>Another ~~waste of ink~~ article that espouses getting as much as possible done - be as productive as possible - because someday you'll die and lose your chance to make progress.
> Reading for fun is OK.
I think you missed the point. It's not about productivity. Quite the opposite. Here's how the author characterizes rereading in one passage: "Rereading, thus conceived, begins to sound a bit like a punishing self-improvement regime. I can imagine a life coach promoting rereading as part of a lifestyle package, along with nootropic supplements." In another passage, the author compares rereading to a futile attempt to recapture lost youth.
The point of life being short isn't about maximizing productivity but rather about maximizing enjoyment, which is ironically what you thought you were arguing for. By constantly rereading, you're depriving yourself of the enjoyment of the new, of novelty. Rereading has diminishing returns: "There was an immediacy, intensity, and complete surrender involved in the initial experience that could never be repeated and was sometimes even diminished on the second pass."
> Reading for fun is OK.
I think you missed the point. It's not about productivity. Quite the opposite. Here's how the author characterizes rereading in one passage: "Rereading, thus conceived, begins to sound a bit like a punishing self-improvement regime. I can imagine a life coach promoting rereading as part of a lifestyle package, along with nootropic supplements." In another passage, the author compares rereading to a futile attempt to recapture lost youth.
The point of life being short isn't about maximizing productivity but rather about maximizing enjoyment, which is ironically what you thought you were arguing for. By constantly rereading, you're depriving yourself of the enjoyment of the new, of novelty. Rereading has diminishing returns: "There was an immediacy, intensity, and complete surrender involved in the initial experience that could never be repeated and was sometimes even diminished on the second pass."