as worthwhile.
This was wonderful! It's the kind of advice I wish I'd received back when I was trying to become a better and more disciplined reader at the age of about 17. It's certainly given me a lot to think about, and I'm looking forward to giving it a go. Thank you for tagging me!
Great video, Ruben, and thanks for the tag. I might give it a go, but to be honest, a lot of our answers cross over, and I think you've already done a brilliant job at diving deeply into each question. I appreciated your point about practicing teaching even to thin-air as a way to test how much you really know something - that's actually the reason why I always drive in silence, because the mute void of the commute to work is perfect for that!
Great video, I could have used it 2 years ago when I started reading everyday. People really don’t understand it takes dedication and time. Ps reading is a great way to burn calories
That was great, thank you. I really need to carve out more time to read regularly. It's kind of always a matter of deciding what else to exclude. But when I do get into a book I always feel like it's time well spent.
That's the memory that holds me, the memory of time well spent. Though countless other activities tempt more stridently, I remind myself of the gratifying significance of books, and that propels me into reading. Perhaps have it be the first thing you do in the day, if even just a few minutes, before your phone or your computer or noise generally-a small hint of devotion at the start of your day to remind you of the sublime in ink-filled pages.
A way to circumvent books being uninviting in their silence is to read as a form of meditation. Every year for the last twenty years I have read One hundred Years of Solitude. For this to work it has to be a book you truly love, one that changed your life and that was the first book I read after deciding I wanted reading to be a part of my life again. I am so intimate with the story that it calls out to me from the shelf. Last week I felt that call again and so this years re-read has begun. The power of the written word is in its ability to infiltrate all parts of your life. The story and the characters are always walking beside me sometimes to challenge, sometimes to nurture, but there presence is something that I always look forward to. One read through was all it took to hook me but it was the subsequent read throughs that brought the characters into my life, made them as familiar as my own family members. I didn't just read the book, I am in the book, it is part of me, as are all the things that make up the story of my life. Thankyou. Your videos and thoughts are a source of inspiration in my life as much as the things I read.
This is such a clear-eyed hymn to the resonance of great books, those that call to us long after reading. I read One Hundred Years of Solitude long, long ago, possibly right out of high school. That self is another person entirely from me now; to read that book again would be to read a different book, in a sense. I wonder what will linger for me this time? We are as shaped by-as much as we shape the meaning of-the books we read. You know, I'm not sure if I have my copy of that particular book anymore. I just checked now where it should be and can't find it. Perhaps it's time I get another copy for this other self I am today. Thank you for your thoughtful musings. You've been there watching me steadily grow in this strange BookTube world. Thanks for that, too.
This requires some thought, but you have many useful tips. Of course focus has been my main struggle - something Steve Donoghue doesn’t have to wrassle with. Now let me get to Prose and Petticoats, a channel I’ve never seen but am newly subscribed to. Thanks.
One thing I could have discussed (and maybe I will someday) is I do have plenty of rough days wherein reading doesn't come easy. For those days I strive to read just an hour, perhaps spread out, then allow myself to do whatever feels necessary. The key is just some consistency-steady progress if leaps in progress aren't viable-and eventually whatever mental rut I'm in passes; often, something I read in that hour prompts renewed interest, and curiosity becomes my spur for focus. I hope you find much to love in Prose and Petticoats' videos! I found her recent videos on being an author and on the history of commonplace books fairly interesting.
I am only through the first portion, about focus/engagement. The point about concentration is crucial. I am in my 50s, so I grew up in the Before Times, pre-internet. Even from the moment I got my first home computer and got online around 1999, it's like that old life instantly disappeared. Even right away, it's like I could barely remember before that moment when the screen came on and I was connected to the whole world. Fast forward to 2024 and the time of social media and constant connection. For all the good points (including Booktube!) I see the damage in my own self. I know my attention span has shrunk to nearly nothing. I can barely listen to a full song before I feel that "itch" to check the phone, check the computer. And this from a huge music lover who would once spend hours listening through entire albums without interruption. I've been a reader since childhood. But through these years, I see how it's getting harder and harder to concentrate for even a few minutes. I have to fight it. I've also gotten into the horrible habit of scrolling the phone as soon as I wake up. (I use the phone as an alarm clock.) I've even started doing that if I wake up in the middle of the night. The result has been broken sleep and mental exhaustion. My races anyway, and this just puts it on hyperdrive. It's awful. If I notice these things, I can't imagine how it is for everyone younger than me, especially kids growing up this way, who don't know anything else. I am not a scientist or psychologist. But I can't imagine that this is healthy.
Music seems the first step toward an escape, at least for me, from the ceaseless distraction and obsession that the internet spurs. I wake up, and before checking my phone-I bought an offline alarm clock for my bedside to avoid the phone entirely (with the phone entirely across the room)-I have music ready to play. Because I then read first-thing, having that music becomes a Pavlovian grounding, a prompt to stay away from disjointed snapping judgments and headlines and rather to sit, flow with sound, and then flow with text. I, like you, greatly dislike what the internet has done to me. I resist it now. As much as I can I resist it. Even creating this UA-cam channel is a backstep away from my steady resistance, and I have to force that balance again so that I don't succumb to unconsidered stimulation.
I started setting myself reading goals a few years ago when I realised I only had so many years left and worked out how finite the number of books I could read in the rest of my life is (I am middleaged btw.) I take your point about not reading books for the sake of wanting to say you've read them or external motivations like that. But honestly I don't know whether I'm going to enjoy them until I try. So a goal to read all the most renowned literature I can seems worthy even if I DNF some along the way. I bought a copy of Proust - I don't know when I'll attempt that, but I feel like if I expire without even trying that would be sad.
