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/lit/ - Literature

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6466386 No.6466386 [Reply] [Original]

>tfw you discover your love for reading too late
>mfw starting reading at 23yo
>mfw I realize how much common knowledge I lack and probably wont attain

>> No.6466395

Life is longer than you realize. You're a baby.

>> No.6466794

>tfw your brain is mostly formed and matured by your late teens/early twenties
>tfw so many things you can never be great at no matter how hard you try
If only I'd learned to be productive sooner.

>> No.6466829

nigga you young and most people dont read a book once theyre out of college so if you try you can still easily be better than most people

>> No.6466840

>>6466794
Read a book faggot

>> No.6466842

>>6466840
I read two of 'em a week.

>> No.6466843

>>6466794
>>6466386
This is how i felt until I turned 22 and started playing music. Our brains are still fresh my brothers, knowledge is yours for the taking. I thought i would never pick up music because i was "too old to learn" which was a stupid thing to think. I picked up a couple instruments on the way and got into intense study, determined to be good. It only took two years, but now I'm a whiz on the drums and upright bass, and play with Jazz bands all over the city. Now I'm 25 trying to write a novel and play the trumpet, hopefully I'll be good enough to play at the park. As long as you don't have a kid or something you're ready to learn anything, and maybe even be great at it.

>> No.6466857
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6466857

>>6466843
Now, that was an inspirational post; specially in the light of my recent hopelessness, right after hitting 20.

Thank you, my brother! I wish you all the best with your music career.

>> No.6466874

>>6466843
True, but you'll never be "the best". If you don't start until your late teens then you'll never be, say, a concert pianist or athlete, or any field that's just too competitive and exclusive, no matter how much time and effort you put in, even if you put in more overall than people who started when they were younger, when their brains were still malleable. Sure, you can and should still enjoy hobbies for enjoyment itself even if you're not exceptional at them, but it sucks to think what you could've been had you taken things more seriously when you were younger.

>> No.6466881

I'm 21 and started reading last year.

Berlioz didn't study music in his youth.

>> No.6466884

>>6466874
Luckily most of us have been reading and writing since we were toddlers.

>> No.6466894

>>6466874

Concert pianist and certain sports are possible.

Concert violinist and Olympic gymnast are impossible if you're starting in your late teens, excluding the occasional freak of course.

>> No.6467120

>>6466894
>Concert pianist
Any examples? I'm pretty sure it's not.

>> No.6467144

Only started reading last year(I'm 25) and have learned so much in that year its absurd. My mind has completely transformed. I can't imagine where I'd be if I fell in love with reading as a child but I wish I had

>> No.6467167
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6467167

I started reading regularly at 23. I don't feel like the years I spent before then were wasted. All things will come in time.

>> No.6467251

>>6466386
I've read all my life...now age 62. I've read thousands of books. Believe me, I have almost NO memory of books I read at your age. I can reread books like they were first timers. So enjoy! Life is good! You haven't lost anything!

>> No.6467289

>>6467251
62 years old, damn, we really do have patricians at this board!

>> No.6467297
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6467297

>>6466386
Do you know who never read Shakespeare at age 23?

Shakespeare

>> No.6467305

>>6467297
Yeah he just studied the classics for ten hours a day since childhood

>> No.6467580

>>6467305
no he didn't

>> No.6467586

>>6467580
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare%27s_life#Education

>> No.6467590

>>6467251
I'm not the OP, but this advice made my day. Thanks.

>> No.6467591

>>6466794

>>tfw your brain is mostly formed and matured by your late teens/early twenties

Bullshit. Think about how easy it is for an adult to go insane and you'll realize its just as easy go in the opposite direction.

>> No.6467592

>>6467580
>>6467305
I remember reading somewhere that shakespeare used to get teased because of his lack of erudition in literature.

>> No.6467597

Do you guys think Shakespeare would browse /lit/?

>> No.6467663

>>6467591
It becomes more difficult to learn and retain knowledge and memories after then. Pretty much everything you learn up to your teens you can reactivate with ease for the rest of your life. Get an older concert pianist to learn and forget new piece, and then five years later have them play both that piece and a piece from their youth that they haven't played since, and the former will be almost completely forgotten while the latter will be pretty much ingrained in their muscle memory on first try.

