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Comment by artistsvoid | Hacker News Reader

I read 4 or 5 books at a time usually. There is no problem if they are in 2 to 3 different languages, and span across multiple genres (historical, biography, non-fiction, fiction), he already lost me at "think about the title, I know it sounds mundane", yep, cause titles are always what the author comes up with, not what the publisher wants...

The only thing I can tell you from experience: Have the self confidence to drop a book, read what interests you, not what is on some "list of books" you have to work through. And take your time reading. I learned it the hard way, but I'd rather drop 10 books, find one extremely insightful, and read it slowly and carefully and twice if I have to than speed read 20 books and remember nothing.

I am extremely doubtful about "hacks" like this ; glad if it works for him, my experience is nothing of the sorts will ever work for me.

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strongly seconded. Life is too short to read bad books or drink bad wine. I have this rule that if I'm not excited about the book after 50-100 pages I move on (exception are some rare novels or philosophical works that don't start before page 400 or are so arcane that you won't get them until the 3rd or 4th pass anyway).

The hard part for me is to stay focused and not drift off into multiple genres/topics. If I read about the period of the enlightenment it's easy to get sucked into 20th century authors covering (sometimes regurgitating) the subject. If I find myself drifting off in this manner, I make it a new category on my "to-read list" for a future time to maintain focus.

I think even the publishers suggest a title thats best suited for the content too, and the author still gets the final say. I too am skeptical when it comes to so-called “hacks” in general but I’m happy to try this one out.

I am not yet fortunate enough of having been published, but I think the number of authors in any position to "demand a title" is extremely limited, they are glad about being published at all. If a publisher says "I think this title is more marketable", well, ... but it's of course not the main point I was trying to make. If you find a method that works, great, I think most "methods" are highly individual, if not flawed, and in the end, reading is reading, and that's it.

My opinion about that is deeply influenced by a professor I used to have. Once he spent one lecture just reading a brilliant essay by a British judge. He did not read it, he performed it, slowly, carefully, and it was the best lecture I ever had. And his advice was: "read slowly, or you might as well not read at all, forget the 'hacks', the speed-reading techniques, reading is enjoyment, if you have the right material, be thankful for every second, savor it", and if only I could have taken his advice more seriously at the time. I do now though.

I agree that titles don't describe the exact contents of books, but if I want to learn Python then I'd probably skip a book titled "Intermediate Javascript". If you read the full article you'll know he talked about looking at the index after the title to learn more specifics.

He also directly addresses your other concern regarding dropping a book. His "hacks" seem like a good way to evaluate the merits of finishing a book or just reading parts.

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