Psychology
Dr. Bloom — Nobody finishes reading my books
March 10, 2026 · Psychology
A response to Paul Bloom's essay on why readers don't finish books, and why I believe finishing a book—even a bad one—is always worth it.
This post links to Paul Bloom's article "Nobody Finishes Reading My Books" from Small Potatoes.
Bloom frames abandoning a book as a rational decision: if it has a good beginning but gradually turns out to be a crappy one that wastes your time, it would be a loss to spend hours reading it from cover to cover.
I have a different philosophy. I think finishing a book—even a disappointing one—provides value through understanding why it failed and discovering personal philosophical insights. Complete engagement with a text, regardless of quality, yields educational benefits that partial reading cannot match.