>> No.6468036

>>6466874
There is no the best faggot. Also, literally contradicting most of the knowledge we have about creativity and learning. If you didn't read only pretentious /lit/ you'd know that.

>> No.6468084

>>6467592
That's categorically false, since it was only one person. Only Johnston teased him, because Dr. Johnston knew a little bit more Greek and Latin than him.

>> No.6468088

>>6468036
"The best" in the sense that you can't remain competitive, you're doomed to relative mediocrity for the rest of your life because you started too late. Good luck becoming a concert pianist or chess grandmaster if you didn't pick them up until 15, even if you put in more hours overall than others who picked them up at 5. And this is a bully-free zone, Norman.

>> No.6468098

You'll catch up to the average person in a year, you'll be in the top 5-10% best read people in 3-5, if you read a book a week.

"Common knowledge" is a misnomer; most people don't know who Marcus Garvey is or what King Lear's daughters names are.

>> No.6468103
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6468103

>>6466874
I hate faggots like you. Kill yourself.

>> No.6468104

>>6468098
Most people don't even know that King Lear is a play.

>> No.6468106

>>6467251
nigga tf u doin on 4chan?

>> No.6468111

>>6468103
>>>/b/

>> No.6468127
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6468127

>>6468111
nice trips but youre the one that belongs on /b/

>> No.6468152

>>6466386
I started reading at 22 last summer and I already have read most of the books that get talked about here.

>> No.6468167

>>6468152
yeah but you don't have nice dubs like me

>> No.6468179

>>6468103
>You can do anything if you just believe in yourself :^)

>> No.6468183

True. You have 2 years since the brain starts to deteriorate at 25

>> No.6468200
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6468200

>>6468179
and thats why you will never amount to shit.

>> No.6468213

>>6468200
>I shall prove history wrong by putting my heart into it!

>> No.6468243

this western obsesion with "being the best"

>> No.6468248

>>6466386
what book revelaed your love for reading?

>> No.6468252
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6468252

>>6468243
>ugh, these disgusting Westerners, I wish I was a proud African

>> No.6468271

I used to get in trouble in middle school for reading during instruction I liked reading so much. After that it just kinda left me for some reason. Then when I turned 18 I started really getting into literature again and realized how much you can learn by reading even a short novel.

I'm 19 now and my only problem is that I can't bring myself to read as often as I'd like to be able to get to all my books I still haven't read. I feel like I'm mildly addicted to the Internet (mainly here and youtube), and I can't force myself to stop mindlessly browsing.

Anyone ever went through anything similar? Anyway to decrease the amount of time I spend online.

>inb4 "if you really enjoyed the book you wouldn't have a problem reading it often"

I really, really do enjoy the books I read, I just can't get past the notion of, "Okay, I finished a chapter. Now time to do something else."

>> No.6468294

>>6468271
Just read away from your computer. It's quite easy.

>> No.6468304

>>6466386
When you hit 50, with a library bigger than most, excelling in your area of expertise, you'll look back at your 23 year old self and contemplate: "haha, I used to be a really whiny bitch."

Give over, OP. You're young, you still have time to grow and better yourself.

>> No.6468310

>>6468271
You're a natural born procrastinator, like most of us. Most of us here should be writing essays and dissertations, but we prefer to argue about Infinite Jest.

I guess what I'd suggest is just put on some ambient music, physically leave the computer and just read. It sounds simple enough, but that's the sort of thing that really keeps me reading for long amounts of time.

>> No.6468319

>>6468294
That's what used to do it for me when I was still in uni. I could read way more at the school library because I didn't have anything else to do.

But now the only place I have to read is my house, and I still can't get through more than a chapter or two.

>> No.6468331

>>6466874
>>6468088
The thing is most of the people that did start when they were younger will also never be "the best". The vast majority of young children training right now to be chess grandmaster will never become it. Most young children who are playing sports will never do so professionally. Most children who studying classic literature will never write the next great novel, etc.

Doing anything for the sake of being "the best" is to set yourself up for failure.