I feel much of what you describe here. I do allow and invite the literary canon to spark intrigue. There are some works worth reading because they have become a marker of influence, and grasping that influence becomes a means of understanding what has followed. That is necessary and vital to one's fullness of reading. Thank you for your thoughts. I, too, must finally read Proust. He can't stay on my shelf as an imagined allusion forever.
As usual, very interesting. Your comments on annotations raised my somewhat moribund academic librarian hackles a bit - nothing worse for preservation than pen marks in books, except for using Post-It Notes as bookmarks. But I get annotating one's personal collection. The bookstore just got in a heavily annotated copy of Wittgenstein's Tractatus, and it does look a bit of a mess. My other thought is on goals, which I too loosely define. One personal goal is to read something by many of the important thinkers and commentators past and present - finally got around to Richard Dawkins a week or so ago (I'll take a pass on Wittgenstein, though). Another goal as far as fiction is concerned is to develop a good background in international literature, and I'd argue that I've achieved that goal for the most part. And now that I've finished watching YT videos while having lunch, I can return to my comfy chair and continue with Zafon's SHADOW OF THE WIND (lots of fun, recommended).
I do strive to be conscious about the books I will resell. In some extreme cases, such as with a rare book that others would want someday, I don't annotate at all but take notes in a notepad. When a book is common, though, I find it immensely valuable for concentration and learning to write as I read (sometimes in pencil). I partially justify myself in considering the historical value of such notes: the book is not just for resell but now a record of one's thoughts at one time. Let's say I ever commit myself to becoming an author (one can dream), those notes are suddenly curiosities. I fantasize about these sorts of things. If you ever decide to read Immanuel Kant, I find the Pluhar translations to be far more readable, though still dense and difficult, than the others. Such a relief for me to find an actual tenable version of Kant to read (again, still immensely difficult, but manageably so in that translation).
@@ToReadersItMayConcern Kant is on my "Ain't gonna happen" reading list, but I'm saving time for Hume, Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, and William James (I was the editorial asst as a grad student on The Henry James Review and have read more than my fair share of primary and secondary Jamesiana, same for WJ's longer works). One benefit of working at a large used bookstore is finding inexpensive good editions, but the drawback is finding way too many books that I want to read. I completely understand your thoughts on reading within a limited lifespan - so with luck we'll live to at least 100 with our wits about us. ;-)
I always had an aversion to annotation until I discovered some books my Grandfather had annotated. He died before I was old enough to truly know him. Those books are the only things that are truly precious to me, having the chance to see inside his mind, to know him in a way I couldn't in the real world is a true comfort. It reminds me that what matters is not ticking the box (reading the book) but what did I think of it, how did it alter my world view and being able to share that new perspective in some way. If I see two copies of the same book secondhand and one has annotation that's the one I buy. I'm fascinated by new ways of seeing things and other peoples annotation is a great way. Imagine having something Nietzsche annotated!!!
Reading space and the most expensive book I own. In college I found it easier to read in the main cafeteria than in the library. Somehow the din of conversation and clanking dishes was less distracting than the occasional spike of someone coughing, or turning a page, or dropping a pencil in a quiet library. Recently I thought I'd try to reproduce that experience by going out to breakfast with a book I've been putting off for almost twenty years (Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis). The problem was that I only got about twenty pages read each time before self-consciousness set in about languishing in a cafe, so I'd pay up and leave. I continued the experiment however, until I reached the end of the 248-page book. At roughly $12 to $15 spent on each breakfast, and no more than twenty pages read, that's about twelve sittings, or between $140 and $180 on breakfasts that I normally would make at home. So now, exaggerating a little, I say that Founding Brothers is my $200 book. No more of that, obviously, but it is still true that it's easier for me to read in a clanky setting than in a quiet room. I'll just have to figure out a cheaper alternative.
Sorry, I know this comment is a little old now but replying just in case it's helpful to you. Have you tried reading at home with a cafe scene playing on yt in the background? Not entirely the same, but you can find videos that have the chatter and clanking plates, etc. It might help your focus. Happy reading 📚
Hi Ruben. I am from Bihar, India.I found Your Channel a while ago, and i have binge watched most of what you have put out (and Greedily Collecting all your recommendations to my TBR) Thanks for all the the wonderful recommendations and thanks to you I got to know about Steve's channel and many other booktubers, i also want to appreciate how you keep promoting other new booktubers. It certainly. You are doing good work, please tell me how could i get in touch with you.
Hi, Adel. Nice to meet you, and thank you for the kind words. There should be an email available if you select my channel page and click on the description for the channel. Under Channel Details there should be a button that says, "View email address." I don't think I'm able to directly put my email into this comment as then UA-cam will flag and delete the comment automatically. Hope that helps!
When you write it down, you really only store it and unload the responsibility of having to remember it. Let's face it, if you're gonna read a million books, you will learn nothing. What I found is that I really only remember the things that already coincided with my own beliefs and helped to better understand and clarify them.
I make a similar point about the nature of writing and memory at the 20:07 chapter in the video. I do not have that same experience, though, of only remembering analogue beliefs to those I already hold. Just this last year my view on metaethics has shifted dramatically from where it was held before, and that has stuck to memory quite solidly. Other dramatic shifts also come to mind regarding other arguments in philosophy. I'm not sure I relate to the last point you made.
@@ToReadersItMayConcern I have like 5 candidate replies for you that sound true in my head but contradict one another. So I will just say, fair enough, I was probably wrong to generalize.
