Cozy wisdom books are dishonest Some of these ‘everyday…
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Cozy wisdom books are dishonest
Some of these ‘everyday wisdom’ books feel like a case of ‘the emperor has no clothes’.
Books like What You're Looking For Is in the Library primarily exist to serve a weird, transactional loop. The author gets the validation of having written a book, and the reader gets a quick dopamine hit and the superficial joy of crossing a ‘wise’ international bestseller off their list. But, there’s little there.
If your parents or friends told you the same thing, you would feel infantilised (as an adult). But if a stranger writes a 300 page book about it, you have suddenly chanced upon the wisdom of the centuries. I get that there is a difference between solicited and unsolicited advice but I bet the packaging is doing some heavy lifting there.
In a nutshell: IMO these books feel less like good reads and more like a ‘fast-food’ reading experience designed for the aesthetic and surface wisdom rather than substance. It almost feels a bit dishonest and existing primarily for transactional validation.
#conversation
Some of these ‘everyday wisdom’ books feel like a case of ‘the emperor has no clothes’.
Books like What You're Looking For Is in the Library primarily exist to serve a weird, transactional loop. The author gets the validation of having written a book, and the reader gets a quick dopamine hit and the superficial joy of crossing a ‘wise’ international bestseller off their list. But, there’s little there.
If your parents or friends told you the same thing, you would feel infantilised (as an adult). But if a stranger writes a 300 page book about it, you have suddenly chanced upon the wisdom of the centuries. I get that there is a difference between solicited and unsolicited advice but I bet the packaging is doing some heavy lifting there.
In a nutshell: IMO these books feel less like good reads and more like a ‘fast-food’ reading experience designed for the aesthetic and surface wisdom rather than substance. It almost feels a bit dishonest and existing primarily for transactional validation.
#conversation
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