"This Book Couldn't Have Been A Blog Post" 🧐

2024-04-16 · Short · Ali · recording, 0:39 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books and reading · mode: Reflection and life update · tags: Lesson from a book

In a Short, Ali answers the criticism that non-fiction books could have been a blog post: a summary of the key highlights loses the build-up, just as a comedy set of only punchlines or a performance of only climaxes is not interesting.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Why a book is more than its punchlines

• ★ Ali describes the common criticism of non-fiction books that they could have been a blog post or a tweet thread, since the point is in the highlightable lines and the rest is superfluous examples. — 00:00:00

• ★★★ Ali says that although you can read a short summary of a book, such as a viral thread of key highlights from Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow, you lose something by not seeing the "fluff", the build-up. — 00:00:14

  “You lose something in not seeing the, quote, fluff, like the buildup.”

• ★★ Ali compares a book reduced to its key points to a comedy set with only punchlines or a musical performance with only climaxes: neither is interesting. — 00:00:29

Threads in this video

• refine · Should you read book summaries instead of whole books? — Ali says that although you can read a short summary of a book, such as a viral thread of key highlights from Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow, you lose something by not seeing the "fluff", the build-up. (00:00:14)

Mentioned

Daniel Kahneman · Thinking, Fast and Slow

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