The Complex Problem of People Who Are Too Smart to Read Anything You Recommend

Some time ago, I posted my 55 most important books. If you read through the list, one thing you might start to notice is that I have this criticism on some of the books that people often talk about the subjects of particular books but refuse to read them for themselves. An example is Machiavelli. People will claim to "understand" Machiavelli because they either read The Prince, or they heard enough information about The Prince to know enough to not have to read it. Yes, people believe this. They believe that they can hear enough about a book to not have to read it.

This transcends just Machiavelli. It also fits into stereotypical responses to allusions that are so famous that people don't feel they have to know anything about the original source. An aside to that problem was a scene from the Star Trek movie, First Contact, where Jean Luc Picard has a total meltdown and a woman reminds him that Captain Ahab killed himself going after the Great White Whale. Picard realizes she is right and quotes a poignant line from the book, looks up at her, and she says: "I never read it."

I see the same thing a lot of times from the media, and it drives me nuts. 1984 is referenced so many times by the media, yet most of the time I suspect they never actually read the book because there's so much more to the book than Big Brother.

I was recently reading Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, and I kept referencing it to people, telling them that they should read it, mainly because some part of it was important to some research they were doing. They would nod knowingly, but THEY'D NEVER READ IT.

I guess the problem for me is that I love reading, and I love learning things I didn't know before. It bothers me when I find others who don't have the same passion, and I understand that not everyone should and does have that same desire. But at least don't try to wing it and pretend something that's not true.

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