I think it was Mark Twain who said something like “reading bad books doesn’t give you any advantage from not reading at all” so if we’re going to keep on reading, just stick to the good ones
Indeed. I've stopped books 3/4 of the way through and skipped pages because they were boring to me. Better to find something that resonates with you and that you enjoy.
Those musings about reading remind me of very similar thoughts in "A Philosophy of Walking" by Frederic Gros, where he quotes Nietsche saying that you can tell if a book was conceived while walking or while crouching on the desk and reading other books.
I live in Greenland and I remember hearing about the missionaries having trouble convincing the locals that Heaven is the place to go to. Having felt the winters up here, I can relate to their misgivings.
This is my new favorite video of yours. Not because of Lichtenberg, but because of your own exegesis, your own discussion in the last half of the video. Thank you. Don't fundamentally change anytime soon, good sir.
you just unlocked a new level of existential crisis with ''reading is a waste of life'' I thought a lot about why we do things, why read, why watch movies, what's the end goal, and what to do with it all? all the good questions you asked in this video and the way I explain this to myself is first of all why not? if I enjoy it, why not? not everything has to be useful, grand, groundbreaking, and earth-shattering. Most humans will have contributed nothing to the evolution of society, and the majority aren't Shakespeare and Einsteins because being alive is enough to fulfill the point of living. The point of living and doing things is to live and do things. So no, we are not 'wasting' time reading books, watching movies, or chasing our weird and unique goals because that's our way to live the life we have. It's okay to read a great or not-so-great book, close it and think ' that was great' and open a new book. As long as we are not coerced and miserable doing it, I think that's good enough.
Your videos are usually great, but this is better than most of them. In depth considerations of life. Granted instigated by a book. Some books actually get you to think and see the world differently. There really more value to that than most people realize. Also i've been thinking about this for a while, but your thumbnails probably need to change. For some time now they've looked roughly the same. Especially the background. Videos blend together. In the beginning of your videos there is a clip of you somewhere else. Maybe use that instead. Of course what do i know. Not a youtuber. Maybe think about it. I just want you to do even better.
I would personally disagree with the statement that we are internalizing the ideas of others rather than creating our own original ones when we read too much literature. There are two fundamental arguments that I would like to put forward: 1) The old biblical adage goes 'there's nothing new under the sun'- human knowledge, if you see the breadth of it is somewhat the same if stripped down to its roots, or at least is born out of the same themes cross culturally. Of course, it has been built upon and regurgitated then and now, but the central tenet remains the same- and it is so probably because the human mind, inspite of its thousands and thousands of years of evolution, is still not very different from what it was before. As such, it is not capable of creating actually original ideas that are devoid of any roots in previously proposed ideas. One must read the greats to subvert them and eventually be amongst them. 2) I think Lichtenberg's argument does not take into account, the autonomy of the subconscious or the will, or let's call it our internal filter. A Paulo Coelho will not hit me, intellectually and viscerally, the same way as someone like a Cormac McCarthy would; my mind would simply filter out the former as junk information. It is because McCarthy's text speaks to me in a way Coelho doesn't. The text that I read, is me. Each of us has a deep-seated internal compass that we must attune ourselves to listen to. As Bradbury puts it, the subconscious is our muse; and although what we put in the subconscious is our conscious decision, whatever art we 'choose' to consume is also dictated by our subconscious. The way our subconscious leads us to certain artists, and why those we gravitate towards artists, is not only about that art but also about what moves us. And one must listen to this compass to really achieve their truest potential. If I don't read the books that really excite me viscerally, I am denying myself the movement towards that north star that my compass points me towards. I get Lichtenberg's idea, I really do. But in my opinion, it is not the whole truth. It is about introspecting and plunging into the depths of our own mind to find our voice. Reading a lot of books will only harm our originality if we don't seek for it in us, but in the text that we read.
And yet all addicts/alcoholics who show up in recovery rooms are told, If you don't change, you're gonna die from this. "You gotta grow or go." That's how it's put. And after a long time in and out of recovery rooms for addiction, I agree. Most people don't make it. They die of addiction (alcoholism). But there are a few-many actually, but still the minority who arrive at the doors of recovery-a few do radically change. Do they do it by will? How do they do it? How is it done?
My Uncle overcame his alcoholism by replacing it with other addictions, one of which was reading. He obsessively reads now and whenever he finishes a depressing book he just says to me: "At least I was happy when I was drunk". He says it mainly as a joke, but I think there's some sincerity there also.
