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Comment by yason | Hacker News Reader

Sorry, I can't answer you per se. But I have to explain something.

I don't read fiction anymore except for one particular author. I used to (and lots of it when I was young!) but for some reason that I still haven't figured out why I stopped getting anything from fiction. I just did and I really don't miss any of it.

I do read non-fiction.

I have a few topics ongoing at a time that I explore. The topics might last for months or years until I eventually branch into something else, often semi-related. The books describing these real world things or explaining new views or ideas or angles are, to me, so endlessly fascinating that I find myself totally immersed in these subjects that I haven't even considered borrowing or buying fiction anytime soon.

I just sometimes wonder if I'm the only one like this.

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I'm the exact same way. I'm not sure why but I have a few topics at a time that I am interested in and want to learn more about. Sometimes learning a new angle or way of thinking about topics in real life are more fascinating than fiction books are.

Maybe it's just that I like to learn, I'm not real sure.

I would specify that I only read science fiction, and occasionally fiction that most would classify as "classics". Beyond that, I don't read any fiction.

Exploring one particular topic with a series of books sounds rather interesting to be honest. I think on HN in particular it wouldn't surprise me to find that most people are reading more non-fiction than fiction.

Can you give an example of a topic and some related books that you enjoyed?

In the recent year or two I've been reading dozens of books about urban planning, suburbia, traditional neighbourhoods, modern neighbourhoods, traffic planning, pedestrian planning, cityscape and from there I'm slowly moving now especially to the roots of modernism and its various derivatives in architecture and city planning.

There are lots of books about the former, with a huge number of various angles. Dom Nozzi has a couple of books with critical analysis on traffic planning and suburbia; well, he's not against all that per se, he just carefully points out the planning patterns that do not work for humane living. Then everybody probably knows Kunstler who has been a vocal author on the subject for years; I can recommend his TedTalk[1] to sum up many of his books. On the contrary, a delightful book about the appeal and history of the British suburbia by Paul Barker is the book 'The Freedoms of Suburbia', to be enjoyed slowly over the cup of hot tea.

[1] http://www.ted.com/talks/james_howard_kunstler_dissects_subu...

Totally agree, although I never actually enjoyed reading fiction. Never knew I enjoyed reading at all until I got older and discovered non-fiction.

As you I usually have a few topics on the go that I am interested in. Good to see I'm not the only one.

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