Reading, This Time Unruined

 I have ruined reading for myself several times under some mistaken attempts at greatness. I completely ruined the summer of 21 by following a rigid course of reading where all of the books I read about history marched through each 50 year segment starting in 1500 [1]. I had to read three books for that time segment, either primary or secondary sources, before I could move on. Do I understand the flow of history much better for it? Yes, but it was a miserable experience.

Shortly after that, I started another way of more subtly sucking joy out of what I read: taking notes.

But now, noteless, reading is a joy again. Instead of pretending I will ever be called upon for my knowledge, I just read what I like. And if I like it enough, why that is just a chance to re-read it after I have given enough time to forget more.

I see a parallel with how I am now writing. I am finally just optimized for what I can do and what I enjoy in the moment.

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[1] Here's what I read during that time. No one gives a shit -- those with credentials only want to listen to others with credentials, and 100% of those without credentials (to a rounding error) want history to either be intuitive or self-serving. That is the sociology of why my knowledge is useless. And now AI means carbon-based knowledge is so out...

The Unreformed Martin Luther. Andreas Malessa.                                  
The Shadow King. Lauren Johnson.                                                
Henry VIII and the Men Who Made Him. Tracy Borman.                              
Life and Writings of Sir Thomas More.  T.E. Bridgett.                           
Martin Luther. Eric Metaxas.                                                    
The Man Who Invented Fiction.  William Egginton                                 
The 1500s: Headlines in History.                                                
The 1600s: Headlines in History                                                 
Oliver Cromwell.  Theodore Roosevelt.                                           
Hume's History of England, Vol F.                                               
The Age of Genius. A.C. Grayling                                                
Curiosity.  Philip Ball.                                                        
Newton and the Counterfeiter. Thomas Levenson.
Frederick the Great. Tim Blanning
The 1700s: Headlines in History
An Essay on Man.  Alexander Pope.
Letters on the English. Voltaire.
Fire and Light. James MacGregor Burns.
The True History of the American Revolution.   Sydney George Fisher.
Evening in the Palace of Reason.  James R. Gaines
Candide. Voltaire.
Forgotten Founder, Drunken Prophet. Bill Kauffman
Revolution. Peter Ackroyd.
The Lady and Her Monsters.  Roseanne Montillo.
Romanticism: A German Affair. Rüdiger Safranski
Andrew Jackson.  Don Yaeger and Brian Kilmeade.
American Lion.  Jon Meacham
A Country of Vast Designs. Robert W. Merry    
Dominion. Peter Ackroyd.
Opium: Reality's Dark Dream. Thomas Dormandy