The Pros and Cons of Reading 10,000 Books

‍I’ve been in publishing since the Sixties, when I made the coffee for W W Bloggs and Co. To be honest, I’ve lost count of how many books I’ve read or started reading and dumped into the trash, or finished and wedged into my double-packed shelves.

Not above a million, anyway.

Are you obsessed with books or just like reading? A little of both maybe? You may have heard that reading a lot is good for your mind and brain. Reading is also said to make you more intelligent, makes you eloquent, helps solve problems better, etc. At least that’s what my teachers always said.

It’s not hard to find people recommending books as the secret to a happy life. But how much do these advantages actually stand up to scrutiny? Do we need 10,000 books to be happy?

There are numerous benefits of reading books

Reading has numerous benefits, and there is no doubt about that. For example, it can make you more empathetic, can help you understand different cultures and people, can help you learn new skills, and so on.

Reading is also a great way to relax and unwind from a stressful day. It’s a hobby that can be pursued throughout your life and will have a positive impact on you. If you are looking for a way to improve yourself and your life, reading is a great way to do so. There are numerous benefits of reading books.

Ah, the above is the company line. I work for a publishing house. We’d like you to buy books until you have no money left, and then take out a loan to buy more.

There is some debate on this point because there are different kinds of intelligence. However, research suggests that reading is not what makes us intelligent. Rather, it’s a natural process called incidental learning. Incidental learning is essentially learning that happens outside the classroom. When we read books, we are essentially learning. But this is not the same as intelligence.

Intelligence is a concept that is related to how we process information and solve problems. And reading is not the same as being educated. You can be highly educated without being very well-read, and you can be very well-read without being highly educated. We are not born with knowledge. Knowledge is something that we have to acquire as we grow.

To cut to the chase here, I once spoke at a writers’ conference. I spoke from the heart and I spoke from the head and I did my best to be entertaining. The wretch of a moderator looked at me afterward and said:

“Duncan, you have spoke for an hour and we are none the wiser for it.”

“That’s very true,” I replied. “But better informed, I trust.”

More books does not necessarily mean more knowledge

This is related to the previous point. Reading books does not necessarily mean that you will possess more knowledge. It all depends on the books that you read. Some books are written for pure entertainment, some are for self-help, some books are written to inform you etc.

You may read a book that informs you about a particular topic but does not help you solve problems or make decisions based on that information. You may read a book that is purely for entertainment and does not help you in any meaningful way. This does not mean that reading is not useful, but it just means that the reader has to be mindful of the books they are reading.

You want to know the truth? I’ve been in publishing for decades and we put a lot of effort into selecting books that will inform, educate, entertain and just all-round be of more practical use than propping up the short leg of your coffee table.

Maybe ten percent of all books are actually beneficial. The rest, you are probably just reading them to avoid dealing with real life and the author was doing the same when they wrote them.

Not that, uh, there’s anything wrong with that.

Reading too much may be bad for you

There is a limit to everything, and this includes reading. There is no fixed number of books you should read per year or in a lifetime. Everyone is different and has different needs. However, there is a chance that reading too much may be harmful for you.

And this is not just speculation. There have been instances of people getting mentally and emotionally disturbed because they read too much. There have also been cases of people dying because they read too much. For example, the scholar and Japanese samurai Yoshizawa Nagamatsu is believed to have died because he read too much. There are several other examples of people who read too much and got into trouble.

Some of that is bunkum, pure and simple. You know the real problem? Forget about reading a hundred books a year or whatever. These artificial goals are meaningless. Read as much or as little as you want.

In my experience, you can read Pride and Prejudice every day for a year and you still won’t get the girl. You know why?

Because you’ve got your stupid nose buried in a book. Pull it out and kiss her. That’s probably going to work out to be a lot more fun than notching up a gold badge on the Reader Leader app.

Conclusion

Reading is beneficial for the mind and soul. It can help you relax, unwind, and de-stress from a hectic day. It can also help you to learn new skills, understand different cultures, and be more empathetic. On the other hand, reading is not a necessary prerequisite to being intelligent. You can also read too much, and it may be harmful for you. Reading can be a great way to improve yourself and your life.

On the other hand, if you like reading and buying books and curling up with a cat and a cup of Earl Grey, who am I to stand in your way?

If I have one piece of advice about reading, it is this. Join a library. Pick your books carefully. Your aim should not be to read more than anyone else or fill your head up with long words or have more wisdom than Socrates.

Your aim is to be happy. Be happy, be with happy people, make the grumpy people around you happy. Sheesh, you don't need a book to tell you that, do you?

Duncan Klein via Writesonic

The article is generated by AI. Well, the bits that read like the best of Wikipedia is all robot. The rest is me. Being honest.

To be honest, I’m sick of publishing AI writing. It’s banal even when it’s right. I get a lot more fun out of writing from the cynical heart.

My links above are affiliates. Buy through these links and Writesonic or Amazon will flick me a few cents. Use AI wisely; these things are not quite dependable enough to rule the world. Just ask Siri! Buy a book via Amazon likewise, but I’d actually prefer you visit your local independent bookstore; those places are just full of reading love! What they don’t have is the depth of editorial and reader review that Amazon does; read the reviews, use the “look inside” button, and get a feel for the thing short of actually picking it up and thumbing through it.

Better yet, find someone who looks lonely and ask them for reading advice. Hey, let me know how it goes?