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January 31, 2022

How to recommend books, or, stop recommending SICP

books

Many "must-read" books are not well-written. I try to read a lot, but
I still have a low tolerance for bad writing and bad editing. I write
this post both to discourage thoughtless recommendations and to
encourage the receivers of bad recommendations.

For software developers, Structure and Interpretation of Computer
Programs is a prime example. Written for freshman at MIT, it is
ostensibly an entry-level text. But it requires such a level of
competence in math and physics, and the prose itself is so dense and
archaic, that I couldn't imagine suggesting it to anyone.

And yet it is one of the most recommended books for developers.

This is not to say that SICP is a bad book or that you should not
read it. I just don't think it should ever be suggested to anyone.

Goal

The core goal of a book recommendation is for the reader to get
enjoyment or education from it. If you can't continue or finish a
book, you get nothing from it.

You, the recommender, diminish your impact if you can only recommend
books that people won't continue or finish.

Non-goal

Some people have the capacity to read and love challenging books. If
that is you, you are not the audience of this post. I don't think
you'd disagree that most people are not like you.

Why

I have a few, not-mutually-exclusive guesses why "must-read" books
are often poorly written.

One guess is intelligence signalling. That it is human nature for a
person to suggest a book in an attempt make herself look smart rather
than to best assist the person asking for a suggestion.

Another guess is that most people don't read enough to have a good
feel for better or worse writing and editing.

And a final guess is that books that are worth reading might not
always be well-written. This is the most unfortunate guess of all. I
don't disagree that sometimes it is necessary to learn from
poorly-written books. But I begrudge this because of how much joy I
get from reading well-written books, fiction and non-fiction.

I have a feeling my guesses apply to recommendations in general:
music, art, film, musicals, restaurants, etc.

Instead

My suggestion then to folks who are in the position of giving
recommendations:

 1. If you had a hard time reading a book or it took you too long to
    read it (yes, this threshold is different for everyone), don't
    recommend it
 2. Don't be scared to recommend nothing, or to recommend against
    (rather than for) a certain book
 3. Read more books

And definitely don't recommend books you haven't read.

Mea culpa

I've definitely done a bad job recommending books in the past,
including recommending books I haven't read. I've been trying to do
better in the last 5 years or so.

What do you think?

    I wrote a new blog post: a bit of flame bait on how to recommend
    books and why so many must-read books are impossible to read.

    Or: stop recommending SICP.

    If you love challenging books, you are neither the norm nor the
    audience of this post. https://t.co/ZU92kgr4Kf

    -- Phil Eaton (@phil_eaton) January 31, 2022

Feedback

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ideas!
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