Why Reading Slumps Happen: Understanding Attunement and Attachment 

I used to read a lot of Science Fiction and Fantasy but a few months ago I found myself no longer enjoying the genres and I basically stopped reading for a while. During this time I looked at why I wasn’t interested in reading anymore and I found that I wasn’t being challenged by what I was reading and so I switched directions and started to look at Philosophy and Classics and jumped into the deep end and read Byung Chul Han’s Burnout Society which once I got through the language I found resonated with me. I’m now reading Moby Dick which I plan on following with James Joyce’s Ulysses and Plato’s Republic.

It's hard to drop a book after you've already invested a lot of time and effort reading it even without enjoyment. For me, instead of just dropping it I just think to myself "this book is not for me right now, I'll have to go back to it in the future" and just leave on stand by.

I remember reading somewhere where Steven King said his mother was one of his greatest influences in literature. He at a young age would pick up a book his mother finished reading and ask if it was good, her response was mainly “I thought it was trash, but you should read it”

I have the same "open relationship" with films: I just saved some random list of 1000 best movies of all time, and every weekend I just pick random one, and I don't know is this movie is good or bad, I don't even know what this movie is about, maybe I can meet in it something really terrible or something really nice. And this approach helped me experience different emotions because of it I saw maybe the best movies in my life and this is really cool

This is the best video I’ve watched about reading slumps so far. Period..

I’m reading ”Bleak House” currently and am enjoying it immensely. However, two thirds into the book I felt the reading slump creeping up on me. Picked up ”Cat’s cradled” and blasten through it, and am currently reading ”the dispossessed”. I love changing books in between each other - it keeps the passion and will to read alive.

You defined something that happened to me this week! I was reading an anthology of a genre I usually really enjoy but about 1/3 of the way thru it, I just decided I had had enough! I felt no guilt about setting it aside (which, in my case, means putting it in my Little Free Library) and that may just be the fact that I am an older, retired person and have learned that lesson. In this case, I decided to keep it on a shelf instead and may well dip into it from time to time if I am looking for a quick fantasy story.

Love from India, ❤ You are my inspiration man....

Thank you so much for such a video! The effect of media is absolutetly endangering to readers. It contributes to building a general stereotype on books rather than helping encouraging the readers to read themselves!

Reading public vs Media public was an interesting concept. I need to think on this more in the following days. Hope you make another video on this. Thanks. Have a nice day!

I love this! For some reason recommendations from people I respect has had a huge impact on whether i get excited about a book.

Such an interesting topic! As for literature, I would argue that you need to be in the right state of mind to focus on the book itself. Perhaps reading Camus after going to the gym and listen to metal music isn´t the best ideia. Or, the book´s theme doesn´t simply fit what´s happening in your life at the moment. But one should not necessarly blame the book, we should be humble enough to understand that maybe: we´re not ready for the concepts it presents; we´re not ready for the kind of style it presents; or that we aren´t mature enough to understand it´s depth. This happened to me while reading Soul Mountain (due to the language), Meditations (Of course a lot of the passages made sense, but some didn´t. I don´t want to be arrogant to the point where I believe that Marcus Aurelius was the one not making sense tho), and Myth of Sisyphus (I´m not used to the type of writing yet). However, let´s not follow the crowd when it comes to opinions/books that you read/things that you like. You risk being a fool because you missed out something incredible, or you miss having that great experience of reading a book for the first time and understanding it almost to the fullest point. To cite Murakami "If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking"! At the end of the day, reading is a journey. Some books are tougher than others. Some books are worth our humbleness, but some others aren´t! Just get out there and try them out! Another amazing video Robin, and another Byung-Chul Han book for the list! Ahahah

Excellent. Authentic as always. I experiment a disagree between reviews of one Murakami Book, I liked that book but the media didn’t like it 😅. Also I was always very confused with what people said about SF until I tried. Because I was open, I knew Phillip K Dick. I am grateful for that. Thanks for your video, it clarified my thinking 😊

Hey Robin. Love you and your vids. Thank you! Hope you’re doing well with your studies.

Glad to see another video. Feels like it’s been forever! Thanks for putting this one together for us, Robin.

This is exactly what happened with me and the novel Babel. I watched and read so many reviews on RU-vid and Goodreads, and I formed the expectation that it would be some type of book that really fit my preferences. But, I became disappointed halfway because non of those expectations were met. And now I'm in a reading slump. Maybe ought to have just stayed away from researching the book. Maybe someday, I'll go back to it and find it awesome. But right now, we're not on good terms. Thanks for the video, I really learned something today. I subscribed because of the insights

I think your ideas could be summarized in a few ways. Maybe the fundamental idea is that one's expectations of a book and the realization of it are not entirely the same. The title and the summary may seem sexy at the time, but then you pick it up and the content itself may be dry or disengaging. Also the mindset is key. I once told my mentor that I did not enjoy reading Jane Austen and she told me I was too young and to read her when I get older. Have to take her up on that suggestion in a few years... we do, in fact, change quite a bit. A decade ago all I could think about was esoteric philosophical works and translating classical languages. Now I'm mainly reading psychological works and tinkering around with computers and electronics. Finally, I do agree that attunement is an interesting idea and perhaps has something to do with aesthetic sense. I've always been a fan of the concept of the Dionysian/Apollonian divide. For us Dionysians it may be tough to appreciate the logical neatness of the Apollonian folk when we most want to engage in Bacchic frenzy. P.S. I know you are a literature guy when you pronounce French names so well. 10/10. Wish my pronunciation of Racine was so nice, haha!

Love your content always will.

