Reading can be a waste of time, after all

A new Borders was opened today down the street from my abode. Perusing the shelves, I decided to buy a book about Hannibal (of Carthage, not Lechter).



I only get the time and opportunity to read one solid book per month. That is not a rate that would qualify me for any awards. Now, considering that the average human may eek out 80 years on Earth, I posit that there is much reading of little value or that is completely worthless.

In such a short span of time, why would you subject yourself to nonsense? There are two issues to consider here:
1: You are wasting your time reading falsehood.
2: Said falsehood, if you are of weak intellect, may corrupt you.

In my case, Beat writers were the piffle I used to enjoy. Some writings from this literary fad have value, but none is to be found in "Naked Lunch," or any poetry by Kerouac. It did modestly distort my view of the world vis a vis personal freedom, and I was wasting time that could have been better spent on something of value.

If you are a better person than I am, and read a half dozen books a month, I would allow you the leisure to indulge in the occasional stupidity. Especially if you are a writer; we need authors to respond to the foolishness to be had out there. Firstly, if you read that much, the majority of your intake should be fortifying and your taste is likely advanced, secondly, you probably are savvy enough to know claptrap when you see it.

What would be some examples of such tommyrot? Well, since you asked:
1:Any nonfiction with a subjectivist or modernist viewpoint.
2:Free verse.
3:Most literary criticism.
4:"Character study" fiction.
5:Anything with a hyphen. Afro-, Gyno-, Phallo- ... whatever.

I am now going to go read something satisfying.