This is very mature, self-reflective, and honest of you. Maybe I can imagine an outline of a view that supports your position, just for fun: memory runs on the coherence between associations, and so even if it feels like my mind has been wholly changed, it is still within a familiar enough framework to change within prior boundaries; anything that is actively beyond my particular frame of seeing wouldn't even register let alone be remembered. Or one could argue that it's particular sorts of arguments that persuade me; arguments that don't maintain that familiar structure don't receive weight. But I'm spitballing. Interesting to think about. In the end, it feels necessary to remain critical while also expecting to never reach a final, perfect stance. Learning for its own sake.
Disagree, the act of writing it down forces you to fully flesh out your thoughts in a coherent manner. Writing is training your mind to think more articulately. Also are you really saying that reading only validates your beliefs and that you have never discovered a new idea from reading? That seems kinda silly to me.
@@Laocoon283 Humans by nature turn reading into a form of escapism. We don't read to learn or to put into practice what we read, even though we might tell ourselves that. Live the life you won't regret when you're old. It's not rocket science. Reading is definitely extremely important to get general ideas in your head. But are you really saying you're going to retain everything you've read? Write your notes in your books and go back to them 10 years later. You're gonna wonder if it was really you who wrote them.
It is interesting that you compared reading and music when it comes to concentration because I was going to say: we do have active listening and passive listening when it comes to music, too. I find it very disingenuous and downright pretentious how my fellow classical musicians never give advice on this. Let us face it, no one wants to listen to a 40 minutes symphony from the get go, partially because they don't know how to listen to it. This is a trainable skill that comes with time, and with time, you can come to not only appreciate the music but also hear the layers that were so deeply thought through and carefully crafted inside, in ways, similar to literature. And in similar fashion to what you said about reading to impress other people, I don't perform for anyone. Even in front of people, I think of myself and my headspace first and foremost. Ever since I started playing and this has always been for myself even though I've committed to music academically and professionally. But first and foremost, it is me. Everyone else is just hearing my mind speak loudly on its own. Books imprint on us in a similar way. What you read translate eventually into who you are and how you talk and people hear the books through your mind speaking loudly on its own, through no direct intervention on your part. So now the issue is, where do I end and the books I've accumulated over a life time in my mind begin? And do I even care to know the answer or do I take pride in the ambiguity of such a thought? When we were reading the Brothers Karamazov, we noticed things said page 200, then echoed in page 900 by different characters and in different ways, and even in different nuance because they share similar ideas but the context is different. I also come to notice that the female characters were more well developed than the main 4 and that these main 4 to me, appeared summarized and exaggerated in one criteria/vice/virtue similar to biblical stories, and if you look at the story as a whole and what Dostoevsky wanted to accomplish, it makes sense. I don't know if it is true or not but that is how I see it. And that is enough for me for now. Even if it is not true, there is a wonder in that thought that makes my mind whirl at random times now, months after I've finished reading it. I also do that thing with talking to myself when I have no one to talk to haha. And I usually keep sticky notes inside the book of my own thoughts on each section. I read when I have a migraine because it quiets down the mind (reading on kindle helps because the consistent font places less strain on my eyes) so I feel if I can do it with a migraine, starting is much simpler than it actually is and that it can also be trained. And one advice if you don't want to keep your phone next to you: you can use the kindle as dictionary or wikipedia source :) so you are not distracted. Just go into dictionaries, you can search whatever word you want and then hold the word and see the wikipedia source.
Wrong. It's super easy to start reading a book. What's hard is realizing you should bail on a book that's not worth finishing, instead of compulsively reading it all the way to the end.
@@fiwebster9814 I think that depends a lot on someone's personality, I certainly have little trouble with giving up on books because I "don't have time".
Hey Ruben, I noticed you mentioned to allow ambiguity at times, and you also mentioned the left-hemisphere. I was just wondering, have you ever read The Master and His Emissary by Iain McGilchrist? That segment reminded me a lot of the book. Love the videos.
Yes, I'd say that book had a strong influence on those insights. I still have to read his follow-up, The Matter with Things. Thanks for watching and for your kind words!
I cannot listen to music while reading unless it’s something highly repetitive and harmonically minimal. Pärt’s tintinnabulation meets such criteria, he’s an exception, in the same way that if I listened to any period of classical or jazz, in that I would be far too focused on what’s happening in the music. So, I’ve been able to read while hearing Boards of Canada or Aphex Twin, but no Bach, Maiden, or Holdsworth.
Some day! I have over a thousand books. So it will have to be split up across many videos and will take a long time to finish. I somewhat dread the time it will take, but I know people want to see my complete collection, so it will happen eventually.
The majority of time spent becoming a serious reader is not actually time spent reading its time spent thinking about what one read. Its spent simply asking why over and over and over again.
Also really ask yourself why you want to be a serious reader. I think many people are trying to validate some insecurities they have about their intelligence and aren't actually interested in the books they are reading and that's why they find it so hard to focus on the book. If you are genuinely interested in the book you are reading then focus problems aren't a big issue but if you are just reading a book because you think that's what smart people are supposed to read then your constantly going to be losing focus.
all these videos about reading are like pills which do not cure the cause but ease the pain. if you cannot read or concentrate take a look at how much you sleep how you sleep who is around you and what you eat first
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Prose and Petticoats has a wonderful video on the same subject right here! ua-cam.com/video/jqM-MNPyknM/v-deo.htmlsi=NQeoLG0HIEzM38Dc
And here are some other videos that have responded to this tag so far!