Great video. I feel like Siddhartha is a great counter point to many of the great thoughts you highlighted here. I’m currently reading Don Quixote. It’s hilarious so far. My father-in law is from Nicaragua and he has this similar sense of humor Cervantes does and so it feels like he’s telling me the story-as if I’m reading it in his voice. It’s great so far. It’s so conversational and irreverent.
I think it may be misdirected, or, at least, futile to try to “think originally.” Human thought is naturally an interdependent collage, which requires the participation of many. I was just thinking the other day how seemingly unlikely it is that we all agree (at least in the English-speaking world) upon a fork being a fork, or a rose being a rose, or any other of the thousands of what could be easily-contestable words. “Thinking originally,” taken to its extreme, would require developing one’s own singular language. Communication would become impossible. Of course, we needn’t take “thinking originally” to its extreme. We could just think of it as not subscribing to mainstream values, or, only to do so mindfully (mindfulness being a mainstream value in itself is where this all gets tricky of course, but that’s another story). We could think of “thinking originally” as being inventive in some way; maybe, you have a secret recipe grilled cheese you like to make for yourself. I suppose that’s alright. Still, your grilled cheese recipe depends upon the thought of a grilled cheese to begin with. There is no “thinking originally!” There are only the thoughts and ideas of others and what the world presents you; you take what you like, you discard what you don’t, and you make a little thought collage. I think that’s beautiful.
Excellent review, one of your best yet. Really thought provoking, thank you! As for radical personality change via a car accident, that actually happened to school friend of mine. Got hit by a car, was in a coma, woke up a different person. A much nicer person in fact! He was kind of an ass before. Since then I've often looked at people and thought they could benefit from an automobile induced coma...
I love Lichtenberg, he was a 20th century head that by some cosmic accident was born in an 18th century body. “To do just the opposite is also a form of imitation.” “You can make a good living from soothsaying but not from truthsaying” “The most dangerous of all falsehoods is a slightly distorted truth.” “First we have to believe, and then we believe.” "That had the effect that good books usually have. It made the dumb ones dumber, the smart ones smarter, and the remaining thousands unharmed." “The fly that does not want to be swatted is safest if it sits on the fly-swat.” “We accumulate our opinions at an age when our understanding is at its weakest.” “One's first step in wisdom is to question everything - and one's last is to come to terms with everything.”
HOLY COW MR Sargent! I do enjoy the AE quote. Often it occurs to me to insert the word "WORK", when there's that 'doing' something over and over, with the hope of a different outcome. Great having a human being prompt one (besides the thinking self), to THINK. Get That Book (Those and Them) Going, WRITE! Aphorisms or whatever. Yes, very encouraging. I am sure glad you are who you are. Here's one for you, "Never tell a psychopath to be theirself." Even if it's incorrect, point gets across. Depends on the context. At least with the time we're alloted, if we make the attempts to think, do as we can, it's okay more or less. Maybe not in the case of the 'crazy', but at least, movement is present. Thanks!
Why read? I believe reading makes life more interesting, similar to music. The more books you have access to the more interesting things you know and appreciate. Just like music, I love dancing to Reggaeton and to INXS. Just makes life more worth living.
Clifford, believe me, you may remain the person you are, but you can change, and become more true to yourself. Through out my life, I've had to adapt to many situations,but I am now aware i can't be anyone else but who I am,but I can change. You learn.
Yes, that anecdote of the Greenlanders has warmed me up to Lichtenberg. Although I have a soft spot for authors from the sciences /physics. Isn't reading like mitochondria - they are there like the debris of reading is there. And they are vital for the energy for life. Jorge Luis Borges said the following in an interview with Richard Burgin; " I think of reading a book as no less an experience than travelling or falling in love. I think that reading Berkeley or Shaw or Emerson, those are quite as real experiences to me as seeing London, for example." But then one has to factor in the life experiences from the person being quoted.
One day is a larger part of thirty-three years than is one day of fifty years. As one gets older, the part decreases of how much of one day stands of N years, so it seems to go faster by as we get older. An old mathematician told me that; he's eighty-eight now, AND thirty-eight, 38, years sober and clean.
You should read some of Nietzche’s aphorisms. He was of a similar idea. He often contradicts himself on each page. Building ideas on one page and destroying them on the next. Philosophizing with the hammer. Effective to avoid idealism, and it encourages readers to think.
