There are rare examples of non fiction books that don’t feel like this, and when you stumble upon them it feels wonderful. For example, I’ve always loved Meditations by Marcus Aurelius for this reason - it was written for him, and so it’s free of the peacocking or status gaming you get in modern self help type books.
Nothing more depressing than hearing the book tastes of non-bookish but "educated" people. Like it's really really sad and makes you wonder about the future of humanity, and really what do these people do with their time.
Fun anecdote (because I can no longer remember the source):
There's this Roman author deriding the practice of filling one's villa with books for the sole purpose of showing them off at parties, and not reading them.
So the future of humanity, much like its past, will probably be like its present: pretentious faux culture for the many, laborious work for the few, and a big divide in between which educated populists manipulate.
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There are rare examples of non fiction books that don’t feel like this, and when you stumble upon them it feels wonderful. For example, I’ve always loved Meditations by Marcus Aurelius for this reason - it was written for him, and so it’s free of the peacocking or status gaming you get in modern self help type books.
I suppose that's technically non-fiction.
Nothing more depressing than hearing the book tastes of non-bookish but "educated" people. Like it's really really sad and makes you wonder about the future of humanity, and really what do these people do with their time.
Fun anecdote (because I can no longer remember the source):
There's this Roman author deriding the practice of filling one's villa with books for the sole purpose of showing them off at parties, and not reading them.
So the future of humanity, much like its past, will probably be like its present: pretentious faux culture for the many, laborious work for the few, and a big divide in between which educated populists manipulate.