From Steve Donoghue: ua-cam.com/video/fWT5wsLdKT4/v-deo.htmlsi=Im1D80p5OKh-Lmw6
From Paradise Reading: ua-cam.com/video/C0KI3IbmeYU/v-deo.htmlsi=ViwibSYlzz-mhpHH
From Joe Spivey: ua-cam.com/video/XQ8WnjrKYVg/v-deo.htmlsi=bLkR2uUJ24x97dMm
From Hannah's Books: ua-cam.com/video/M7CCLX7d-b8/v-deo.htmlsi=-dULajHYMPnVP0DT
From Curtis Books and Books: ua-cam.com/video/P1sqbW0rOBQ/v-deo.htmlsi=cNHkdmEOH_35T1wE
From Triumphal Reads: ua-cam.com/video/NNUyQVvVbXo/v-deo.htmlsi=JQDUVD_CJBg5cp-x
From Randy Ray: ua-cam.com/video/LF1To7Awa3I/v-deo.htmlsi=i__0XjAZgsegpDFd
From David Novak Reads Poetry: ua-cam.com/video/iBNcZcrPSAA/v-deo.htmlsi=HFwjyOrfKBO_UM7F
From Bibliosophie (not directly in response to the tag, but covering similar subject matter): ua-cam.com/video/MjLWEVBULi8/v-deo.htmlsi=57HUy8XH-bfFkI3k
From Book Chat with Pat: ua-cam.com/video/6tOTB-5qwXs/v-deo.htmlsi=9fZz7DQ56dvSKcJd
From Jzy Shzy: ua-cam.com/video/t0OxZjxmsv8/v-deo.htmlsi=dyTBx_8UTCA3QJU9
From Another Bibliophile Reads: ua-cam.com/video/TWsGgswiGLI/v-deo.htmlsi=Jw-FOdBAHKCPYaS5
From Aaron Facer: ua-cam.com/video/EBgjQThb-xk/v-deo.htmlsi=23IUxW84CVLfouGc
From Reading IDEAS: ua-cam.com/video/e1B3EeDTJTs/v-deo.htmlsi=lJSz-_g2JS18Aph8
From Quaint and Curious Volumes: ua-cam.com/video/rrcmbyYOjY0/v-deo.htmlsi=bD4RZEOF7zlnTq6L
From BookZealots: ua-cam.com/video/yiLXkh829NI/v-deo.htmlsi=s2258iBsezfxX4fp
From Stuart Griffin: ua-cam.com/video/pAPZfR2nCtE/v-deo.htmlsi=qxJ3qRs4TlRkOwQ3
From Books I'm Not Reading: ua-cam.com/video/wwP1FzlRQ5Q/v-deo.htmlsi=VvnG3GYq7cpa6P2M
From Books Songs and Other Magic: ua-cam.com/video/DgNJa45C7wc/v-deo.htmlsi=I9-dJyRd-1Zc5t3a
From Throughthepages with Dee: ua-cam.com/video/3b5n5dcMlg8/v-deo.htmlsi=Gf1HHqpWpzIPxDPC
From Beyond Books: ua-cam.com/video/W0MC6F3IQrM/v-deo.htmlsi=HCsIhdT2q_4SlE0i
From Literary Love 123: ua-cam.com/video/UpQj3fFtimc/v-deo.htmlsi=FYhr0YhWnVNichKI
From Cobaltdragon: ua-cam.com/video/28x31e0phTU/v-deo.htmlsi=lyASqgOOFmlqLtY_
From MarilynMayaMendoza: ua-cam.com/video/_tdDhl343IE/v-deo.htmlsi=RuumO6dX5ec-52of
From Joel Swagman: ua-cam.com/video/DPfkUtE8avg/v-deo.htmlsi=8BwiaJFVJzve0D-R
From Book Buds: ua-cam.com/video/ERHyvsot4UM/v-deo.htmlsi=rbJQa5PV7Gv6W-m6
From Genre Books: ua-cam.com/video/6qak1DP6ams/v-deo.htmlsi=k3qVbJDDzZ1bY9YQ
From James Holder: ua-cam.com/video/w0xctkjlx08/v-deo.htmlsi=qudif0ImmzwG1Va_
From Book Time with Elvis: ua-cam.com/video/HGnFioBalYA/v-deo.htmlsi=ZOGV2iYzQTS--NvN
From E.D. Lewis: ua-cam.com/video/dO5gWpesiFw/v-deo.htmlsi=_1bdYwa3-g1qBL1U
From Ginger Bibliophile: ua-cam.com/video/rhjOdzprUw0/v-deo.htmlsi=ZPDyy3IENd9iLr33
"And because books are uninviting in their silence, it becomes necessary to seek them out yourself." Good line, great channel. I look forward to your future efforts.
I absolutely loved this video. Thank you for doing it. It gave me a lot to think about. I especially love the practical advice to put the phone far away and replace it with a book. I have books by my bed but more often than not grab my phone instead. You're so right, literature doesn't beg for our attention like other mediums. I immediately thought of the book as the middle child of the arts and as a perfect proxy for the author. Most authors don't beg for attention. They take time to get to know, but once you know them, they have original insights, beautiful turns of phrases, and worlds inside of them.
The answers you gave to these questions were perhaps the most thoughtful and detailed responses I've ever heard. Even simple questions that I see asked all the time left me feeling validated, reassured, and thinking deeply and differently about myself and my reading habits. Thank you for making such a wonderful video. I'll need to rewatch this and take notes.
I heard echos of Mortimer J. Adder's "How to Read a Book" in this video. Have you read it?
Thank you! This comment is immensely gratifying. I haven't read Adler's work yet, but I have been teaching English for about eight years. Much of my thinking in this regard comes from speaking on the subject at length for a long while.
(I just checked out your channel. You have great taste in books!)
@@ToReadersItMayConcern Thank you! I ought to go back to making videos. I want to make sure I balance my time between making content about books vs actually reading them! But I really enjoy the many thoughtful long form videos that are on this platform and I really enjoyed making them myself.