@@anshulkandpal2384 I would say his collection of aphorisms called “The Gay Science”, or his book called “On the Genealogy of Morals” are both good starting points.
Yes, true thinking is really hard. And nobody taught you that at school. Consequently they didn't teach you how to tell the difference of a real thought from one that you just adopted from somebody else either.
You should watch the movie version of The Tales of Hoffmann directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger! It just came out in the Criterion Collection!
I've been a life long reader and it wasn't until I became a writer that I started to read with a purpose. I wrote a book at the same time I started learning the craft. Read like a writer by Francine Prose has great examples on how to do this. Hope this helps someone.
I happened upon this video while sipping my morning coffee. Watching it, I felt as though my brain/blood chemistry was being corrected in a way that enabled me to regain a perspective that I'd drifted away from.
@@notgiven3114 usually what happens with life changing epiphany for me at least. Nothing more than fleeting moments that are there to tease you as life beats you to death.
19:42 it's really different when you suddenly talk about Cbum! I follow him as well and what a dedicated hardworking guy he is! He has a goal and he is working towards it, but I can't say the same thing to people who are just reading books to pass time or get instant gratification! Infact many people read books because they don't know what better to do with their limited time!
What is wrong about reading literature for pleasure? Calling it self-gratification makes it sound bad, but would as many of us be reading if we derived no pleasure from it? I don't think so. I also don't buy the idea that every human activity has to have an exterior end or utility to it. Literary texts are not self-help books or textbooks. I do agree with the idea though that readers need to slow down to actually digest what they have just read.
Back when these thoughts were jotted down, reading was basically the only non-physical, healthy pastime available. I THINK choosing to read nowadays, instead of getting on one's phone, or numbly watching TV, is a sign that one is deliberately working on enhancing themlseves through critically acclaimed ideas out there. That being said, the experienced and thorough reader will not only take in, but select and process aforementioned ideas. Reading Lovecraft, for instance, is a huge exercise on what ideas to entertain and what to shun. Reading to escape reality is indeed a waste of life, although one of the best ways to choose from either way. In a world where reading is forgotten and even ridiculed by many, keeping on flipping those pages and entertaining those ideas is a huge service not only to the self, but by association, to society.
This made me think that you should take a look at Leopardi's The Zibaldone. I think you'd find that of much interest. Meanwhile, I'd really love to see you cover some Auster (or John Hawkes or Donoso's Obscene Bird of Night).
Got this awhile ago with NYRB's Joubert volume, got to get back to them!! ... Have you tried out Eugene Thacker's Infinite Resignation? I'm thinking of getting that, in the hopes it would be like a modern day Cioran, he wrote some Introductions to Cioran too.
Is that William Gaddis above your left shoulder on the shelf Cliff? I'm currently reading JR...finding it tough going. Curious as to whether you've tried him
There's something so terribly pretentious about the idea of writing a book, at least to me. But you just gave me another reason to start one, Cliff. So thanks for that and for yet another great video, of course
Check out Fragments of Lichtenberg by Pierre Senges. Also I've had Tales of E.T.A. Hoffmann on my shelf for a while now to read - be cool to see a review of that. Good day!
I really enjoy reading and I really enjoy lifting weights, two pretty healthy things to do on the face of it… but I have to admit, lifting weights has made me vain, and reading a lot does sometimes give me abit of a superiority complex. just things to work on for me.
I’ve heard you mention that you consider yourself easily distracted. If we can’t really change who we are, then you are destined to be always so, more or less. Would an endless book then be something you wouldn’t attempt to investigate even though reading it promised endless preoccupation? Would a mountain of uncollected pieces of a potential book peak your curiosity enough to undertake the adventure of creating it despite the boredom that would endlessly pester your mind? Addiction is a difficult situation in which the impossible seems less so to the addicted even though he fully realizes it is indeed impossible all the while. Perhaps this is a question better asked of your compatriot, Leaf by Leaf? I enjoy both his and your work here despite being hopelessly distracted myself much of the time.
Speaking of “ou shinny!” and wanting to read Walser, I recently read “Jacob Von Gunten”. Would love to have your thoughts on it if you ever feel inclined to read/review it.
I guess Shopenhauer got his idea of not reading to much from Lichtenberg. Reading just a little bit every day exclusively from great authors like Cervantes for instance. Seems like a good idea.
