I’ve always considered the statement “I do not like to read” as somewhat dubious. In my opinion, there’s always something interesting to read; perhaps that person simply hasn’t found THE book. However, my friend corrected me, emphasizing that it’s not necessarily the case. Some people genuinely do not enjoy reading books in any form or format.
What’s your take on such cases? Do you believe it’s a matter of finding the right book, or is it indeed a case of liking or disliking reading altogether?
As an avid reader I have learned from reading hundreds if not a thousand or more books and being exposed to a million (?) characters that judging people on one characteristic is a grave error. George and Lenny were not readers, neither was Santiago. Don’t know who they are??? Read a book.
I also used to believe they just haven’t found the right book until I figured out my cousin has no imagination at all when it comes to reading. He can’t picture the events, he just reads letters and therefore prefers movies where he can actually see things going on, if that makes sense
As long as they let me gush about the books I enjoyed, I don’t care!
I don’t think about it. Some people just aren’t readers and that’s okay.
It always makes me a little sad when I hear people basically bragging about not reading a book since high school. They are missing out on so much.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say it like that. It’s always more along the lines of "Oh, you like to read? Man, I don’t think I’ve read a book for fun since high school. I should get back into it. It’s so cool that you can just lose yourself in a book like that. That’s a rare skill, you should consider yourself lucky. "
I have; I’ve done a lot of work in warehouses and the like, very physical manual labour, and while there are plenty of different kinds of people who do these jobs, there’s definitely at least one person who is quite proud about not reading at all
It usually comes up when movie discussions turn into, “Did you read the book at all?” Someone’s bound to be like, “Fuck reading”
I guess I should have known.
I just met one and the funny thing is, the conversation wasn’t even about books, it was about DIYing something to my co-workers bookcases to close the gap between the bookcase and the ceiling … still, some guy thought that his declaration of “not reading” was totally relevant for our conversation.
That idea is just so alien to me, but I guess we are all different. Maybe it boils down to some weird antiquated notion that REAL men don’t read books or something. I don’t know.
some haven t got the chance to discover they like reading, some simply like to against anything and others… they are not very bright minded
I think they’re about the same as people that don’t like sports. Not everyone needs to have the same hobbies.
Eh, I think reading is more a skill than a hobby. Preferring a specific type of book (eg. fiction novels) over others is a purely matter of taste, but people who don’t like to read anything and reject the written word, period, are not going to be inclined to read the news, to read think pieces, to read textbooks.
It is much more difficult to learn things and understand the world if you’re allergic to reading. If your position is that you don’t enjoy any book in any format about anything…eh. That’s not great imo. At least in my mind, the it’s quite different from not liking sports or not liking video games.
A “skill” and a “hobby” are not mutually exclusive concepts though. All “hobby” describes is a pursuit someone engages in that they do not do for the sake of monetization, but rather purely self-fulfillment. Playing an instrument, learning a martial art, making pottery, etc. can all be hobbies. They also all require the development of skill through practice.
Preferring a specific type of book (eg. fiction novels) over others is a purely matter of taste, but people who don’t like to read anything and reject the written word
You’re conflating two different things here. Books =/= “the written word”. It’s perfectly possible for someone not to enjoy books but to enjoy magazines and newspapers and other, more concise forms of writing.
And reading online the many articles.
I think people’s minds work in different ways, so I try to be mindful of that and not judge unless they’re one of those people who are proud of not reading.
If we’re talking fiction, not everyone has the capacity for concentration needed to immerse themselves in a made up world inside their heads, or they simply don’t have a lot of imagination.
As for non-fiction, there are so many other ways besides books to get information and to learn new things nowadays, so the fact that someone doesn’t read doesn’t mean they’re less educated than someone who does.
I’ve seen my mother try and fail to finish many books because after a while she gets restless and she loses interest eventually. That’s just the way her mind works and I don’t think it’s because she hasn’t found the right book yet.
Baffling to me but so are a lot of things. Life would be boring if everyone liked the same things.
I’m in the middle as far as reading/not reading go. I find reading entertaining/productive. At the same time I find people who read to feel intelligent as stupid as those who don’t read.
For me it depends on their attitude about it. Like, are they chill and just have different hobbies, are they aggressive and insist that reading is a terrible waste of time, or do they simply prefer to read things other than books?
I grew up with a parents who were constant reading, but my mom almost exclusively used audiobooks and my dad almost exclusively read magazines and newspapers. Mom had a long commute and not much reading time and dad said he wanted to finish whatever he was reading in one sitting.
People with different hobbies just enjoy different things than me and I always assume that the aggressively non reading people must feel intimidated by people who read a lot. At least, that’s my experience whenever someone basically attacks people who like to read.
But, different strokes for different folks and all that, lol.
I don’t spend any amount of time thinking about your hobbies or how they differ from mine. The people who look down on others for not reading are the same people who look down on others for reading fiction.
In my experience 90% of people who don’t read have either dyslexia or aphantasia so I can’t really blame them
I’ve heard from (and about) people with Dyslexia and Aphantasia that even if the actual contexts of a specific book are identical to their favourite movie, its virtually impossible for them to derive and enjoyment from it because to them at least, the medium itself isn’t compatible with them.
As someone who self identifies as having ADHD but has never been diagnosed, reading is something I’ve been doing for years and is one of the few activities I can do for up to 3 hours with little perceptible diminishing focus.
How a person operates mentally / physiologically may very well play a significant factor. Despite this, I do believe that to some extent, the majority of people can, with practices learn from and even find great pleasure in reading.
Just a reminder, even reading at its most basic level, just sitting with a book, focusing and understanding what is happening or being discussed line by line is a skill.
We all have preferences and I think that’s what makes us interesting. I’m an avid reader, but I’m the only one of my 5 siblings who reads for fun. I have 1 sister who has read some self help books over the years, but the rest of them haven’t picked up a book since school and we are all 60+ yo so I don’t think it’s going to change.
My husband also doesn’t like to read, in 30+ years of marriage the only books I’ve seen him read are reference manuals and he just skims them for the info he needs.
Not everyone wants to read and it has nothing to do with not finding the right book yet. They may not enjoy stories or they just choose to get stories in other forms of media.
I don’t like to exercise, it’s not about finding the right exercise, I’ve tried almost everything over the years, I just don’t enjoy doing it. I literally have to trick and distract myself to get myself to so the bare minimum to stay mobile as I age. It’s just not something I enjoy, but I do it because if I don’t I will not have a fun retirement.