What’s your excuse for not reading?

None. Just read Alcestis, Electra and Hippolytus by Euripides. Trying to getting my hands on the Art of War and more plays from Euripides and Aristophanes.

Currently reading "Now it Can be Told" by Philip Gibbs.

I do read.

Besides, reading fiction, biographies or trivial non-fiction is the equivalent of watching television. Both are mainly wastes of time.

Currently reading Homo Americanus. It’s a book about how modern Protestantism brought us to a decadent age.

Also i’m reading dissident dispatches. It’s a funny book about a law professor whose a racial realist went into a theological school at like the age of 60 or something, and constantly gets into trouble with faculty for his assignments.

Care to say how your book is OP?

It’s low T

Kek, the JQ is interesting but you shouldn't obsess over it to much.

>I only read science books btw ;)
kys

Burnt out after a burst of reading around the holidays. Taking some time for other hobbies.

lolno, I just finished reading Eye of the Dragon by Stephen King and it was awesome. I'm just saying, people who think reading is a higher form of mindless entertainment than watching television are assholes.

...

Currently reading Mythology.
Hercules was a fucking chad but retarded, I want to become more like Perseus. I promised myself to read atleast everyday this year, but this is the third day I neglected that promise. I will read today 3 chapters so I don't ruin my promise, gotta know what the Trojan wars where all about, and bought a 5 new books that I want to tackle, pic related.

Depends. If you read King or other fun books it's indeed not better than tv or games. But if you read about politics, philosophy or history you indeed benefit from it and that kind of reading is a higher form of spending time.

I usually read something for entertainment in the morning (15 pages) and before I go to bed I usually read something more useful (35 pages)

That book in the middle is a good book.
pick up Gulag Archipelago, it's good too.

Nice book stack, do you meditate? I’ve started doing it for 10 minutes a day

If you don't apply any of that knowledge (water cooler talk doesn't count) then it's trivial and just as much of a waste of time. If your endgame with your reading material is making a slightly more informed twitter post or Veeky Forums comment, then nah still a waste imo.

Not trying to be a dick, but if what you're reading doesn't serve some direct, pragmatic purpose in your life, then you're just reading it for entertainment (which there's nothing wrong with) or just vanity.

>muh unknown
jk Lovecraft is one of my favorite authors

Yeah, trying to do it more this year for some spiritual/mental gains and becoming more focused less chaotic.

>Protestantism brought us to a decadent age.
Catholicism is retarded.

>I read trash fast-fiction mass print so that means all fiction is mindless entertainment
kys

Okay, mindless maybe wasn't the right word. It's just entertainment is what I meant. It's not elevating you to some higher form of human existence.

If you read books that affect your political beliefs or challenge you to think it's enough imo. It's not about sharing the knowledge with shitposters but making your own beliefs,views more justified.

I have a dopamine deficiency so I don't enjoy doing anything. In my free time I do what makes time pass faster which doesn't include reading books.

I read worm, homestuck, 17776, etc. Do these count?

Is my cat being elevated enough?

Ive read V. probably 4 times overall. You need to read
Henry James: The Turn of the Screw
Norbert Wiener's The Human Use of Human Beings (laid the foundation to one of his overarching themes all the way to Gravity's Rainbow)
Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (mainly on bureaucracy and the iron cage)

Familiarize yourself with the concepts entropy, bureaucracy, and the human-machine dichotomy.
There are countless essays on Pynchon, but an unsurprisingly large number of them is pretty bad. The definite introduction to Pynchon for casual readers and academics starting out with Pynchon is by Tony Tanner. You should also check out Thomas Schaub's "A gentle Chill, An Ambiguity", and Anne Mangel's "Maxwell's Demon, Entropy, Information"
To see what a fucking genius Pynchon is, read Vanderbeke "N Tropes for Entropy" and, of course, Peter Freese's "From Apocalypse to Entropy: The Second Law of Thermodynamics in post-war American Fiction" if you can get a hold of a digital copy

Pynchon is a lot of fun, but you need to have a grasp of some the concepts he employs, or you'll waste your time. I know I did.
Stop reading to Veeky Forums is also helpful.

desu, politics is a weird one for me. Most political information is biased and/or fucking retarded. Even if your knowledge is well-informed and accurate, who cares?
I see the only options left with your knowledge is either to participate politically or just vote, but most voters aren't well-informed, so your vote is thrown away regardless. I guess the only thing left for someone like you is to be a talking head of some kind or just continue doing it for the entertainment.

yeah, but a la thermodynamics he's probably having an opposite effect on you.