I think it was Mark Twain who said something like “reading bad books doesn’t give you any advantage from not reading at all” so if we’re going to keep on reading, just stick to the good ones
Indeed. I've stopped books 3/4 of the way through and skipped pages because they were boring to me. Better to find something that resonates with you and that you enjoy.
Those musings about reading remind me of very similar thoughts in "A Philosophy of Walking" by Frederic Gros, where he quotes Nietsche saying that you can tell if a book was conceived while walking or while crouching on the desk and reading other books.
"What you have to do to write like Shakespeare is very far removed from reading him." Borges' story about Pierre Menard comes to mind.
I live in Greenland and I remember hearing about the missionaries having trouble convincing the locals that Heaven is the place to go to. Having felt the winters up here, I can relate to their misgivings.
These are slowly becoming my favorite videos on YT. Thank you for having a spine, and brandishing it.
This is my new favorite video of yours. Not because of Lichtenberg, but because of your own exegesis, your own discussion in the last half of the video. Thank you.
Don't fundamentally change anytime soon, good sir.
you just unlocked a new level of existential crisis with ''reading is a waste of life''
I thought a lot about why we do things, why read, why watch movies, what's the end goal, and what to do with it all? all the good questions you asked in this video and the way I explain this to myself is first of all why not? if I enjoy it, why not? not everything has to be useful, grand, groundbreaking, and earth-shattering. Most humans will have contributed nothing to the evolution of society, and the majority aren't Shakespeare and Einsteins because being alive is enough to fulfill the point of living. The point of living and doing things is to live and do things. So no, we are not 'wasting' time reading books, watching movies, or chasing our weird and unique goals because that's our way to live the life we have. It's okay to read a great or not-so-great book, close it and think ' that was great' and open a new book. As long as we are not coerced and miserable doing it, I think that's good enough.
Your videos are usually great, but this is better than most of them. In depth considerations of life. Granted instigated by a book. Some books actually get you to think and see the world differently. There really more value to that than most people realize. Also i've been thinking about this for a while, but your thumbnails probably need to change. For some time now they've looked roughly the same. Especially the background. Videos blend together. In the beginning of your videos there is a clip of you somewhere else. Maybe use that instead. Of course what do i know. Not a youtuber. Maybe think about it. I just want you to do even better.
I would personally disagree with the statement that we are internalizing the ideas of others rather than creating our own original ones when we read too much literature.
There are two fundamental arguments that I would like to put forward:
1) The old biblical adage goes 'there's nothing new under the sun'- human knowledge, if you see the breadth of it is somewhat the same if stripped down to its roots, or at least is born out of the same themes cross culturally. Of course, it has been built upon and regurgitated then and now, but the central tenet remains the same- and it is so probably because the human mind, inspite of its thousands and thousands of years of evolution, is still not very different from what it was before. As such, it is not capable of creating actually original ideas that are devoid of any roots in previously proposed ideas. One must read the greats to subvert them and eventually be amongst them.
2) I think Lichtenberg's argument does not take into account, the autonomy of the subconscious or the will, or let's call it our internal filter.
A Paulo Coelho will not hit me, intellectually and viscerally, the same way as someone like a Cormac McCarthy would; my mind would simply filter out the former as junk information. It is because McCarthy's text speaks to me in a way Coelho doesn't. The text that I read, is me.
Each of us has a deep-seated internal compass that we must attune ourselves to listen to. As Bradbury puts it, the subconscious is our muse; and although what we put in the subconscious is our conscious decision, whatever art we 'choose' to consume is also dictated by our subconscious. The way our subconscious leads us to certain artists, and why those we gravitate towards artists, is not only about that art but also about what moves us. And one must listen to this compass to really achieve their truest potential.
If I don't read the books that really excite me viscerally, I am denying myself the movement towards that north star that my compass points me towards.
I get Lichtenberg's idea, I really do. But in my opinion, it is not the whole truth. It is about introspecting and plunging into the depths of our own mind to find our voice. Reading a lot of books will only harm our originality if we don't seek for it in us, but in the text that we read.
And yet all addicts/alcoholics who show up in recovery rooms are told, If you don't change, you're gonna die from this. "You gotta grow or go." That's how it's put. And after a long time in and out of recovery rooms for addiction, I agree. Most people don't make it. They die of addiction (alcoholism). But there are a few-many actually, but still the minority who arrive at the doors of recovery-a few do radically change. Do they do it by will? How do they do it? How is it done?
