(FWIW, I’m almost finished reading Strangers Drowning and currently feel I’ve gotten quite little out of it, and am retroactively surprised by how often it’s recommended in EA circles. But I think I’m in the minority on that.)
I was thinking that EAs sympathetic to obligatory altruism would like it more, given the book’s focus on people who appear to have a strong sense of duty and seem willing to make great personal sacrifices.
Until a couple years ago, I read a lot of fiction, and also wrote poetry and sometimes short stories and (at least as a kid) had vague but strong ambitions to be a novelist.
I now read roughly a few novels a year, mostly Pratchett. (Most of my “reading time” is now either used for non-fiction or—when it’s close to bedtime for me—comedy podcasts.)
(FWIW, I’m almost finished reading Strangers Drowning and currently feel I’ve gotten quite little out of it, and am retroactively surprised by how often it’s recommended in EA circles. But I think I’m in the minority on that.)
I wonder if the degree to which people like that book correlates with variation along the excited vs. obligatory altruism dimension.
Do you have a guess as to which direction the correlation might be in? Either direction seems fairly plausible to me, at first glance.
I was thinking that EAs sympathetic to obligatory altruism would like it more, given the book’s focus on people who appear to have a strong sense of duty and seem willing to make great personal sacrifices.
(Yeah, that seems plausible, though FWIW I’d guess my own mindset is more on the “obligatory” side than is average.)
Out of curiosity, do you read/enjoy any written fiction or poetry?
Until a couple years ago, I read a lot of fiction, and also wrote poetry and sometimes short stories and (at least as a kid) had vague but strong ambitions to be a novelist.
I now read roughly a few novels a year, mostly Pratchett. (Most of my “reading time” is now either used for non-fiction or—when it’s close to bedtime for me—comedy podcasts.)