Books

Something I've learned more about myself more recently going back and playing an old video game that wasn't voiced over is that my imagination works better when reading. You can show me your world in photorealistic graphics, but it still won't feel as real as what's in my head when I read about it.

Books have always been like gateways to other worlds to me. Probably why my favorite book ever is Myst: The Book of Ti'ana. One of the central things in Myst as a whole is that a race of people who lived deep underground developed a technique of writing books that were literally other worlds they could physically enter and explore. That particular book in the series has most of the world building and history of the D'ni and their books.

It satisfies my curiosity. I love stories in all their forms, but books feel like they're inherently more satisfying. It might be because they require me to focus more, and not get distracted by visual cues. I also get more time to digest the information.

It's fun to learn about stuff, and there are books on any subject imaginable.

I've been on a kick about early christianity (atheist).

Just finished Bart Ehrman's Forged: Writing in the Name of God--Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are.

Just started Robert Price's The Amazing Colossal Apostle: The Search for the Historical Paul.

Price is a mythicist, a school of thought that I only first found last year. This is the third book I'm reading from an author who doesn't believe their was a historical Jesus. Very interesting stuff. I read because I want to learn new things and to better understand topics. I especially love history.

Me personally, I just love stories. I like reading, listening to audiobooks, but I also enjoy storydriven games for example.

I like physical books, so I get the fun of hunting for books through the used bookstore, having them on my bookshelf, then I get to shame myself for my growing backlog of books. Once that’s done, I find reading to be very relaxing.

I have a pretty hectic life. Two small kids, a job that involves an endless stream of meetings interspersed by screen work, hobbies that involve being outside for multiple hours at a time multiple times a week.

When the dust settles at the end of a day, the kids are in bed and the housework is done, I want my entertainment to be as low key as possible. Curling up on the sofa with a cup of tea and a good book is an excellent way to detox and reset; I'm just not in the market for any more stimulation than that!

The biggest reason I started reading more (went from 2-3 books a year to 2 a month) is just to avoid using tech in my free time. I noticed I get way more relaxed in general and have a better attitude towards life if I'm reading more

Its the greatest form of entertainment IMO. Movies and theatre last a couple of hours, emphasis is on 'the look', story is usually (but not always) pretty shallow. TV is more episodic and therefore there's more time to explore the story but, again,its still pretty surface level most of the time. As streamers replace production companies and gain even more power, TV and movies are getting increasingly crapper. I read an interview with someone who worked for a streamer (wasn't Neflix but can;t recall which one it was and I can;t find the link now) who said the direction from bosses is producing content that is easy enough to follow if you're only half-watching. Sounds fucking awful.

Books, on the other hand, engage whole parts of your brain and quite literally take you into a different world. They can be quite short or very, very long - the edit is to fit the story, not making the story fit a prescribed length. Unlike movies or TV the only two people involved are you and the author - which is why I personally struggle with audiobooks as I feel like there's a third party (the narrator) involved who might interpret things differently than me. I've seen lots of great TV shows, plays and movies but I have never had as immersive an experience as I do with reading a book. I've never experienced an emotional response to a TV show or movie like I have from so many books. The feeling of knowing a character to their bones and loving (or hating) them is just impossible for me in movies/TV shows most of the time.

I basically read two types of books. One is lit-nerd stuff (Joyce, Pynchon..) where you can read and re-read and still find new things, find communities online of people discussing it, read it with a friend and share what you got out of each chapter, etc. The other type I do is more immersive sci-fi/fantasy (Rothfuss, Stephenson, etc.) which I read for totally different reasons.... like you said, an escape into another world.

TV makes me feel like a spoonfed zombie. I'm trying to watch Severance, and it's good, but I hate the feeling of being hooked, tied to it, and having to sit there and binge it. And they're doing all the imaginating for me. I much prefer to spend that 50 hours with a good thick book. No judgment on how other people like to do it... I just prefer the quiet of paging through a book!

I've found that if I read before falling asleep - regardless of subject, difficulty or how closely I focus - I tend to have vivid dreams that I actually remember. There doesn't seem to be any relation between the book and dream, but if I don't read I tend not to dream at all (or at least I don't have any recollection of it). I only use an e-reader so it's not even like it's a tactile response to traditional books or anything like that. Outside of that reason, I enjoy reading books but I don't generally do so recreationally since I usually feel like I could be "multitasking" doing other stuff instead.

I don't want to become a waffle waitress.

Regain focus after this social media stuff making me dizzy, I’ll go read now!

I enjoy it but also a big reason is to get away from technology.