>> No.6468343

>>6468271
sell your computer and live in the woods

>> No.6468357

>>6466386
>>6466881
>>6467144
>>6467167
How do you guys start your reading passion at this age? Which books aroused your interest? I'm trying to get my gf (22) to get into patrician reading habits. Now, I'm making her read Sophie's World to introduce western philo and later start her with the greeks.

>> No.6468364

>>6468331
Sure, but it doesn't mean you can't regret the fact that you threw away your one opportunity. I bet those guys grow up to regret that they didn't push harder either. If I can choose between being successful at what I love or doing what I love solely for enjoyment then obviously I'm going to choose the former.

>> No.6468473

>>6468364
OK but this thread isn't about being successful, and what I'm saying is it's ridiculous to let not being "the best" get in the way of creative or intellectual pursuits.

>> No.6468490

>>6466829
>implying that readings books makes you better

>> No.6468495

Despite what most people in here think, most of the considered "classics" as in the best works of literature should be read when you are older and wiser. If you read the very best before you're 25, what can you expect later in your literary life but disapointment?

>> No.6468529

>>6466874
this idea applies to sports, sure

but it only applies to music if you treat playing your instrument like a sport (purely objective, based only on technical skill)

and that's a pretty dumb approach to music

>> No.6468534

>>6468495
Also I find that when I reread books I had read in high school I realize how much had gone over my head.

>> No.6468551

>start reading seriously at 16
>tfw disillusioned with literature by 20

>> No.6468570

>>6468529
It isn't if you want to be a concert pianist

>> No.6468593

>>6466843
This. Siring a child metaphysically sucks the life force out of you and transfers it to the child.
As long as you maintain your life force, learning will never have to end.

>> No.6468599

>>6468357
When I changed unis I had access to a big library. I thought to myself that it was a bit of a waste to have a library right next to where I lived and not read.

So one day I decided to borrow a book. It was "Crime and Punishment" by Dostoevsky. Prior to that I was one of those annoying "STEM master race" faggots and had literally not read any book (other than pop sci) which wasn't imposed by the school curriculum. I was essentially illiterate

Well, I was blown away, and after I finished it I continued borrowing books. That's pretty much how I got into reading.

>> No.6468601

>>6468570
wanting to be a concert pianist is silly

>> No.6468611

>>6468357
I started reading a lot when I started reading Vonnegut. Entry level author or not, that guy has written a lot of stuff and I read every word, including the short stories, and some of that shit was unbearable but I ate it up anyway.

>> No.6468618

>>6468599
But to answer your original question, I really think that it was simply getting older/being more mature which pushed me to start reading. I don't think you can force someone to start reading.

>> No.6468669

You guys realize that the brain changes even in old age. That's what all that hype about 'brain games' was about. Synaptic growth, long-term potentiation, and neuroplasticity occur throughout life and neurogenesis has been observed in the hippocampus.

You guys also realize that you get most of your neurons before you are developed enough to practice anything.

Yes, brain changes, like weight loss, is a function of time and it is true that the top performers started earlier and thus have more time practiced but assuming that you are 20 and you die at 60 you have more time ahead of you to learn anything, and to change your brain, than you've been alive. More than enough time to develop an impressive ability.

>> No.6468703

>>6468669
This.
It only takes a decade of dedication to attain pro-level. Brains don't lose the ability to learn, brain-owners become lazy.

>> No.6468711

>>6466874
Lol such bullshit. You're literally pulling this out of your ass.

These theories were disproven a long time ago.

Look up 'the brain that changes itself'. Essentially, your brain is a work in progress for your ENTIRE LIFE

>> No.6468715

Thinking that you can be too late for something is just a comforting spook to justify inaction.

>> No.6468719

It's funny to me that so many of you put brain development in neurophysical terms instead of you know, just learning interesting stuff, finding out about cool ideas, synthesizing new ones etc.

>> No.6468724

>>6468357
I would recommend NOT starting with the greeks. If she doesn't read anything, get her into YA, then some decent novels, then some classics. To a person that is not used to reading, something like the greeks is a dead end and will most likely cause that person to dislike most literature

>> No.6468735
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6468735

tfw

>> No.6468751

>>6468711
The evidence speaks for itself.

