1, #29 - Have I mentioned that I’m reading…
On Impressive Literature — Estimated Read Time: 53 seconds.
How much of what you read is to impress other people?
This week, my book club for Brothers Karamazov (I know, I know) was discussing what we’d think of the book, if we didn’t already know that it’s a popular contender for greatest novel of all time.
“Would anyone actually read this thing, if they had to sign an NDA about it? If they could never casually drop it into conversations that they read Dostoevsky?”
This reminded me of mimetic desire: The way we often want things simply because others want them. And because of what it says about us that we have or do something.
The antidote may be obvious: just read stuff you actually enjoy. A friend wrote about this a few weeks ago, which is why, in addition to reading Brothers K, I’m also gobbling up a lightweight murder-mystery called The Honjin Murders.
Which isn’t to say the classics are worthless. Many of them provide context on where today’s ideas originated—and the Lindy Effect suggests that an idea’s future relevance is proportional to how long it has already lasted. So I’d definitely recommend exploring something that wasn’t written recently—just make it something that you like reading, even if you never tell anyone else about it.
Inspired by: My book club (specifically Walker for the NDA question); Dostoevsky; Tyler and my favorite daily newsletter (subscribe!); Yokomizo; and this article: 4 reasons why you should read old, classic books.