It’s always a little daunting to think about how few books you’ll read in your life. Somewhat more daunting to think how little of each of them you’ll really remember. By extension, you might end up learning more from some you don’t actually read yourself than some you do.
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There's an optimistic complement to this, which is that you can ensure most of the books you read are extraordinary. I used to waste a lot of time on mediocre books; now, most of my reading is books that seem likely to be remarkable.
The exception is in areas I want to become expert in, where it can be worth it to read quite a few books, even if only one or two are truly remarkable.