> challenge you to think
Agreed.
>making your own beliefs or views more justified
You contradict yourself

...

Sorry, Patrick.

someone recommend me a sp00ky book

Not entirely true. I'm not talking about current political works because you're right about those, people in the west are almost never objective. Works from the past tho, Bismarck, Dmowski, Machiavelli are precious insights into ideas of those times. We can easily judge them from perspective of time which somewhat puts value on certain ideas.
Voting, is not only way to affect your ocuntry's politics, it's certainly most peacefull one. Pic related.
>making your own beliefs or views more justified
Was thinking about history works while making this point, certainly if something worked numerous times in the past there is a higher chance it will work in the future.

Lovecraft, King provided that you haven't read more than 5 of his books, also there's a lot of shitty ones so go for good one (ae. Duma Key)

Kosinski: Steps
Lautreamont: Les Chants de Maldoror

And real sp00kiness
McCoy: The Politics of Heroin - CIA complicity in the Global Drug Trade

I've already read some William Faulkner, currently reading Dostoevsky, and have read Hunter S. Thompson, Burroughs, and some other random books. As well as the common bunch of bullshit like the Harry Potter series and whatever else adolescents read. I am god among men. I am the best.

Thanks man! It's my first Pynchon book and wanted to see what he's all about. Will definitely start reading up on those things you mentioned. I see Pynchon and Joyce constantly being shilled on Veeky Forums, I'm aware that the books they wrote are difficult, dense and genius so probably should become more literate before even trying to tackle them. Seeing that you've read the book 4 times really makes me think that there is a lot to gain out of this book, I can't wait.

I can't read good

If you can't read or spell or have any intellectual interests then stop lifting. You're a brainlet, and ur just gonna end up in jail from having too much testosterone and not enough brain-power to control it.

start simpler with regard to reading books. pick something you're very interested in, or else find a series of fiction novels that you will enjoy (whether because of the setting, story, etc). Commit to reading at least 5 pages a day. Just keep pickng up the book for a few minutes every day and develop the habit. Sooner or later you will enjoy reading and look forward to it, and spend more time reading it. As a bonus, you'll probably read 1-2 entire books a month if you can manage to read 15+ minutes per day.

Consistency is key- it's better to read one page a day than to try to read 10 pages once a week. I guarantee you will get all the way through books if you just keep plugging away.

personally i read 0 books in college and high school that weren't required reading (and most of the required reading, I ignored/skipped/skimmed). After college I started having to commute by bus 15 minutes every morning and 15 minutes every night. I started reading then, and managed to read 30+ books that first year. I started only reading during the commute, but sooner or later I was picking them up at home too.

I don’t know how

Why are so many books written by women, so painfully obvious they are written by women?

Women are the weaker vessel. I am so glad I am a man feels great to not be shit at everything.

Recently finished this one, bretty gud. Currently reading a book about Orthodox monastic spirituality that’s ok

I listen to fiction, read non-fiction.

recently read oathbringer

Currently reading this. Scary shit how influential Big Pharma is...

Coffee Xd
plain water master race!

>(((Levine)))

Does he explain how the opioid crisis was literally a result of a Jewish family raking in billions by getting rust belt whites addicted to pain killers? The (((Sacklers))) are pretty impressive

Because I live in a crackhouse and junkies are distracting motherfuckers.

Internalize. Which takes time. Don't just go as fast you can or else you won't really understand.

>Xd
back ya go

I’ve heard about them, oddly enough, on one of my Snapchat subscriptions. I’m planning on reading the new book Fire and Fury (if I don’t have a brain aneurysm first) or racism in the United States

Jesus Christ, are you ok?

I do read

Lame response

What purpose does reading fiction accomplish?

joy
philosophy
good stories and characters
motivation
active consumption vs passive consumption
cultural exchange
mythological/esoteric truths
wisdom
culture
theosis

etc etc

I don't read pretentious pleb tier trash.

audiobook while doing cardio

>Solzhenitsyn
>pretentious pleb tier trash

you're a fucking retard m8

where do you get/store audiobooks? i can't figure out a good way to carry them around, my phone never has enough space for it

>Lame response
But the autistic “hurrr durrr water gud coffee xdddd” was fine... ok....