>> No.6468752

>>6468724
She's 22 years old, she doesn't need to start with YA unless she hasn't read a thing since high school (and I don't mean a novel, I mean fucking anything)

>> No.6468811

>>6468735
>What about the stuff my boy Martin said on jews?

fucking lost it

>> No.6468884

>>6468719

I did it because the topic is more about skills than cognition. If it were about thought or other mental states I wouldn't have because I recognize that different brain states might correspond to the same thought and vice-versa.

>> No.6468893

>>6468735

That comic made me feel ok about myself.

>> No.6468936

>>6466386
I wouldn't worry about it, I started reading at 21, am 24 now and am well beyond the apparent lit canon (isn't saying much I know)

>> No.6468986

>>6466881

Tchaikovsky didn't seriously start writing music till he was 21, either, so

>> No.6468988

>>6468319
go read somewhere outside when it's nice and sunny out. go to the public library. as cliché as it is, go to a café. go to an abandoned warehouse. etc.

>> No.6469020

>>6468986
Too bad Tchaikovsky was never good.

>> No.6469027

>>6468724
She reads manga and light novels so her comprehension is not that bad. Hell, she can finish Fifty Shades of Grey in two days. The thing is to cultivate the interest in reading and appreciation of serious content and high literature so that she will be ready to start with the Greek.

>inb4 start with le greek is meme
Start with the Greek does not mean start your reading habit with Greeks. It is a way for those with decent discipline in reading who wants to better understand the society we live in.

>> No.6469036

>>6466881
Mozart lived in a cave until he was 83 and composed all 32 of his symphonies simultaneously the day he left that cave. He had never heard music before that day.

>> No.6469066

What do I do if I haven't re-read a book in 6 years? I just can't get ok with the idea of spending a week or so re-reading something when I could read something new.

Convince me this is the wrong attitude to have

>> No.6469188

Remember guys, James Cameron didn't start making movies until he was 27.

>> No.6469332

>>6466386

32 here and I've had periods where I've read voraciously and times where I've read sparsely. I used to regret it, but now I've realized that:

>>6467251

A) This guy is right. You will not retain everything you read.

>>6466395

and B) This guy is right too. You are very young still and you've got a massive amount of time ahead of you.

Think about why you want to read. At least part is for pleasure and you should try to just live in the moment and enjoy the process. Maybe part of why you want to read is to go deep on some subject so that you can produce something of your own. In that case, as mentioned earlier, you can't really retain it for that long. You can build a general base in literature, history and philosophy that can last a lifetime but you can't keep the really meaty stuff in your head forever. Chances are if you are going to do some kind of thing that requires deep reading and research it's going to get done in a few years of intense focus, not two decades of casual consumption.

>> No.6469360

tfw weak
Started to left last year (23)
Holy fuck, you just spend a couple of hours at week.
Start lifting, bros.

>> No.6469652

Gee, am I ever glad that I've been reading and writing ever since childhood!

>> No.6471236

>>6467251
>Everything's OK, OP! You never lose anything because everything you ever gained is lost eventually anyway!
tfw I'm Buddhist so this is perfectly sound but I can see how it would absolutely kill you christfags
lelelelelelelelleleleleleleleeelellelel

>> No.6471313

>>6469188
To think we could have stopped him from making Avatar. ;~;

>> No.6471350

The way I look at it, I do feel as though many years have been wasted. I spent all that time on stupid bullshit when I could have been expanding my mind, or at least doing something productive.

However, you should be happy you came to realize this at all. Better late than never.

I can look back and cringe but I can't blame my past self for being addicted to pointless distractions. How are you supposed to change your bad habits when you don't even realize they are a waste of time? How are you supposed to realize this is happening, that time and potential for learning is being wasted, when you are not reading anything to begin with?

>> No.6471383

>>6468271
You've formed a lot of bad habits around your desktop pc, so just get a laptop and sit down in a library somewhere to do anything serious. In public, there will be a certain amount of pressure on you to stay productive.

On 4chan, the pressure comes from your addiction to cheap, easy to digest entertainment. You keep pressing F5, hoping to find a funny joke somewhere in the swamp. The harder it is to find a thread worth reading, the more desperately you will search. It's a skinnerbox experiment.

