Is there any benefit of reading a book that bores you?

I would assume not. If you’re bored while reading something like Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics, it’s of course unlikely you’re going to even be paying attention to a meaningful degree. You’re not going to be engaging with the text, or thinking about it seriously. You might not even realize what’s actually being read. You’d likely require some sort of secondary text about that writing that’s expressed in language you find less dull. If even that would work.

If you’re just talking about like, novels, then no. There’s no benefit whatsoever in reading one that bores you. I would argue that someone who’s bored by the beginning of something like War and Peace or Moby Dick should stick it out for at least a hundred pages just to make absolutely sure they aren’t interested, because it would almost seem tragic to miss out on what’s to come due to a misguided feeling they had when starting off. But if you give it an honest effort and still find yourself bored, what possible benefit could there be? Just give up and find a different book that does interest you.

/r/NoStupidQuestions Thread