My Uncle overcame his alcoholism by replacing it with other addictions, one of which was reading. He obsessively reads now and whenever he finishes a depressing book he just says to me:
"At least I was happy when I was drunk".
He says it mainly as a joke, but I think there's some sincerity there also.
One of the best videos of yours I've seen. You've given me lots of things to think about.
Yup, I agree.
Great video. I feel like Siddhartha is a great counter point to many of the great thoughts you highlighted here.
I’m currently reading Don Quixote. It’s hilarious so far. My father-in law is from Nicaragua and he has this similar sense of humor Cervantes does and so it feels like he’s telling me the story-as if I’m reading it in his voice. It’s great so far. It’s so conversational and irreverent.
I was just glued to the screen listening to you! You made me think about my choiches I make. Great video, really!
"I have not gotten out of the 'thrift shop' phase."
That's one for the notebook. Thank you for another great review.
I think it may be misdirected, or, at least, futile to try to “think originally.” Human thought is naturally an interdependent collage, which requires the participation of many. I was just thinking the other day how seemingly unlikely it is that we all agree (at least in the English-speaking world) upon a fork being a fork, or a rose being a rose, or any other of the thousands of what could be easily-contestable words. “Thinking originally,” taken to its extreme, would require developing one’s own singular language. Communication would become impossible. Of course, we needn’t take “thinking originally” to its extreme. We could just think of it as not subscribing to mainstream values, or, only to do so mindfully (mindfulness being a mainstream value in itself is where this all gets tricky of course, but that’s another story). We could think of “thinking originally” as being inventive in some way; maybe, you have a secret recipe grilled cheese you like to make for yourself. I suppose that’s alright. Still, your grilled cheese recipe depends upon the thought of a grilled cheese to begin with. There is no “thinking originally!” There are only the thoughts and ideas of others and what the world presents you; you take what you like, you discard what you don’t, and you make a little thought collage. I think that’s beautiful.
I cut way down on my reading in my 30's. Now I write a lot. A LOT.
Still frustrating, but a better frustrating. Good video.
Great video as always! Thank you!
Currently reading "The Dispossessed" by Ursula K LeGuin, and it's wonderful.
Excellent review, one of your best yet. Really thought provoking, thank you!
As for radical personality change via a car accident, that actually happened to school friend of mine. Got hit by a car, was in a coma, woke up a different person. A much nicer person in fact! He was kind of an ass before. Since then I've often looked at people and thought they could benefit from an automobile induced coma...
I love Lichtenberg, he was a 20th century head that by some cosmic accident was born in an 18th century body.
“To do just the opposite is also a form of imitation.”
“You can make a good living from soothsaying but not from truthsaying”
“The most dangerous of all falsehoods is a slightly distorted truth.”
“First we have to believe, and then we believe.”
"That had the effect that good books usually have. It made the dumb ones dumber, the smart ones smarter, and the remaining thousands unharmed."
“The fly that does not want to be swatted is safest if it sits on the fly-swat.”
“We accumulate our opinions at an age when our understanding is at its weakest.”
“One's first step in wisdom is to question everything - and one's last is to come to terms with everything.”
HOLY COW MR Sargent! I do enjoy the AE quote. Often it occurs to me to insert the word "WORK", when there's that 'doing' something over and over, with the hope of a different outcome. Great having a human being prompt one (besides the thinking self), to THINK. Get That Book (Those and Them) Going, WRITE!
Aphorisms or whatever. Yes, very encouraging. I am sure glad you are who you are. Here's one for you, "Never tell a psychopath to be theirself." Even if it's incorrect, point gets across. Depends on the context. At least with the time we're alloted, if we make the attempts to think, do as we can, it's okay more or less. Maybe not in the case of the 'crazy', but at least, movement is present. Thanks!
Why read? I believe reading makes life more interesting, similar to music. The more books you have access to the more interesting things you know and appreciate. Just like music, I love dancing to Reggaeton and to INXS. Just makes life more worth living.
Ohhh what a video, one of your best, I think. A lot to think about. Might have to rewatch a couple of times.
One of your best and most open hearted videos. Probably because of the book and topic.
Clifford, believe me, you may remain the person you are, but you can change, and become more true to yourself. Through out my life, I've had to adapt to many situations,but I am now aware i can't be anyone else but who I am,but I can change. You learn.