I read a book while I was in a reading slump and this book was getting so hyped up that I wanted to jump on the train and before i even started reading I told myself I was not going to enjoy it. I didn’t. Didn’t understand the love the book was receiving. Two years later for some reason I decided to reread said book again and enjoyed it immensely. The second time I was reading it, not only was I in the mood to read, I wanted to read it without any bias.. I am not sure today what it is was that made me dislike the book so much the first time i had read it. It is a big reason why I don’t consume reviews or booktok/bookstagram anymore as i find myself just wanting to follow the hype train and not consuming books i want to read.

Hey! I also wanted to recommend Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. I hope you become a great Philosopher one day! And be one of the philosophy giants!

You came at the right time. I’m in a reading slump because it’s a self-help book and it’s at a chapter where I can’t relate because it’s for people more ahead I’m their career. I stopped reading it but I’m almost done with it

i love watching your videos

I like it. I shared your video on my Telegram channel dedicated to learning English

Christ, wish I could have friends like this guy. I am studying a BSc in earth science and I do love it but I struggle at times with obsessive distracting urges to write my stories, or read for writing them, or fiddle with Irish and French or whatever. My only outlet is tutoring high school English, which isn't exactly awe-inspiring. I recently moved back to Melbourne and I know nobody with these kinds of literary inclinations and I swear to god I am going to go insane.

Idk if you have already but i feel like you have many thoughts on how trends and “influencers” effect the brain decisions in society kind of topic

Hello bro, love you anylatical reading vid and I just wanted to ask you that how do you balance your academics, RU-vid writing, and reading for RU-vid content, and reading for your own interests(if you even get time for that) over that how to find time for movies or games or can you just do one or the other ?

Interesting video. We'll see how it goes the next time I hit a slump. The books I read are usually selected with little knowledge of their content. I'll read a basic publisher discord to see if the book fits the genres I'm interested in but I never read any reviews. I've found that most are so tainted with biases that they are worthless. And some are just written by idiots who you wonder if they even read the book.

I almost always have something easy and fun on the side. If I'm getting "stuck" in a big or complex book, I will read the light book or a short story, and it helps me get unblocked and get back into the complex book. That only works if I'm generally enjoying the more complex book, though. Sometimes, dipping into something else just makes it clear how much I'm not into the complex book, and then it's time to put it down. Usually, I'll give it at least one more try, in case it was my mood. I also just thought of a thing in advertising: People have to be exposed to something three times before they'll consider actually buying it. It takes multiple exposures to internalize it. That can definitely be true of a writer's style, or a genre's conventions.

Hey Robin I'm interested in what your mother tongue is. I've noticed how much your accent has changed since your old videos. Has learning French indirectly improved your English accent?

I Was reading The Idiot by Dostoevsky, and was enjoying it, and then hit a roadblock and while I’m trying to get through it, it’s not “scratching the itch,” so to speak. The same thing happened when I read his Demons. At times, I found them to be engrossing; at others, I found them dry and lifeless. And now I’m left in a reading slump. Not sure what to do, or what to read. I’m surrounded by books, but just can’t decide what to read.

😂 My current situation with Crime and Punishment.

How do i become like you ? What I supposed to do ? I can listen you I can understand you but one thing that I can't do which is fluent speak like you ? How do I improve it ?

With the modern age, I have many a times tried to enjoy a book but the attachment is never there,any suggestions

I listen to a lot of auidobooks while I am jogging - I love multi-tasking! But do you think listening is a lesser skill than reading text? I sometimes feel guilty that I finished Anna Karenina without opening the book 😅

Wow, a multiple-minute long, truly meaningful, cohesive argument… in a 2024 RU-vid video, what a rare delight! I’m so glad I sacrificed some sleep to watch this, had to screen record it so I remember this idea for years to come. Maybe I like this so much because it speaks to what I’ve been struggling with for the last year or so, so well… I’ve been wanting to read the classics desperately, where my enjoyable reading history includes physics / popular science (hate the genre title) and fantasy novels but this divide has never been greater, couldn’t get through Moby dick or what have you, each time buying a new book looking online over and over again for what classic is the best for this and that, for what stage of life etc etc plus the other side of it is I saw someone highly recommend the book “black swan” and I got very excited to read it - but not before going online to be faced with reviews calling the author arrogant and superciliously dismissive of any potential counter-arguments. Needless to say, I did not pick up the book. I think this applies best to literature tho, really enjoyed this idea Robin

How many hours do great writers, read a day? I've heard 4-6 hours a day... what are your thoughts on it?

Reality is subjective, that's what I am taking from this video

Not me in a reading slump trying to read Orlando 😂

Gotta get Waldun to read my 3rd book, just released!

True that. I really really loved reading books. Fiction and non fiction. I would read as the paged pulled me in a kid and teenager. It was really easy to click into this attunement. Now it is more of a challenge. May be it is depression or anxiety but I find the excitement and wonder of reading a book is not as common place occurence.

bro this is the philosophers salon guy💀💀

plowing through victor hugo just for you bro......but great adventure nonetheless!

Philosopher salon boy

So maybe one day I’ll like Taylor Swift like most of Australia does? Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one that dislikes her these days! lol. Great video Robin, hope you are well!

P r o m o S M

4:34 "... Zade Smith described her complicated relationship with Joni Mitchell's music, because as a woman of color she's not exactly the kind of person who grew up with the demographic of the kind of people who would enjoy Joni Mitchell's music." Skin tone has no bearing on enjoying this or that type of music.

Imagine you and Jordan Peterson having a conversation ❤

Working full time and studying part time takes much out of me. Can't stand to read a book unless it aids me in my studies.