@@BenjaminHeels That is a tough aspect of running a BookTube channel, that balance between reading for yourself and dedicating time to the channel. This is partially why I've moved away from reviews: I don't want to feel self-conscious pressure to discuss the books I read as I read. One possible way out of that grind, maybe, is to discuss ideas in books instead of the books strictly, i.e. as you read and come across something interesting or have a worthwhile thought, just make a video about that, and you can mention the book and other books that thought connects to. That feels to me conducive to reading slowly, carefully, and for yourself, because it's not about finishing each book for a video but rather about what you discover while reading generally. Many of the videos on this channel were ideas that popped up in the middle of reading a particular book, and I expanded that idea in some way or realized I could make a list of suggested reading out of it (then the idea(s) emerge in the video but people think it's just a list video when really it's my chance to bring up those ideas). And if you have something worthwhile to say about an entire book, you can make a review of that book at any time. No one requires that your book review be immediately after finishing that book. I hope you keep experimenting when you can. The more great BookTubers the better!
I love that you touch on the subject of listening to music while reading. You also mention your reading space. I would LOVE to see it in one of your future videos ;)
That question of ‘why do I want to read this’ is so useful, and the fact that we have to be selective, because we won't be here forever... I usually don’t have anyone to talk to about the type of books I read, and I sometimes miss this. I notice a huge difference in how well I retain the story when I read with others and talk about it. Absolutely amazing video - every second of it was interesting.
That's funny, I almost inserted a short clip of my reading space but then thought no one would really care to see it. Oops! I'll have to insert footage of it sometime in a future video!
You touch on a challenge for readers that grows worse as one's reading becomes more specific and esoteric: it becomes difficult to find others who are curious about and understand the topics you're reading about. I've noticed this as I've read more philosophy and history-these subjects require a lot of background information, which makes them less tenable for casual conversation. Sometimes it helps to make connections yourself, if not vocalized then at least mentally, as you watch videos or listen to others or read other books. So long as you're regularly recalling in some way what you've read, that will help with memory.
I kind of thought that making a BookTube channel would solve this problem completely, and it somewhat does, but speaking to a camera is not quite the same as speaking directly to another person. I think reaction is vital, and that's missing when recording alone in a room. With how you format your reviews, that would seem to help: you seem to walk through so many of the key points in a helpful manner.
@@ToReadersItMayConcern I absolutely would love to see people's reading spaces! (If they choose to share that.) That's one thing I am lacking in life. For various reasons I won't get into, including some back issues, I don't have a comfortable reading chair. My desk chair is great for computer work, but it's not the right height/style for reading. My financial situation does not allow for buying one right now. It sounds like such a silly problem. But it really is a huge one for me. I used to get most of my reading done on public transit to & from work. But since I've been working from home for years now (long pre-Covid) I no longer have that built in time.
Thanks!
Oh my, thank you, thank you!!
Excellent stuff, as usual! Having a specific reading chair is a great tip. “I cherish reading so much” yes man! I feel exactly the same. I love the way booktube connects likeminded people!
Many thanks!
No, your videos are not too long because they are so informative and well spoken. :)
Many thanks for tagging others - I just discovered TheActiveMind!
ps. I will reply properly to you on the other video over the next few days. Many thanks for your patience.
This was an absolute pleasure to listen to. I’ve felt so many of these feelings about books (& UA-cam videos) but haven’t been able to articulate them. Great work!
You're so welcome! Thank you, Sadie!
Can't wait to watch this, Ruben! I'll be returning to this after my concert. 🎻 Thank you so much for this collab 🥰
I hope your concert goes exceptionally well!
[And remember, everyone reading this comment, to check out Prose and Petticoats videos!]
Thank you for this brilliant video Ruben. I will be listening several times to get the most out of it. So much wisdom from such a young man!
Oh, thank you so much! This is perhaps a topic I'll return to time and time again: I'm always striving to improve my habits, and if I can help others, too, then that's just as worthwhile.
Very informative video. Thank you for sharing!
Glad it was helpful! Thank you!
Thanks!
Wow, this is so incredibly kind of you! I don't know what to say. Completely unexpected and amazing and thank you!! ❤
This was wonderful! It's the kind of advice I wish I'd received back when I was trying to become a better and more disciplined reader at the age of about 17. It's certainly given me a lot to think about, and I'm looking forward to giving it a go. Thank you for tagging me!
Thanks. Love your thoughtful, calm, honest delivery.
So nice of you, thank you!
Great advice on just going with the flow and paying attention to what interests you in so called difficult texts.
Yes, important to remember reading is for ourselves. We don't need to be perfect in our knowing.
Great video, Ruben, and thanks for the tag. I might give it a go, but to be honest, a lot of our answers cross over, and I think you've already done a brilliant job at diving deeply into each question. I appreciated your point about practicing teaching even to thin-air as a way to test how much you really know something - that's actually the reason why I always drive in silence, because the mute void of the commute to work is perfect for that!
Lovin the channel, looks like it's growin ! Hell yeah man :)
Appreciate it! I've been incredibly lucky thus far.
Great video, I could have used it 2 years ago when I started reading everyday. People really don’t understand it takes dedication and time.
Ps reading is a great way to burn calories
As heavy a workout as it gets. Gotta keep that brain muscle pumping! (Love the look of your channel; I'll be checking out your stuff soon!)
Glad to know I'm not the only one who gets all tuckered out after a hard reading session lol
I enjoy watching your videos, but I also enjoy listening to you. You inspire me [to read] and take it seriously.
I'm so glad! I genuinely love the feeling of helping others cherish reading.
I would love to see a library tour… looks like you have so many interesting titles!