This has been your greatest review.
I had forgotten for a second why I love your reviews. Thanks for reminding me with this one.
Yes, that anecdote of the Greenlanders has warmed me up to Lichtenberg. Although I have a soft spot for authors from the sciences /physics. Isn't reading like mitochondria - they are there like the debris of reading is there. And they are vital for the energy for life. Jorge Luis Borges said the following in an interview with Richard Burgin; " I think of reading a book as no less an experience than travelling or falling in love. I think that reading Berkeley or Shaw or Emerson, those are quite as real experiences to me as seeing London, for example." But then one has to factor in the life experiences from the person being quoted.
One day is a larger part of thirty-three years than is one day of fifty years. As one gets older, the part decreases of how much of one day stands of N years, so it seems to go faster by as we get older. An old mathematician told me that; he's eighty-eight now, AND thirty-eight, 38, years sober and clean.
You should read some of Nietzche’s aphorisms. He was of a similar idea. He often contradicts himself on each page. Building ideas on one page and destroying them on the next. Philosophizing with the hammer. Effective to avoid idealism, and it encourages readers to think.
Which of his books would you recommend to a novice to his works like me?
@@anshulkandpal2384 I would say his collection of aphorisms called “The Gay Science”, or his book called “On the Genealogy of Morals” are both good starting points.
Sometimes you gotta read bad things so you to know what really is good, not just we live through our victories and so it is with your reading habit
Yes, true thinking is really hard. And nobody taught you that at school. Consequently they didn't teach you how to tell the difference of a real thought from one that you just adopted from somebody else either.
Hey Cliff, another great review of a book I had never heard of.
it takes a crisis mate. I have seen myself change many times over my
i think this is one of the best videos you made beacuse of your musings. inspiring too, I already thought of starting an aphorisms book
You should watch the movie version of The Tales of Hoffmann directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger! It just came out in the Criterion Collection!
I've been a life long reader and it wasn't until I became a writer that I started to read with a purpose. I wrote a book at the same time I started learning the craft. Read like a writer by Francine Prose has great examples on how to do this. Hope this helps someone.
I read to enjoy greatness in a mediocre world, not to become great.
Oooh. Im’ma read this one! Thanks for the review!
I happened upon this video while sipping my morning coffee. Watching it, I felt as though my brain/blood chemistry was being corrected in a way that enabled me to regain a perspective that I'd drifted away from.
And then you went to work and forgot all about it lol
@@Laocoon283 Actually, no. What made you make that comment?
@@notgiven3114 usually what happens with life changing epiphany for me at least. Nothing more than fleeting moments that are there to tease you as life beats you to death.
Best review yet.
This was so sumptuous. Thank you for giving us so much food for thought, Cliff.
19:42 it's really different when you suddenly talk about Cbum! I follow him as well and what a dedicated hardworking guy he is! He has a goal and he is working towards it, but I can't say the same thing to people who are just reading books to pass time or get instant gratification! Infact many people read books because they don't know what better to do with their limited time!
Isn't reading a book like the exact opposite of instant gratification?
What is wrong about reading literature for pleasure? Calling it self-gratification makes it sound bad, but would as many of us be reading if we derived no pleasure from it? I don't think so. I also don't buy the idea that every human activity has to have an exterior end or utility to it. Literary texts are not self-help books or textbooks. I do agree with the idea though that readers need to slow down to actually digest what they have just read.
Now that I think about it, I guess I've never had an original thought.
Back when these thoughts were jotted down, reading was basically the only non-physical, healthy pastime available. I THINK choosing to read nowadays, instead of getting on one's phone, or numbly watching TV, is a sign that one is deliberately working on enhancing themlseves through critically acclaimed ideas out there. That being said, the experienced and thorough reader will not only take in, but select and process aforementioned ideas. Reading Lovecraft, for instance, is a huge exercise on what ideas to entertain and what to shun. Reading to escape reality is indeed a waste of life, although one of the best ways to choose from either way. In a world where reading is forgotten and even ridiculed by many, keeping on flipping those pages and entertaining those ideas is a huge service not only to the self, but by association, to society.
I think this may well be the most thought provoking video I've seen of yours.
This made me think that you should take a look at Leopardi's The Zibaldone. I think you'd find that of much interest.
