On Reading… and Fear

Here is a thought to consider: we buy and read books not in a hope we will learn something new, but in fear we will not learn something new and useful otherwise. We check what others are reading, and we might buy and read in fear we will be missing something others won’t.

Please note that some books are great, but I think we need to be picky with what we read and what we spend out time on. We might also need to check our motivation to read certain books and adjust our paradigms.

How many times you checked reviews, asked an opinion for a book, put it in a cart, then remove it, then put it back again some book that you were unsure if you should read? It is not that you are interested in a given book, but your are interested in what you will be missing by not reading it.

You might be afraid that by not reading it you might miss something others are not missing. You won’t be proud in quoting the book and flashing it’s cover on your blog or twitter. You just… need… to be… certain…

Should I really read it? What am I gaining? What others are gaining by reading it and I am not? Will they be better than me by reading it? Will I be left behind if I don’t read it?

We are not enjoying books, we rush through them so we can read the next one on the list.

I guess this is very negative approach to reading and knowledge. I think I suffer from it. Peer pressure here as well. I think we (or at least me) need to take it easy. There is knowledge and book abundance and we a kind of “paralyzed” with where to start, where to go next.

We like seeing what other’s are reading. “Can you post your best 20books?”, “What did you read this year”? Is it motive behind this question a “thirst” or “fear”? Do you want to know more, or you want to be more certain you don’t need to know more? Or at least that others don’t know something you don’t know? Know thyself.

I was thinking about posting a list of books that I plan reading in 2015 (of which I probably won’t read), but then I started questioning my motive behind it. Create content? Inform others what might be interesting to read? Brag with my stats books and complexity science? Making sure I am not “left behind” the herd? Waiting for the likes and shares? “Spitting out” my “brain to-do list” at one spot which “calms” me down?

But you know what? We need to chill the fuck out. Maybe you don’t need to read another book. Maybe we need to move our lazy assess. We need more action. Saw needs to be sharpened, but if you are never using it I don’t see the point. To be armchair philosopher and scientist. Good debater? Good troll? Removing fear and insecurity? Trying to be more certain?

Maybe we need to re-evaluate our motives. Why are we reading? Why I want to read a certain book/ Will reading more solve our uncertainties and fears? Know thyself.