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Comment by sh4rks | Hacker News Reader

I would love to do this, but years of mindlessly browsing social media has seriously shortened my attention span. I used to read books all the time. I remember staying up late as a kid just to read the new Harry Potter book.

Nowadays I pick up a book, read a few pages, then immediately lose interest and go do something else. Anybody know how to get back into reading?

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I've had some luck by going back to "simpler" books for a while - page-turner scifi, bestsellers, YA literature. For a while I only read things that really grabbed my attention, and I think that is gradually re-training my brain.

I'm not back to being as avid of a reader yet, but I'm optimistic I'll get there. I'm reading more now than I have in a few years.

Read about the sentient beercan, it's an amusing page turner.

This was a bit harder to google than I anticipated - lots of fan references on the internet, it looks like.

"Expeditionary Force" by Craig Alanson if anyone else is curious. I'll check it out, thanks!

I've started working on this, too.

I first kicked myself into it by starting the Discworld series of books. Pratchett is a great author (imo), the text has a certain kind of easy charm, I don't need to go in sequential order, the books are cheap to buy, and none are terribly long or dense.

I've also added some longer, more serious stuff to my reading list and bookshelf, but those are things I'll get to in time. I try to make myself read 100 pages per week, and if I don't like doing that with a certain book, I'll pick up another one. I can manage that at a leisurely pace in 2 to 3 hours on a weekend, or grab 20 pages a few times per week.

Try reading the same sort of books you'd stay up late as a kid to read.

I can empathise with you. Warning : some armchair psychology ahead : I think it's the age old "less dopamine kick" syndrome. Your brain is used to getting a steady stream of dopamine when you watch/react/post on social media. A book simply doesn't give it (yet). From personal experience, I experience "Aha!" moments when I read once in about 15 days. What I'd recommend is to re-read some of your old favourites and pick up adjacent ones (example : re-read Harry Potter - Prisoner of Azkaban (my favorite ;) and pick up some Greek mythology . ) Finding unexpected connections is one source of joy I experience. Good luck!

To me, nothing on the popular subreddits or in TikTok has satisfied my desire for depth and nuance. There are smaller subreddits that I like, but there's no way to specify what you want on TikTok, so I no longer use it. By shaping your philosophy of pleasure explicitly around stuff that only longform content can satisfy, I've been able to easily discard parts of social media that don't align with my personal actualization. I think it does take some deliberate and repeated introspection to harden this impulse.

Try bringing a book or kindle somewhere inconveniently far from your phone. A park, or bathtub or something.

I found it helpful to put myself in situations where the book is the best alternative. Leave your phone, get the book, walk to a park, sit down with a beer. Every time you get bored and restless, you'll put the book down, remember you have no phone and pick it up again.

For me it was moving in with my fiance. I read out loud to her every night till she falls asleep.

Go somewhere with shitty reception. Or just leave your phone behind.

Force of will. Really try, commit, get involved in this goal.

It won't be easy because you'll be changing some habit. But with time you'll learn how to appreciate books again.

By practice. The attention span grows back. And pick a book that you really want to read.

Just f*cking read :)

As much as I want to say this advice is terrible and useless… yeah. Move the things that aren't books far away, and read a book. When it's boring, put it down, but don't let go of it. Wait a few minutes, then move it back in front of your face and keep reading.

It's possible you picked a bad book, but it's more likely that it isn't engaging enough. It normally takes me a few days (after half a year book-free) to get back into reading, but it's worth it.

I also like to have a book going in each of several genres, so I can usually find something to match my mood.

Right now I’ve got one going in science fiction, autobiography, technical and… oh, another autobiography (I’ve been really into those lately).

I'm sorry but I have to ask this every time I see it. I have yet to receive an answer.

What is the point of censoring 1 letter in an otherwise extremely obvious word?

You are not redacting the word. People reading the word don't bleep it out in their head. You know you are saying 'fucking', we know you are saying 'fucking'. HN doesn't block posts with "naughty" words in them.

So what are you trying to achieve? Please tell me.

I suppose it's a nod of the head in the direction of "civilised discourse" without actually being so. It's lighthearted, not to be taken seriously, my apologies if it irritates you.

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