>> No.6471416

>>6466386

what do you guys do when your passion for books or art in general no longer provides you with the necessary shield against misery? I spend most of my time reading, especially the time I spend at my wage slave jobs, but lately I'm starting to feel as though it's not as fulfilling as it once was. I'm sorry for making this into my blog but really what do you do when the only thing you enjoy stops giving you the will to live?

>> No.6471427

>>6471350

You worry like an old man.

Embrace your youth.

Drown in experience.

>> No.6471435

>>6471236
It's not that you lose everything. Every book you read contributes to who you are. Builds your intellect and character, and general knowledge. So it's not lost. You may not remember the individual book over time, but it's not necessarily inconsequential that you read it.

>> No.6471442

>>6471427
I would suggest that old men worry a lot less then young ones do!

>> No.6471445

>>6471416
Do you have a group of friends with which to discuss books or art? I don't, so I can feel it slipping away as well.

I'm spending less time reading and more time worrying about money and prestige.

>> No.6471461

>>6467251
The thing is, you didn't teach yourself to read actively, probably never forced yourself to recall stuff you've read (to cement memory), and probably never memorized verse. If you do all of these three things, you retain a lot. That is how you become a patrician. It's only a little extra work, but it's worth it.

>> No.6471471

>>6471445

No, I don't. My gf likes books but her level of interest isn't the same as mine so it's pretty rare that we sit around discussing literature.

I'm starting to realize that the more time I spend reading books and watching films I am only increasing my own detachment from any of the people I interact with on a regular basis.

Also, do you guys ever feel uncomfortable with the fact that you spend most of your time reading books that were written decades/centuries ago? I find myself losing touch with the contemporary world.

>> No.6471482

>>6471461

When I started keeping a notebook for notes/lists of characters and their evolving attributes/quotes from the book I found that I was able to retain much more about everything that I was reading.

>> No.6471509

>>6466874
Lots of writers started writing when they were old though, and a great deal of them with no knowledge whatsoever in literature.

>> No.6471531

>>6471427
>Embrace your youth.

I wish it were that simple. I can see too many people very clearly wasting their youth just by browsing this site.

It is easier to learn defining skills when you are young. You probably don't want those skills to be blunt rolling, doxxing and ambidextrous masturbation. It's nice to realize that I dodged a couple of bullets and didn't end up on /r9k/ or some other such bullshit subculture but I still worry about how to spend my time wisely.

>> No.6471539

>>6471509
True. Also literature really seems to be the exception where in a lot of cases the older they get, the better writers become.

>> No.6471557

>>6471471
> I find myself losing touch with the contemporary world.

This is only going to keep getting worse thanks to technological advancement. It's annoying, but I wouldn't want to try and keep up as that would involve watching tv and buying lots of gadgets.

>> No.6471594

>>6471471
You're supposed to play vidya and get drunk with the lads and watch contemporary TV shows for balance.

>> No.6471950

>>6468495
This. I have no idea how you're supposed to truly get The Great Gatsby when you're in high school.

>> No.6472131

>>6466874
Fuck you.

>> No.6472160

>>6472131
For what?

>> No.6472168

>25
>Suffer severe depression
>Want to write/draw/make films
>Haven't even started
>Will never achieve it since I can't motivate myself due to my illness
>Constantly think about how much time i've wasted and it makes me fee; even worse

Suffering.

>> No.6472175

>>6472160
for being honest

>> No.6472180

>>6468167
tru dat

>> No.6472183

>>6472168
That or you're using a (probably self diagnosed) mental illness to delude yourself into believing it's responsible for your failure, rather than an inherent lack of talent, ability, or ambition. Basically, you're just like the rest of 4chan on that front.

>> No.6472188

>>6472183
this

otherwise, get some meds.

>> No.6472192

>>6472183
Nah, I was diagnosed last year. The medicine they given me does nothing, I told them and they just cycle some tablets and nothing changes.

>> No.6472239

>>6472168
Hello, me from two years ago.

You have to snap out of it. All of the time you feel you've wasted, it's not something that happened consciously. So you might as well have been drugged during that time. Probably you are now seeing how precious your time is, so the drug is wearing off. Be glad this is happening.

