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The Cliffs Notes paradox
The reason we’re so increasingly intolerant of long articles and why we skim them, why we skip forward even in a short video that reduces a 300-page book into a three-minute animation — is that we’ve been infected with this kind of pathological impatience that makes us want to have the knowledge but not do the work of claiming it.
maria popova
Here’s the sad truth: people don't read anymore.
High on dopamine, they hop, skim, and jump from one stimulating snack to the next.
So make it bite-sized or be ignored. If it takes more than a few choice words to articulate your unique value, you'll become a casualty of attention warfare.
High on dopamine, they hop, skim, and jump from one stimulating snack to the next.
So make it bite-sized or be ignored. If it takes more than a few choice words to articulate your unique value, you'll become a casualty of attention warfare.
Tom White • Why Less Is More When Pitching Yourself
The reason we’re so increasingly intolerant of long articles and why we skim them, why we skip forward even in a short video that reduces a 300-page book into a three-minute animation — even in that we skip forward — is that we’ve been infected with this kind of pathological impatience that makes us want to have the knowledge but not do the work of... See more
Maria Popova • Maria Popova — Cartographer of Meaning in a Digital Age
The reason we’re so increasingly intolerant of long articles and why we skim them, why we skip forward even in a short video that reduces a 300-page book into a three-minute animation — even in that we skip forward — is that we’ve been infected with this kind of pathological impatience that makes us want to have the knowledge but not do the work of
... See moreWhat else has been hidden by summary? What thoughts must we resist abridging? Those giant sequoias echo a reminder to ask ourselves, what are the unseen things today that could be growing?
Simon Sarris • Long Distance Thinking
Book people, relax. I’m not looking to replace reading-for-pleasure with cheap AI-generated summaries. They’re hollow and void of joy. I don’t want the Spark Notes. I want the obscure excerpts hidden in Chapter 13, written in elegant prose, and eerily related to my exact stream of thought. They’re just impossible to find at the right moment. Can al... See more
Michael Dean • Margin Matchmaker
The information overload puts a premium on brevity, which leads to abbreviation, which leaves out what is unfamiliar, which leaves out important parts of understanding the information.
James Dale Davidson • The Sovereign Individual: How to Survive and Thrive During the Collapse of the Welfare State
But never borrow the book as a substitute for owning and studying it yourself—you don’t want to miss the marking process. If you can stomach the metaphor, merely scanning another person’s notes without actually reading the text is a little like digesting someone else’s meal.