We live in a world of SparkNotes, GPT-ed book hacks, and 60-second self-help reels.
Everyone wants “the takeaways.” No one wants the experience.
I’m guilty of it too. It’s a running joke that I ask friends for the summary before they finish the story. And recently, I saw someone tweet that their strategy for reading more is to just call people who’ve read the book and ask for their top 3 insights.
But here’s the thing:
The most valuable part of any book is the part that doesn’t fit in a summary.
That last 20% of the author’s emotion, nuance, and lived experience, is where the real magic happens. It’s what shapes how you internalize the story. That’s what’s being lost.
In my latest piece, I dive into how the “summary economy” is rewiring how we think, and why I’m committing to fewer, deeper reads from now on.
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