I have a friend who could be a concept artist but he keeps smoking weed and playing bullshit video games. Then he keeps getting these whimsical ideas in his head to suddenly change his medium for no reason, to go make music in some program or to play around with unreal editor. These aren't good ideas. This is just the internet fucking with you. Eventually my friend is going to realize that he should have stopped playing league of fucking legends ages ago and that he can't become a professional concept artist until he gains discipline and focus, or at the very least doesn't change his medium every other week. You're supposed to specialize or at least you're supposed to finish something before switching to another medium. This is crucial.

Write a short story and finish it. Make a drawing and finish it. If you can't manage to finish small projects then you're not going to finish anything big either.

>> No.6472248

>>6472160
4 U

>> No.6472263

>>6467663
Bullshit

>> No.6472275

>>6472239
Out of curiosity, what do you do now?

>> No.6472276

>>6467663
>Pretty much everything you learn up to your teens you can reactivate with ease for the rest of your life
This is true. I shat in my pants until my early teens, but when at that age I learnt how to take a dump properly I never forgot it.
Nowadays I still remember how to take shits in the toilet.

>> No.6472312

>>6472276
>>6472263
It's true my man. See for yourself:
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=site:pianostreet.com+maintain+repertoire

This guy knows his shit, check the "information" link.
http://www.pianofundamentals.com/book/en/1.III.18.3

It's true for chess too and pretty much everything else.

>> No.6472681

>>6472275
Honestly it's not pretty. Few people seem to really believe me when I say I'm turning my life around and I'm still a 4chan shitter. However, I've managed to cut video games and some other crap out of my life. I'm also starting to unlearn the idea that something creative isn't worth doing unless it's absolutely perfect or "meant to be." If you're not working or experimenting for fear of mediocrity or vicious criticism then you might as well go stare at the wall waiting for your skills to atrophy.

There's some other circumstances to complicate matters but I won't go into too much detail. As for what I'm actually doing, I'm trying to get IT certifications. I hope to be working full-time sooner or later just to breed discipline, maintain average social skills and force myself into a normal sleep schedule.

>> No.6473430

Feeling like you've wasted your time is the worst thing. I went to university to get a degree as something to "fall back on" but ended up feeling like I'd wasted three years and felt so far behind the people who had studied something they gave a shit about. I know life is long but at 26 I already feel like it's too late to pursue any kind of passion or interest.

>> No.6473558

>>6473430
70% of your life is ahead dude. You got to be fucking kidding me.

>> No.6475245

>>6468357
dude, you will never make her read the greeks if she doesn't want to, the greeks are fucking worthless unless you have a certain need for intellectual masturbation by knowing some irrelevant shit.

>> No.6475246

>>6469020
>trying to make a personal value judgement objective
I remember when I was an embryo

>> No.6475251 [DELETED] 

Brah. It's not as hard as it seems. Just two and a half years ago I was ignorant as fuck. I had no idea who Satre was let alone what a reactionary was and I was generally politically a bit rightist.

The best I chose to do was to read what others were reading and involve myself within well read groups. Online and offline. The best method is, is to pick up on what they're saying, so you can more easily grasp the concepts being read. Then, when you finally sit down and read, both opinions you agree and disagree them, you'll be able to communicate within those groups far better with those ideas.

Reading is fun, and what's more fun, people are more charged than ever about reading. It's a lot of fun if you enjoy it.

>> No.6475256

It's not as hard as it seems. Just two and a half years ago I was in the same place you are. I was incredibly ignorant to anything outside of fiction. I still read much, but non-fiction totally bored me. Start with good fiction. Then move onto non-fiction after you gain a respect for what it suggests.

The best I chose to do was to read what others were reading and involve myself within well read groups. Online and offline. The best method is, is to pick up on what they're saying, so you can more easily grasp the concepts being read. Then, when you finally sit down and read, both opinions you agree and disagree with, you'll be able to communicate within those groups far better, with those ideas.

Reading is fun, and what's more fun, people are more charged than ever about reading. It's a lot of fun if you enjoy it.

>> No.6475427
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6475427

>>6468179
>>6468103
I think I remember reading somewhere that before joining the Nazi Party Goebbels was absolutely destitute and considering killing himself.

Also Hitler failed to get into art school and was a vagrant for years. I doubt that anybody expected either of them to influence history.

