Thoughts on Reading Non-Fiction

[forestofglory]

I've been talking with some friends about reading non-fiction vs finding and accessing information. spindizzy, who is librarian has been struggling to read non-fiction. She was like " but I'm good at finding information! Why is this hard?" and we where like "those are two very different skills!"

For me reading non-fiction is not about learning a collection of facts. I don't worry that much about retaining facts when I read non-fiction books. A good non-fiction book is making an argument about the world. (Memoirs might be an exception to this, they are more about sharing lived experience) When I read a book of tea history I understand more about the role of tea in the evolution of Chinese Buddhism, for example.Or Nature's Metropolis was mind blowing to me because it rearranged how I think of cities and county and also challenged the myth of the frontier. I sometimes get frustrated with books by journalist is because they are making bad arguments or just really boring ones designed to appeal of a lot of people. That's a bit unfair. Ok academics also make bad arguments, plus some academic writing is really terrible.

Looking up information is totally different skill, that's a lot about understanding systems, and being good at search terms and stuff. But reading non-fiction is about understanding arguments, much more than it is about learning facts.

Comments

[redbird]

Yes. I just read a biography which left me with all sorts of random facts like "the first person to climb Chimborazo measured the air pressure while he was climbing," as well as thoughts about history of ideas and what is connected to which. But I read it for pleasure; if I remember anything about Humboldt a year from now that will be a bonus.

[lunabee34]

Hey! Only *other* academics make bad arguments. LOL

j/k

[forestofglory]

#NotAllAcademics :P

[lunabee34]

Exactly! Heeee.

[kimboo_york]

"A good non-fiction book is making an argument about the world."

Ahhhh, I like that description. Yes! This is why information literacy is a separate skill than reading comprehension/absorbtion.

I read almost exclusively non-fiction these days, aside from fanfiction. Original fiction takes SO much out of me, I cannot handle it, honestly. Hell some fanfics I have to back out of, if they become too much in any way that hits me psychologically, no matter how well written they are. Such is the state of things, I think.

[starshipfox]

I've come to enjoy memoir a lot, but non-fiction is still a challenge for me. However, the quality of prose is a hugely important factor: last summer I read Virginia Woolf's A Writer's Diary, which is a long account of her writing life, and which I thought I would dip in and out of, but which I actually found completely gripping, because her prose style was so compelling. I have a low tolerance for journalistic writing or the kind of clunky prose that often appears in popular science books, even when the subject matter appeals to me.

[jesse_the_k]

I've been reading more history, which is exceptionally soothing. Even when the history itself is full of cruelty, it's so helpful to realize the world has always been on fire.

[lokifan]

A good non-fiction book is making an argument about the world.

Yes! Thanks for articulating this so well. It's 100% true for all my favourite non-fiction (and the stuff I don't like is usually making a weak argument, or none at all.)

[forestofglory]

Thanks!