Bought a book about American incarnation. It probably wont help me excessive use of saying NIGGER!!!!

I’m blind

I got my BA and MA in English lit and it ruined my life. Fuck off, faggot.

read better books

Who here has taken the summarypill? By readinh chapter summaries you waste no time and you only miss out on trivial information. You can read 10 books in the time it would usually take you to read one.

I was using it ironically as if I had caps lock on and was trying to type “xD”

i have a rare desease which makes my eyes shake heavily when i concentrate so that if i read i get tired before finishing a page even if it is a great story, with small fonts like books i get a headache of just sleep in

listening to audiobooks tho, is that an okay reason to not read?

That's true for any form of fiction and not necessarily only for books. All of this could apply to a tv show but what makes books so special?

Don't have time because of the uni.

Besides, there are like 3 books I would like to read at the moment and one of those is rereading of the Heart of Darkness.

99.99% of TV shows leave all of those things out.

Reading increases focus and re-wires your brain so that shooting heads in csgo isn’t the only thing you find enjoyment in. Also the delayed gratification of reading reading enforces self discipline which sitting on the couch and watch the kardashians ain’t gonna do

I do, I just don't real fictional brainlet bullshit.

there was a tldr image about the Veeky Forums literature pack, someone got it?

Absolutely wrong. The right books are not only more challenging than anything you'll see on TV or mass media, but they're also vehicles of important philosophical, ethical and political questions that can't be properly meditated on except in a medium format that allows for prolonged reflection and exposition to large chunks of information in a relatively short period.

Dismissing fiction because it's not vocational knowledge is just wagecuck internalization of the social expectations placed upon us, where everything that isn't building a better curriculum and improving your chances in the job market are a "waste of time". I know you think it's a sign of a down-to-earth, tell-it-like-it-is, no-bullshit personality but it's just what every shithead at the bus stop that hates challenging themselves thinks .

Focus on improving yourself as a human being instead of shaping your entire life to please the nearest social pressure bro.

Is this the ogre from that quest in runescape where you have to hunt the chicken (or some other animal) and give it to the ogres to free someone or some shit?

No that's that guy you cook a redberry pie for

Fuck, I know I barely remember that one. He was in Varrock right? Was it the one where you cook it on that stove in that little house next to the main wall gap next to the wizard assholes?

>Solzhenitsyn
I bet you think reading Tolstoy or Joyce makes you real smart too. Plebs gonna pleb.

It's from years of instant gratification tasks like video games, social media, porn, and texting.

Workouts actually make me unable to concentrate on reading and studying, i basically become restless after I workout and feel like shit.

Went to the gym today and now I don't feel like going out because of anxiety and feeling off.

Book name?

No he's alone in a small house south of port sarim. You get him to smith something for you

I live reading when it's a good book. When I hit a bad book I quit reading for months.

I'm thinking about starting The Constant Gardener to get me back in. What do you say?

What if you get as much gratification from finishing a book than from getting a (you), or another mundane and insignificant shit, i.e. none to very little gratification

So being challenged is your primary point, and the actual information the secondary. Well to address your primary argument, why do you feel your free-time should challenge you? That's completely arbitrary and more so speaks of you personally, possibly self-esteem related.

Regarding your second point, books and television just deliver messages differently. Whichever one allows for being "properly mediated on" is completely subjective. There is no "proper" form of absorbing material.

>Dismissing fiction
When did I dismiss it? If you enjoy reading fiction, go for it. Just don't make the fallacy of actually thinking that makes you better than people who watch television.

>Focus on improving yourself as a human being instead of shaping your entire life to please the nearest social pressure bro
projecting a little too far, aren't we?

Also, when you start your post with "Absolutely wrong", try following that up with facts instead of 100% opinion topped with ad hominem.

why would there be an ogre in Varrock? Varrock is a goddamn city.

Couldn't you just read non-fiction if this is what you seek? For autists it has the added bonus that they don't have to read between the lines to understand the point. Everything is literal.

fucking lost

Locked In: The True Causes of Mass Incarceration
I guess it has a much different perspective than just the war on drugs. Which is great because that's the only thing normies want to talk about.
Still in the mail though.