Skip to content
Coordinates of ThoughtHome of Philosophy
Join
Question · Open Newcomer-friendly

I keep reading summaries of philosophers instead of the books. Is that so bad?

Confession: in the year since I burnt out and started reading philosophy, I've read maybe three actual books and hundreds of summaries, threads, videos and ‘ten ideas from Stoicism’ posts. I can tell you what Kant, Nietzsche and the Gita say in a sentence each. I'm not sure I know any of them.

Part of me thinks this is fine. I run a startup, or I did. Nobody reads everything. Summaries are efficient. Part of me suspects that the efficiency is the problem: that what philosophy teaches is in the slow part I'm skipping.

So, an honest question: what do you lose by reading the summary? Is there a difference between knowing that a philosopher said something and understanding it, and does it matter for someone who isn't trying to be an academic? And if it does matter, how do I break the habit?

LikeAnswerFollow0 answers

Join the conversation: members reply here, and joining is free. Reading is always free.

Join free to reply Sign in

0 answers

No answers yet. Yours could be the first.