Lots of famous people only started to do remarkable things late into their lives, and we seem to get too hung up on what we consider 'old'. If you don't have dementia and your body isn't deteriorating you ought to be able to as much or more as you could as a teenager.

>> No.6475481
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6475481

>>6475427
That's politics though, and along with business people seem to get better at it with age. If your dream is to be a concert pianist or chess grandmaster and you didn't start training intensively as a kid then you're fucked.

>> No.6475548
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6475548

>i'm too old to do something

Meanwhile, 40-60 years later...

>> No.6475576

>>6466874
>concert pianist or athlete

Why the fuck would you think these are comparable?
Have you tried to do at least one of the two?
Plus, what kind of athlete? Do you think gymnastics, hockey, hammer throw take all the same kind of preparation and age requirements?
There are definitely advantages if you start young, but yours seems more of a argument in spite of "if you want it you can achieve anything!!!", not the reality of things
The fact that you're also applying it to reading in writing just makes it that more retarded

>> No.6475579

>>6466874
Günter Grass first drafts of Tin Drum were full of spelling and grammar mistakes because he never learned properly how to write, he self-teached himself as a young adult and became one of the defining post-war authors in germany.

>> No.6475627

>>6475576
I tried to be a chess player but I gave it up when I realized it wasn't worth my time

You have a significant disadvantage if you start late, and in most things that disadvantage is enough to ensure that you'll never be great even if you put in an equal or higher number of hours as someone who started early.

>>6475579
he went to gymnasium

>> No.6475629

>>6475627
he left school at the age of 15

>> No.6475645

>>6475629
Still, he's an exception, and like I said it's more evident in something objective like music or chess than literature or politics. The vast majority of successful writers were well-read as children. Look through history, young children of well-off families used to receive an intense literary/classics education in grammar schools, and their generations of a small percentage of a low population produced more literary greats by far per capita than the tens or hundreds of millions who studied literature and the classics at university as adults in the 19th/20th century.

>> No.6475657

>>6475627
Sure, but you're talking about technical skills, the kind that better crystalizes in youth, not creativity itself; that one travels on a different railroad
If you've met any, you'd know that the common conservatory boy is covering Tiersen, River flows in you, and numb by Linkin Park, with the occasional classic here and there
And again, why would you apply this to reading and writing?

>> No.6475660

>>6475657
*covering on youtube

>> No.6475668

>>6475657
Well it still holds true for composition, so why wouldn't it for writing?

>> No.6475679

>>6475668
>holds true for composition

How so? Did you just ignore my whole post?

>> No.6475698

>>6475679
People who trained classically as children make better composers. In fact, I'm pretty sure there are no successful composers who didn't study as children.

>> No.6475714

>>6475657
What a terrible conservatory you must live near.

>> No.6475727

>>6475698
Because the classical scene isn't as relevant in contemporary society? Classical music takes dedication, effort, external feedback, knowledge, and rigor, and those are qualities that can be developed in whatever stage of age, but for different reasons that's much easier to achieve when young. So if you did train as a classical musician as a child, it's more probable you will be able to find a place that sphere as an adult, that's it. But this has absolutely nothing to do with talent or child prodigies, and the same goes for writing, or for that matter every occupation ever, if that's what you meant. But that's it

>> No.6475733

>>6475714
Do you even know what a normie is? (no meme implied)
Seriously, have you never met young conservatory people?

>> No.6475888
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6475888

I became an avid reader like three months ago and I can't stop. I stopped watching tv and I don't spend much time on 4chan anymore.

Here's how I did it.

-Remember the average person reads like zero books a year. If you read 5 pages a day, you are 5 pages above the average person

-Don't force yourself to read. Commit to read 5 pages a day. I swear after three days you'll feel like reading more and after a month or so you should be reading 50-100 pages a day for pleasure

-Read various books at the same time. When I grab a difficult book or one that makes me sleepy I grab another and switch. This should refresh your head. Keep them thematically different. I read economics and fiction.

-It isn't a race. Reading slowly won't make you sleepy that fast. Try to acknowledge what books are for you to read fast and which aren't.

-Buy the physical copies. When you get the books from your own money you'll feel the need to read them to avoid the feel of wasting your money.

-Start with books highly discussed here so you feel motivated to discuss.