What type of books do you enjoy the most?🤔

[DJUNGELSKOG]

I read a lot of non-fiction but I don't think that books like "Stories from the fire brigade" or "A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology" has taught me any useful skills.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What about non-fiction that it just read for enjoyment and not for being taught something? I think that entry in the poll should just be non-fiction. That or you need another entry.

^^^ this

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by DJUNGELSKOG

I read a lot of non-fiction but I don't think that books like "Stories from the fire brigade" or "A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology" has taught me any useful skills.

Yeah. I like to read Wikipedia articles about ancient history, for example. Has reading about the evolution of life on Earth or the distant ancestors of Homo Sapiens made me better able to cope with the tribulations of daily life? Of course not; I'm as useless as I've always been.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by DJUNGELSKOG

I read a lot of non-fiction but I don't think that books like "Stories from the fire brigade" or "A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology" has taught me any useful skills.

Indeed. I aim to read around 20-25% nonfiction a year, but almost all of it is hobby readinng for fun rather than for learning. Especially if it's related to linguistics, I just like reading about the subject. I tend to not even count 'focused' nonfiction reading done for specific learning goals, like langauge-learning aids, as they're not 'recreational' reading.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I also read nonfiction, but not as books - mostly as web articles. And even then, it's usually history or science, not self-help or skill teaching.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What about non-fiction that it just read for enjoyment and not for being taught something? I think that entry in the poll should just be non-fiction. That or you need another entry.

Originally Posted by DJUNGELSKOG

I read a lot of non-fiction but I don't think that books like "Stories from the fire brigade" or "A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology" has taught me any useful skills.

^^^ this

The OP username implies industry insider with an agenda.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by WiseBooksIntl

1) A book that teaches something useful (May be a skill development)

2) A book that tells an entertaining story (Pure fiction)

3) A book that has both educational and entertainment value (A story based skill development)

Why do you want to know if we learn any skills from non-fiction books? You may as well ask if we read cookbooks where we learn new recopies.

[Sirtel]

The OP is a self-published author, writing practical self-help books. They said so in their introductory post. Of course they have an agenda - they want to get more readers for their books.

[DiapDealer]

Just once, wouldn't it be neat to see an online forum poll simply answered (or ignored)?

If there's not already, there really should be a statistical term for the average number of posts before an online poll thread becomes all about the poll/pollster's validity/motivation. Sometimes it's a slow, methodical segue and sometimes it's rather brusque. But it always happens eventually.

[DJUNGELSKOG]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Yeah. I like to read Wikipedia articles about ancient history, for example. Has reading about the evolution of life on Earth or the distant ancestors of Homo Sapiens made me better able to cope with the tribulations of daily life? Of course not; I'm as useless as I've always been.

Oh that's one of my favorite ways of procrastinating!!

[jackm8]

I'm reading a lot of comedy lately. The world is bleak enough, so I don't want that in the books that I read as well.

[graycyn]

I didn't vote. Needed a 4th option.

I like both educational books AND fiction, but preferably not in a MASHUP format like option 3 suggests.

When I want to learn something, I don't need it spoon fed to me with a story. I just need clear organization and clear details. Just the facts, ma'am!

When I want fiction, I want to lose myself in the story. It's about good old-fashioned escapism ... don't mess it up by trying to teach me some skill or other. Speaking of which, some non-fiction is the same way, you just lose yourself in the story. The first time I read Krakauer's Into Thin Air, I couldn't put it down. But if the book had been trying to teach me the fine art of mountain climbing as a skill at the same time, that would totally have broken up the drama, and ruined the book.

As it was, I did learn from it ... I do NOT want to climb Everest. Ever.

I don't mind learning from fiction or non-fiction, both can be very educational, I learn about other cultures, other places, other eras, but it isn't what I seek out for learning a specific skill.

[nana77]

I was to knew science-fiction is written for the most by writers that actually might have a PhD, or even more than one. That's also what characterizes a little apart this genre (imho, not saying other are less or anything like that, just meaning it's peculiar, meaning at the fictions' books).
What I wasn't to know is that, other than the old school and the recent ones (I would like both) there is a line in-between, as in the preface of the book I'm reading, the editor mentions how the generation within Asimov and Heinlein didn't keep on with the changes, e.g. when science had new topics (biochemistry, genetics engeenering, and what changed in those times on other studies too - astronomy, electonics..), while like persons like van Voght would build up it anyway.
And I'm impressed on what and how many PhD's are in there, too I wasn't to think that several ones did just went in Vietnam on those times (Joe Haldeman, "The forever War"- 1972 is the one I'm reading, were the preface mentions this topics).
William C.Dietz was a Marine, Cordwainer Smith worked on Intelligence, Elizabeth Moon was a Marine, in Vietam, a PhD in History and one in Biology.
On a book from Mary Robinette Kowal, she asked suggestions to Bobak Ferdowski (flight engineer at NASA's), Derek Bentoski (pilot), and several others.
That's one thing I like from sci-fi, that didn't mentioned and that I wasn't even to guess it was like so (I was stuck in Asimov's, and yet it was fine ).

[jackm8]

My main criteria is that book is well written. I've become a bit of a snob regarding the quality of the written word. If the author does not convince me in the first chapter that he's capable, I'll abandon him.

[nana77]

Originally Posted by jackm8

My main criteria is that book is well written. I've become a bit of a snob regarding the quality of the written word. If the author does not convince me in the first chapter that he's capable, I'll abandon him.

I'll venture to say that it might also be that certain authors (or maybe even the most) build a script plot of the book before starting, putting there emphasis on how and where the story has really to start, and how the previous part has to feel; and sometimens them might schedule a boring start meant as that in the first place.
Usually I wait 1/3 of the book, or page 100, to take -only- a personal consideration.