Aaron Swartz wrote a little blog post entitled HOWTO: Read More Books. Sounds great, right?

Wrong!

The basics of reading more books include such steps as “alienate everyone close to you”, “block your favorite blogs” (where he suggests that you unplug your TV and literally block your favorite websites at the router level) and “keep the temperature low”. Sounds fine if you’re a monk whose committed himself to a life a solitude.

I like watching TV and what’s the benefit of reading more books if it kills my social life and makes me miserable. I’d like reading as an alternative to TV and blogs, not a replacement. I’d love to see a list of tips on how to read more books that include small and practical steps that anybody can do without reorienting their life around reading.

In Aaron’s defense, he did deliver what he said he would. The post is a list of ways to read more books. And you will read more books since that’s all that will be left. But the post totally misses on the point of self-improvement. If you’re going to suggest a strategy or set of rules to improve your life, they’d better outweigh their cost.

That’s all.