Meanwhile, I'd really love to see you cover some Auster (or John Hawkes or Donoso's Obscene Bird of Night).
Got this awhile ago with NYRB's Joubert volume, got to get back to them!! ... Have you tried out Eugene Thacker's Infinite Resignation? I'm thinking of getting that, in the hopes it would be like a modern day Cioran, he wrote some Introductions to Cioran too.
I'm a simple man, I see someone influenced by or influencing Nietzsche, I buy.
Check out Jules Renard's Journals which influenced everyone from Camus to Michel Houellebecz.
Anything can be used as a distraction, it’s just that reading books gives the illusion that your distractions are healthy.
Very nice vid man, really makes one think, and isn't that pure gold indeed, like you said.
Amen!! I loved this reflection of you. It helped me think about me losing weight, why?? And so on... hug
Is that William Gaddis above your left shoulder on the shelf Cliff? I'm currently reading JR...finding it tough going. Curious as to whether you've tried him
Whoa. Lichtenberg before Emerson? I'm floored.
There's something so terribly pretentious about the idea of writing a book, at least to me. But you just gave me another reason to start one, Cliff. So thanks for that and for yet another great video, of course
This video was Better Than Food
Check out Fragments of Lichtenberg by Pierre Senges. Also I've had Tales of E.T.A. Hoffmann on my shelf for a while now to read - be cool to see a review of that. Good day!
I really enjoy reading and I really enjoy lifting weights, two pretty healthy things to do on the face of it… but I have to admit, lifting weights has made me vain, and reading a lot does sometimes give me abit of a superiority complex. just things to work on for me.
Would you kn9w if the English translation copyright free.
Also Lichtenberg: If a book and a head collide and it sounds hollow - is that always in the book?"
I’ve heard you mention that you consider yourself easily distracted. If we can’t really change who we are, then you are destined to be always so, more or less. Would an endless book then be something you wouldn’t attempt to investigate even though reading it promised endless preoccupation? Would a mountain of uncollected pieces of a potential book peak your curiosity enough to undertake the adventure of creating it despite the boredom that would endlessly pester your mind? Addiction is a difficult situation in which the impossible seems less so to the addicted even though he fully realizes it is indeed impossible all the while. Perhaps this is a question better asked of your compatriot, Leaf by Leaf? I enjoy both his and your work here despite being hopelessly distracted myself much of the time.
Speaking of “ou shinny!” and wanting to read Walser, I recently read “Jacob Von Gunten”. Would love to have your thoughts on it if you ever feel inclined to read/review it.
Is that the last episode?
If u liked lichtenberg, gracian also has a similar style and is a very entertaining read
very little of me would be left if I could but say what I owe to my great predecessors and contemporaries.
Goethe
For me, literature always satisfies. Perhaps one's quest is metaphysical if the goal is to rid oneself of desire.
This blew my mind unironically
without bad books you wouldn't appreciate good ones
I guess Shopenhauer got his idea of not reading to much from Lichtenberg. Reading just a little bit every day exclusively from great authors like Cervantes for instance. Seems like a good idea.
I really enjoyed this more than others🌻
When I lead from my heart it makes me analyze my choices. But I read a lot too. Thank you for posting.
Mr Sargent I’m already having an existential crisis
I say if you're not using your love of literature to benefit the world then there really is no point in indulging in it.
If you transcribe this video, I think it's pretty good writing
Very inspirational ❤
Psychedelics and meditation;) 📚 🌌✨🙏🏽
Is that a 100K UA-cam plague? 🤓
حلو أسم القناة بس هي حاجة واحدة أحسن من الأكل وهي القروش:)
Almost everything you quoted makes me think that Lichtenberg started out as an atheist and evolved into agnosticism.
Oh my god... There are people like me😭😭😭😭
Seems this one was thought prpovoking
I take it from your correct sounding pronunciation of his name that you speak some German? Just paying attention to the details!
really have to disagree with that 20:14
Coach Greg 😂😂😂
Its pretty simple.. if i like what im reading, i keep doing it. If not.. i read other book.
(1978-?) Me. 🤣.
Bro, this video got depressive real quick
How to we achieve internal satisfaction? Buddhism.
Buddhism doesn't preach satisfaction, but release from the need to be satisfied. Quite different. More like a death in life.
Dude 5 1/2 minutes of ads, plus 15 seconds from youtube, plus Patreon? Not watching this.