Someday! I just want to finish a few other video ideas first. 😀
thank you. so much to learn in one video!
You're very welcome! Glad you received some worth from it.
That was great, thank you. I really need to carve out more time to read regularly. It's kind of always a matter of deciding what else to exclude. But when I do get into a book I always feel like it's time well spent.
That's the memory that holds me, the memory of time well spent. Though countless other activities tempt more stridently, I remind myself of the gratifying significance of books, and that propels me into reading. Perhaps have it be the first thing you do in the day, if even just a few minutes, before your phone or your computer or noise generally-a small hint of devotion at the start of your day to remind you of the sublime in ink-filled pages.
A way to circumvent books being uninviting in their silence is to read as a form of meditation. Every year for the last twenty years I have read One hundred Years of Solitude. For this to work it has to be a book you truly love, one that changed your life and that was the first book I read after deciding I wanted reading to be a part of my life again. I am so intimate with the story that it calls out to me from the shelf. Last week I felt that call again and so this years re-read has begun. The power of the written word is in its ability to infiltrate all parts of your life. The story and the characters are always walking beside me sometimes to challenge, sometimes to nurture, but there presence is something that I always look forward to. One read through was all it took to hook me but it was the subsequent read throughs that brought the characters into my life, made them as familiar as my own family members. I didn't just read the book, I am in the book, it is part of me, as are all the things that make up the story of my life. Thankyou. Your videos and thoughts are a source of inspiration in my life as much as the things I read.
This is such a clear-eyed hymn to the resonance of great books, those that call to us long after reading. I read One Hundred Years of Solitude long, long ago, possibly right out of high school. That self is another person entirely from me now; to read that book again would be to read a different book, in a sense. I wonder what will linger for me this time? We are as shaped by-as much as we shape the meaning of-the books we read. You know, I'm not sure if I have my copy of that particular book anymore. I just checked now where it should be and can't find it. Perhaps it's time I get another copy for this other self I am today.
Thank you for your thoughtful musings. You've been there watching me steadily grow in this strange BookTube world. Thanks for that, too.
Aureliano
Interesting vid and questions Ruben. Some will easier to answer than others for sure.
No obligation or anything! Just an invite (for the sake of my own curiosity to hear your reading habits).
This requires some thought, but you have many useful tips. Of course focus has been my main struggle - something Steve Donoghue doesn’t have to wrassle with. Now let me get to Prose and Petticoats, a channel I’ve never seen but am newly subscribed to. Thanks.
One thing I could have discussed (and maybe I will someday) is I do have plenty of rough days wherein reading doesn't come easy. For those days I strive to read just an hour, perhaps spread out, then allow myself to do whatever feels necessary. The key is just some consistency-steady progress if leaps in progress aren't viable-and eventually whatever mental rut I'm in passes; often, something I read in that hour prompts renewed interest, and curiosity becomes my spur for focus.
I hope you find much to love in Prose and Petticoats' videos! I found her recent videos on being an author and on the history of commonplace books fairly interesting.
Excellent video once again.
Glad you enjoyed it, and thank you for continuing to be here!
I am only through the first portion, about focus/engagement. The point about concentration is crucial. I am in my 50s, so I grew up in the Before Times, pre-internet. Even from the moment I got my first home computer and got online around 1999, it's like that old life instantly disappeared. Even right away, it's like I could barely remember before that moment when the screen came on and I was connected to the whole world.
Fast forward to 2024 and the time of social media and constant connection. For all the good points (including Booktube!) I see the damage in my own self. I know my attention span has shrunk to nearly nothing. I can barely listen to a full song before I feel that "itch" to check the phone, check the computer. And this from a huge music lover who would once spend hours listening through entire albums without interruption.
I've been a reader since childhood. But through these years, I see how it's getting harder and harder to concentrate for even a few minutes. I have to fight it. I've also gotten into the horrible habit of scrolling the phone as soon as I wake up. (I use the phone as an alarm clock.) I've even started doing that if I wake up in the middle of the night. The result has been broken sleep and mental exhaustion. My races anyway, and this just puts it on hyperdrive. It's awful.
If I notice these things, I can't imagine how it is for everyone younger than me, especially kids growing up this way, who don't know anything else. I am not a scientist or psychologist. But I can't imagine that this is healthy.
Music seems the first step toward an escape, at least for me, from the ceaseless distraction and obsession that the internet spurs. I wake up, and before checking my phone-I bought an offline alarm clock for my bedside to avoid the phone entirely (with the phone entirely across the room)-I have music ready to play. Because I then read first-thing, having that music becomes a Pavlovian grounding, a prompt to stay away from disjointed snapping judgments and headlines and rather to sit, flow with sound, and then flow with text.
I, like you, greatly dislike what the internet has done to me. I resist it now. As much as I can I resist it. Even creating this UA-cam channel is a backstep away from my steady resistance, and I have to force that balance again so that I don't succumb to unconsidered stimulation.
@@ToReadersItMayConcern Excellent and encouraging, thanks. I need to find that proper alarm clock!
Wonderful video and tag!
I started setting myself reading goals a few years ago when I realised I only had so many years left and worked out how finite the number of books I could read in the rest of my life is (I am middleaged btw.) I take your point about not reading books for the sake of wanting to say you've read them or external motivations like that. But honestly I don't know whether I'm going to enjoy them until I try. So a goal to read all the most renowned literature I can seems worthy even if I DNF some along the way. I bought a copy of Proust - I don't know when I'll attempt that, but I feel like if I expire without even trying that would be sad.
I feel much of what you describe here. I do allow and invite the literary canon to spark intrigue. There are some works worth reading because they have become a marker of influence, and grasping that influence becomes a means of understanding what has followed. That is necessary and vital to one's fullness of reading.
