Reading "Useless" Books, Becoming an "Abstract" Thinker abstract-reading-think-different-en

 Have you ever been asked, "What's the use of reading that book?" The person asking might be a family member, a friend, or yourself. You're holding a philosophical essay, a poetry collection, or a popular science book on quantum physics, and the expected answer is "it'll help you earn more" or "it's for a certification." You can't really say what it's useful for, but you know deep down — it makes a difference.

Abstract thinking grows precisely from this kind of "useless" reading. (Click to read original)

To many, "being abstract" sounds disconnected from reality. But if you look closely, those who break convention and innovate in their fields share one trait — they excel at abstract thinking. They connect seemingly unrelated things, distill general patterns from specific phenomena, and transfer methodologies from one domain to another.

Reading is the cheapest and most effective way to cultivate abstract thinking.

The reason is simple. When you read a novel, you're not just following a story — you're practicing "empathy." You place yourself inside another character's life, feeling their choices, struggles, and growth. This "identity shift" is a high-level abstract skill, because you must step away from your own experience to understand a life completely different from yours.

When you read nonfiction, you're learning the author's mental framework. Every good writer has their own way of understanding the world, and reading is the process of "downloading" those frameworks into your mind. Over time, your brain no longer has just one program for dealing with the world — it has multiple interchangeable operating systems.

This is the power of abstraction — it prevents you from being trapped by the immediate problem, allowing you to jump to a higher dimension and see the bigger picture.

For example, someone who only reads professional books will try to solve every problem using their field's methods. But a wide reader, faced with the same problem, might look for patterns in history, analogies in biology, or metaphors in literature. Abstraction elevates a specific problem to a general level, then draws on knowledge from various fields to find a solution.

But cultivating abstraction requires one condition — you must read things that are "not immediately useful." This isn't to say practical books have no value, but if your reading list consists entirely of "usable today" content, your thinking gets locked into a single "problem-answer" track. The seemingly "useless" reading — poetry, philosophy, history, art — is precisely what breaks that track.

Reading poetry teaches you to think in images, not just logic. Reading philosophy teaches you to question assumptions, not just accept premises. Reading history teaches you to take the long view, not just focus on the present. These skills won't cash out today or tomorrow, but they will change how you see the world.

Abstraction has another underappreciated value — it makes you freer. When your thinking can detach from concrete things, you're no longer intimidated by immediate difficulties. Lose your job, and you don't just think "I need to find another one" — you might think, "This is a chance to rediscover what I'm good at." Go through a breakup, and you don't just think "I feel terrible" — you might think, "What did this relationship teach me?" That's the power of abstraction — it transforms you from a passive sufferer into an active interpreter.

Of course, abstract thinking has its "side effects" — you might become harder to define. When you're used to thinking on an abstract level, you realize most arguments are built on different assumptions, and most opinions are constrained by perspective. You won't pick sides easily because you can see the validity in every position. You might become "hard to categorize" — but that also means you're no longer a standard product off the assembly line.

Read "useless" books. Become an "abstract" thinker. This isn't escaping reality — it's engaging with reality on a deeper level.

While most people stare at their feet, learn to look up at the stars. That's not a waste. It's another kind of vision.

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