Bryan Caplan is an economist worth following even if you disagree with his conclusions. Here are his substack writings. He’s well known for his critique of the education system. You can check out his book to get the full argument, but one of his key points is that we remember almost nothing we learn in school. Like literally almost nothing.
Try to even list the courses you took in college or high school. If you did that successfully, try to solve a pre-calculus problem or recall anything from AP History. Bryan’s takeaway is that the main benefit of education is that it “signals” that we’re intelligent. And life is largely about accumulating the right signals so people know you’re the right kind of person. To put it another way, taking classes at Princeton only really matters if you can tell people you took classes at Princeton.
I’m not going to give my thoughts on education, but I did want to apply Bryan’s critique to the value of reading as an adult. Time is limited. And if you work a job it’s even more limited. And if you have children it’s even more limited. In fact, time is so limited, that one of the most popular genres of literature currently is books that will help you organize your life to optimize every hour. But I guess you’ll need to make time for that.
So is reading valuable? If we use Caplan’s argument against education, it would seem it’s almost certainly a waste of time.
I read about 30 books a year. I tend to read short books, so I would guess each one takes me on average 5 hours to read. So that’s 150 hours a year. So not a ridiculous amount of time, since that’s less than 30 minutes a day.
But I have a deep desire to read a lot more. I just never do. And it plagues me, since I associate being well-read with being interesting/intelligent. That’s the “signal” it sends me. However, I remember so little of those 30 books that I might as well not have read any of them.
Is memory the measure though? Humans have notoriously bad memories. Or perhaps it’s better to say we have weird memories. A computer has instant recall of anything you put on it. It’s only limitation is the hardware. But computers (for now) won’t do anything with that memory unless it’s prompted. Computers don’t reflect. They just process.
Whereas human brains seem to tie memories to experiences or smells or word play . Which is why we can all remember lyrics to songs we haven’t heard in 20 years, but I can’t remember the plot of Jurassic Park, even though I read it a year ago. I do remember though that I listened to the entire thing on Audible while sitting in the dark trying to get a baby to sleep.
So if remembering the book isn’t the point, then what is the value of reading? Why use any of the precious free time on it when we know almost all of what we read will be forgotten?
The obvious response is that the same thing could be said about our entire existence. I agree with the great Nate Bargatze. Memory clearly isn’t that important to human motivation. Even if we really like videoing or photographing events so we can later reflect on that moment in time, we would still throw kids birthday parties if iPhones stopped working.
With reading, I think there is a benefit to constantly being exposed to things outside our normal range of experiences. It’s like exercise for our minds. The individual workouts are useless, but in aggregate they make a big difference.
I need a break from the ordinary. I need to go to the Soviet Union and experience communism or participate at a distance in England’s 16th century debates over religion. In a simple way it helps remind me that there is more to life than the drudgery of 7 AM alarm clocks and an inbox flooded with emails.
But also I think I need the challenge. There are entire parts of my brain that lie dormant all day. The parts that Plato and Aristotle addressed. The parts that try to understand why on earth there is something rather than nothing. The parts that separate us from computers. And I think fiction and non-fiction (and I don’t mean business books) keep that part of our person alive.
What do you all think?
Good read. One thing I'll add is, if you read a book only once, it won't stick. Your point is well taken that memory isn't everything, but if you do want to remember what you've read, re-reading is essential.
Because it is useless, that's why. I do it solely for its own sake, and when the aim of our action is the action itself, it is because it has the highest value; it is not to attain any greater value. Aristotle, right? ;)
I have periods in my life when I read a lot of fiction and non-fiction (mostly philosophy, psychology, sociology) and I usually feel that it is useful because it seems to have something meaningful to say about people and the world we live in, but that might be an illusion. In real life, problems are not as difficult as the 'sciences' may suggest (they are usually not about our direct experience but about larger processes) and people are not as sophisticated as psychological novels depict (which I like the most). So, it is mostly useless, but I enjoy them nonetheless. They are useful as walking in the woods is: it is relaxing, it refreshes your mind, it might be interesting when you observe nature, and you can share this love for walking with friends. It has its benefits, but it’s useless for the economy, for people who don't like it, and so no. But our precious time should be well spent, and reading books is one way to do it.
Thanks for the text. I also like books for being challenging, providing new experiences, and being a break from the ordinary.