Should You Read Through a Book You Don't Like?

Wrestling books you hate is an exercise to develop an open mind.

Adelina Vasile
9 min readFeb 9, 2022
Abstract image of a woman’s face with lots of symbols coming out of her head, representing what she’s thinking about.
Source: pixabay.com

Do you find it easier to drop a book than to turn the page when you're not that into it? If so, do you ever feel guilty about it? Wondering if you're wrong for not fitting the patterns, not finding joy in books everyone praises?

I think these are the wrong questions to focus on.

Instead, you should drill into why you want to stop reading a book and what that reason says about you.

Magic happens when you realize what turns you off and decide to keep reading against it. You open the door to unexpected growth opportunities.

Let me show you what I mean.

The unfinished books graveyard is overflowing

Did you know there's a measure index for how far readers will go through a book before giving up on it?

Since 2014, when the Hawking Index was "invented" by American mathematician Jordan Ellenberg, that measure is shamelessly pointing out the supposedly most "impressive" books that readers ditch without shame.

The lower the Hawking Index (HI), the higher the abandonment reading rate.

--

--

Adelina Vasile
Adelina Vasile

Written by Adelina Vasile

Mother, educator, journalist, copywriter. I write about the things I need to learn myself.

Responses (2)