Thank you for your thoughts. I, too, must finally read Proust. He can't stay on my shelf as an imagined allusion forever.
As usual, very interesting. Your comments on annotations raised my somewhat moribund academic librarian hackles a bit - nothing worse for preservation than pen marks in books, except for using Post-It Notes as bookmarks. But I get annotating one's personal collection. The bookstore just got in a heavily annotated copy of Wittgenstein's Tractatus, and it does look a bit of a mess. My other thought is on goals, which I too loosely define. One personal goal is to read something by many of the important thinkers and commentators past and present - finally got around to Richard Dawkins a week or so ago (I'll take a pass on Wittgenstein, though). Another goal as far as fiction is concerned is to develop a good background in international literature, and I'd argue that I've achieved that goal for the most part. And now that I've finished watching YT videos while having lunch, I can return to my comfy chair and continue with Zafon's SHADOW OF THE WIND (lots of fun, recommended).
I do strive to be conscious about the books I will resell. In some extreme cases, such as with a rare book that others would want someday, I don't annotate at all but take notes in a notepad. When a book is common, though, I find it immensely valuable for concentration and learning to write as I read (sometimes in pencil). I partially justify myself in considering the historical value of such notes: the book is not just for resell but now a record of one's thoughts at one time. Let's say I ever commit myself to becoming an author (one can dream), those notes are suddenly curiosities. I fantasize about these sorts of things.
If you ever decide to read Immanuel Kant, I find the Pluhar translations to be far more readable, though still dense and difficult, than the others. Such a relief for me to find an actual tenable version of Kant to read (again, still immensely difficult, but manageably so in that translation).
@@ToReadersItMayConcern Kant is on my "Ain't gonna happen" reading list, but I'm saving time for Hume, Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, and William James (I was the editorial asst as a grad student on The Henry James Review and have read more than my fair share of primary and secondary Jamesiana, same for WJ's longer works). One benefit of working at a large used bookstore is finding inexpensive good editions, but the drawback is finding way too many books that I want to read. I completely understand your thoughts on reading within a limited lifespan - so with luck we'll live to at least 100 with our wits about us. ;-)
I always had an aversion to annotation until I discovered some books my Grandfather had annotated. He died before I was old enough to truly know him. Those books are the only things that are truly precious to me, having the chance to see inside his mind, to know him in a way I couldn't in the real world is a true comfort. It reminds me that what matters is not ticking the box (reading the book) but what did I think of it, how did it alter my world view and being able to share that new perspective in some way. If I see two copies of the same book secondhand and one has annotation that's the one I buy. I'm fascinated by new ways of seeing things and other peoples annotation is a great way. Imagine having something Nietzsche annotated!!!
Reading space and the most expensive book I own. In college I found it easier to read in the main cafeteria than in the library. Somehow the din of conversation and clanking dishes was less distracting than the occasional spike of someone coughing, or turning a page, or dropping a pencil in a quiet library. Recently I thought I'd try to reproduce that experience by going out to breakfast with a book I've been putting off for almost twenty years (Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis). The problem was that I only got about twenty pages read each time before self-consciousness set in about languishing in a cafe, so I'd pay up and leave. I continued the experiment however, until I reached the end of the 248-page book. At roughly $12 to $15 spent on each breakfast, and no more than twenty pages read, that's about twelve sittings, or between $140 and $180 on breakfasts that I normally would make at home. So now, exaggerating a little, I say that Founding Brothers is my $200 book. No more of that, obviously, but it is still true that it's easier for me to read in a clanky setting than in a quiet room. I'll just have to figure out a cheaper alternative.
Sorry, I know this comment is a little old now but replying just in case it's helpful to you.
Have you tried reading at home with a cafe scene playing on yt in the background? Not entirely the same, but you can find videos that have the chatter and clanking plates, etc. It might help your focus.
Happy reading 📚
@@kikiwylde That's a good idea, thanks for that!
Hi Ruben. I am from Bihar, India.I found Your Channel a while ago, and i have binge watched most of what you have put out (and Greedily Collecting all your recommendations to my TBR) Thanks for all the the wonderful recommendations and thanks to you I got to know about Steve's channel and many other booktubers, i also want to appreciate how you keep promoting other new booktubers. It certainly. You are doing good work, please tell me how could i get in touch with you.
Hi, Adel. Nice to meet you, and thank you for the kind words.
There should be an email available if you select my channel page and click on the description for the channel. Under Channel Details there should be a button that says, "View email address."
I don't think I'm able to directly put my email into this comment as then UA-cam will flag and delete the comment automatically. Hope that helps!
16:49 let's be honest, we are talking tiktok ytshorts and reels
When you write it down, you really only store it and unload the responsibility of having to remember it. Let's face it, if you're gonna read a million books, you will learn nothing. What I found is that I really only remember the things that already coincided with my own beliefs and helped to better understand and clarify them.
I make a similar point about the nature of writing and memory at the 20:07 chapter in the video. I do not have that same experience, though, of only remembering analogue beliefs to those I already hold. Just this last year my view on metaethics has shifted dramatically from where it was held before, and that has stuck to memory quite solidly. Other dramatic shifts also come to mind regarding other arguments in philosophy. I'm not sure I relate to the last point you made.
@@ToReadersItMayConcern I have like 5 candidate replies for you that sound true in my head but contradict one another. So I will just say, fair enough, I was probably wrong to generalize.
This is very mature, self-reflective, and honest of you.
Maybe I can imagine an outline of a view that supports your position, just for fun: memory runs on the coherence between associations, and so even if it feels like my mind has been wholly changed, it is still within a familiar enough framework to change within prior boundaries; anything that is actively beyond my particular frame of seeing wouldn't even register let alone be remembered.
