A Man Who Reads Books for a Living (One Every Two Days)

(lithub.com)

55 points | by gmays 3 hours ago

10 comments

  • garciasn 7 minutes ago
    TIL I can get paid for doing what I do for fun: reading ~100 books a year.

    What surprises me is that he only reads about 50 more books a year than I do, and he does it full time.

    • nomadiccoder 4 minutes ago
      > even allowing for time off, that works out to roughly 300 books a year, or well over 6,000 across two decades. And that is just the professional tally.
  • david927 2 hours ago
    I had a good friend who did this -- was a reader for a movie studio, looking for adaptations. Everyone teased him for having such a great job.
  • sharkjacobs 2 hours ago
    > a professional book reader who evaluates literature specifically for screen adaptation
    • dylan604 1 hour ago
      From studio output, it feels like all they read are graphic novels
      • ASalazarMX 1 hour ago
        I was skeptical, but the article starts with Train Dreams, which according to HowLongToRead, would take 2 hours at 300 WPM.

        https://howlongtoread.com/books/323872/Train-Dreams

        Two days per book full time means one every 16 hours. Enough to read the full Foundation Trilogy with one hour to rest between books.

        On a side note, I'm ashamed to share that I tested my reading speed, and while it was 264 WPM, my reading comprehension was 50%. That's why I read slower, and frequently re-read.

        https://swiftread.com/reading-speed-test

        Out of spite I tried to measure my Spanish reading, 520 WPM and 100% comprehension. Very unfair since it's my native language and I can glance and skip instead of reading every word.

        https://speedreadr.com/es/

        • CobaltFire 24 minutes ago
          Can't say I ever took a test like that. 644wpm and 100% in English (native language).

          Hard to judge that based on just five questions though.

        • testaccount28 22 minutes ago
          2000 WPM @ 75%
        • daveshistory 1 hour ago
          I'm curious what these tests are measuring if you say your reading comprehension is only 50%. Your comment here is completely articulate and sensible so you are obviously fluent in English.

          Edited to add: hm. I just got 67%. I guess my college degree is a waste. Should have gone the humanities route instead.

          • ASalazarMX 1 hour ago
            It hurts, doesn't it? I also thought a few measly questions would be a piece of cake, and mainly focused on speed.
          • dylan604 55 minutes ago
            In high school, there was an academic event for reading comprehension. I tried it one time and was humiliated. They read aloud to you a story, and then they ask you questions about it after. I have no idea where my head was, as I didn't do well at all. I never tried the event again. It wasn't until that experience before I realized that I'm the type that needs to read things multiple times for it to stick.
  • oinoom 2 hours ago
    I started to find this article interesting but every time I tapped “x” on an ad to dismiss it, no more than five seconds later, the same ad would appear at the bottom and distract me. Over and over.
  • seabombs 27 minutes ago
    Boring isn't it? Reading half a book every single day.

    Not for him though, he loves it.

  • foo-bar-baz529 1 hour ago
    This seems like the kind of profession that AI would’ve already destroyed. Aren’t LLMs pretty good at what he’s doing?
  • nephihaha 1 hour ago
    I would imagine this sucks the fun out of some books and also forces you to read a lot of dreadful books. I knew a bibliophile who worked for a publisher and was sad to hear from him that he rarely got time to read for pleasure.
    • ASalazarMX 1 hour ago
      Isn't this a work-life balance issue? I work 8 hours a day on my work computer(s), yet I'm still eager to use my home computer for hobbies or pleasure.

      This person could read for pleasure if they set the time for it. When I was coding all day, I didn't have the will to code for hobby at home, so maybe they had the time but not the drive.

  • dyauspitr 48 minutes ago
    This is LLM territory and they are extremely good at it.
  • michaelsbradley 53 minutes ago
    [dead]
  • anoncow 2 hours ago
    With exceptions, after sometime everything can bring you down or nothing can bring you down.