“Length adds complexity, enhances enjoyment, and at the same time promotes persuasion.”—Jane Smiley from “13 Ways of Looking at the Novel”
Can you remember the last book you read cover to cover? Of course I can! What a ridiculous question. Except In our hectic lives, a lot of us lack the time or patience to finish a book. Well whose fault is that? Why not make the time and work on the patience? And after a long day at work we end up spending [wasting] time on less attention-intensive entertainment [substitute mind candy here], like binge-watching Netflix shows. True, but no one can control that addiction but the person whose appetite is out-of-control.
Do you have any idea where these patronizing, dangerous suggestions come from? Blinkist; a company started in Germany by some very young men. The sentences printed above in italics are directly from their website. You can look them up yourself. They tell you that their new company taps into these sentiments by providing 15-minute summaries of nonfiction books. Lest you think this pretty ridiculous and not worth considering, let me draw your attention to the fact that Blinkist has raised $35 million to date. If this isn’t enough to send chills up your spine, they go on to promise you Insights in 15 minutes . . . get the key ideas from bestselling nonfiction distilled by experts. Experts . . . at what? Propaganda, one has to assume, and they finish by inviting you to contribute more to their $35 Million success by joining their self-proclaimed reading revolution [to] connect with an engaged community of over 11 million readers. The first time I heard about this company and its drive to kill fiction I was revolted, especially understanding the inclination today for fast everything and diminishing attention spans. But the more I’ve looked at it the worse my nausea becomes, because it’s just exactly what we don’t need to heal our brain drains. We need to read.
I do a little more reading in the summer because I have a different schedule and more free time; thank heaven! If I’m not writing, I want to be reading as much as possible, but like many, I get further and further away from that goal some of the year when I’m busier. But how dangerous is the belief that the mind’s eye required for fiction is a waste of time. The successful German startup is proof that speed and a lack of imagination are being touted as the best routes to literacy today.
Please, don’t add to the $35 Million debacle robbing people of their time to think because it seems to be a popular mantra today. We need to take our time. It is OUR time after all, unless we give it away. Our brains need to slow down and let lots of competing thoughts in. We need to relax and open up. There’s no doubt that in order to be physically and emotionally healthy, we need to read. It’s an interesting phenomenon. When we go mind-traveling and ride our imaginations like a magic carpet, we’re both open to possibilities we might never experience otherwise, but also focused inward, very privately. What else can we do that is both expansive yet definitive at the same time? If we want to be all we can be, we need to take time out . . . to READ.
Reading used to be a chore for me, either to fulfill a scholastic assignment or – just for fun (which, in my early years it rarely was. I find little difference now between fiction or non in the fulfillment of a basic necessity I feel toward learning. Both have there place but both are necessary, although likely in differing doses to different people. While I applaud any individual in creating a new (legal) business structure, I would challenge the clever (?) gents at Blinkest to “tap(s) into these sentiments by providing 15-minute summaries of nonfiction books” such as Michener’s “The Source”. I could go on with many other titles but that would have me “end up spending time on less attention-intensive entertainment” and I would much prefer to start another long, but yet well developed, novel – fiction or non.
Thank you for posting this Sidney.
This complete reading practice might even promote for me a better habit of proofing before sending. Forgive the several errors please.
We got it. That’s what matters. Some authors have called grammar critics ‘the grammar mafia’. We don’t allow that here!
Thanks for commenting, Tom. Those of us who agonized over the academic pressures associated with reading are probably the ones who’ve matured into reading’s greatest supporters! We know the benefits of mind travel, and yes, Kathleen was right to suggest a doctor’s prescription for a book. One of mine actually did that once, and yes, it held a great cure!
Enjoy your next book, Tom. May it be long and languorous.
I’ll fight against this repulsive revolution of Blinkist. The other Emily, Emily Dickinson, calls a book a warship.
There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry –
This Traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of Toll –
How frugal is the Chariot
That bears the Human Soul –
Reading ought to be a part of everyone’s self-care. When are doctors going to prescribe a good book to patients complaining about stress? “THERE’S NO DOUBT THAT IN ORDER TO BE PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY HEALTHY, WE NEED TO READ” is just the prescription for all of us. Thanks, Sidney.
Thanks, Kathleen–how right you are, and of course, the wondrous Ms. Dickinson! And those last two lines as usual are the ones that blow me away:
“How frugal is the Chariot
That bears the Human Soul –”
Isn’t it ironic that someone would try to make money off of something we can all have virtually for free???
This excerpt is from The Unblocked Writer blog — read more here https://theunblockedwriter.com/we-need-to-read/comment-page-1/#comment-32061