Or one could argue that it's particular sorts of arguments that persuade me; arguments that don't maintain that familiar structure don't receive weight.
But I'm spitballing. Interesting to think about. In the end, it feels necessary to remain critical while also expecting to never reach a final, perfect stance. Learning for its own sake.
Disagree, the act of writing it down forces you to fully flesh out your thoughts in a coherent manner. Writing is training your mind to think more articulately. Also are you really saying that reading only validates your beliefs and that you have never discovered a new idea from reading? That seems kinda silly to me.
@@Laocoon283 Humans by nature turn reading into a form of escapism. We don't read to learn or to put into practice what we read, even though we might tell ourselves that. Live the life you won't regret when you're old. It's not rocket science. Reading is definitely extremely important to get general ideas in your head. But are you really saying you're going to retain everything you've read? Write your notes in your books and go back to them 10 years later. You're gonna wonder if it was really you who wrote them.
It is interesting that you compared reading and music when it comes to concentration because I was going to say: we do have active listening and passive listening when it comes to music, too. I find it very disingenuous and downright pretentious how my fellow classical musicians never give advice on this. Let us face it, no one wants to listen to a 40 minutes symphony from the get go, partially because they don't know how to listen to it. This is a trainable skill that comes with time, and with time, you can come to not only appreciate the music but also hear the layers that were so deeply thought through and carefully crafted inside, in ways, similar to literature. And in similar fashion to what you said about reading to impress other people, I don't perform for anyone. Even in front of people, I think of myself and my headspace first and foremost. Ever since I started playing and this has always been for myself even though I've committed to music academically and professionally. But first and foremost, it is me. Everyone else is just hearing my mind speak loudly on its own. Books imprint on us in a similar way. What you read translate eventually into who you are and how you talk and people hear the books through your mind speaking loudly on its own, through no direct intervention on your part. So now the issue is, where do I end and the books I've accumulated over a life time in my mind begin? And do I even care to know the answer or do I take pride in the ambiguity of such a thought?
When we were reading the Brothers Karamazov, we noticed things said page 200, then echoed in page 900 by different characters and in different ways, and even in different nuance because they share similar ideas but the context is different. I also come to notice that the female characters were more well developed than the main 4 and that these main 4 to me, appeared summarized and exaggerated in one criteria/vice/virtue similar to biblical stories, and if you look at the story as a whole and what Dostoevsky wanted to accomplish, it makes sense. I don't know if it is true or not but that is how I see it. And that is enough for me for now. Even if it is not true, there is a wonder in that thought that makes my mind whirl at random times now, months after I've finished reading it.
I also do that thing with talking to myself when I have no one to talk to haha. And I usually keep sticky notes inside the book of my own thoughts on each section. I read when I have a migraine because it quiets down the mind (reading on kindle helps because the consistent font places less strain on my eyes) so I feel if I can do it with a migraine, starting is much simpler than it actually is and that it can also be trained. And one advice if you don't want to keep your phone next to you: you can use the kindle as dictionary or wikipedia source :) so you are not distracted. Just go into dictionaries, you can search whatever word you want and then hold the word and see the wikipedia source.
“It is so much easier to put down a book, than it is to pick it up.”
Wrong. It's super easy to start reading a book. What's hard is realizing you should bail on a book that's not worth finishing, instead of compulsively reading it all the way to the end.
@@fiwebster9814 I think that depends a lot on someone's personality, I certainly have little trouble with giving up on books because I "don't have time".
Hey Ruben, I noticed you mentioned to allow ambiguity at times, and you also mentioned the left-hemisphere. I was just wondering, have you ever read The Master and His Emissary by Iain McGilchrist? That segment reminded me a lot of the book. Love the videos.
Yes, I'd say that book had a strong influence on those insights. I still have to read his follow-up, The Matter with Things.
Thanks for watching and for your kind words!
I cannot listen to music while reading unless it’s something highly repetitive and harmonically minimal. Pärt’s tintinnabulation meets such criteria, he’s an exception, in the same way that if I listened to any period of classical or jazz, in that I would be far too focused on what’s happening in the music.
So, I’ve been able to read while hearing Boards of Canada or Aphex Twin, but no Bach, Maiden, or Holdsworth.
Aphex Twin has been a particular favorite for me.
@27:15 Watching your video and right now having a revelation with a game called Elden Ring.
Oh, yeah, questioning one's completionist tendencies is essential for gleaming worth out of video games as much as anything else.
book collection tour??
Some day! I have over a thousand books. So it will have to be split up across many videos and will take a long time to finish. I somewhat dread the time it will take, but I know people want to see my complete collection, so it will happen eventually.
40:58 no you are devaluating eating, making it seem like a thing to do to survive. it is as important for your mind and health as reading for mind
I agree. My intention at that moment was to devalue UA-cam.
So you want to be a serious reader.
Step #1: close UA-cam and read
The majority of time spent becoming a serious reader is not actually time spent reading its time spent thinking about what one read. Its spent simply asking why over and over and over again.
Also really ask yourself why you want to be a serious reader. I think many people are trying to validate some insecurities they have about their intelligence and aren't actually interested in the books they are reading and that's why they find it so hard to focus on the book. If you are genuinely interested in the book you are reading then focus problems aren't a big issue but if you are just reading a book because you think that's what smart people are supposed to read then your constantly going to be losing focus.
*addenda
all these videos about reading are like pills which do not cure the cause but ease the pain. if you cannot read or concentrate take a look at how much you sleep how you sleep who is around you and what you eat first
That is hugely important. I could have discussed at length the value of sleep. Consider that an oversight on my part.