often, I even tried reading books to the end and have concluded that I probably don't need to do that if I get the hunch early.
not really. I tend to have my conclusions at the end of the book. I tend to fit all my understandings together these days. with MAFM,WAFV my early conclusions were over zealous which got corrected when I learnt more things and made less sweeping statements
I would like a "books you should not read" list. And why. (will make a separeate top comment)
Frequently to both.
For fiction that I re-read and find it not as good the second time, I suspect the newness of it was the driving force in my initial assessment. Permutation City was life-changing for me, but going back after having more transhumanism in my diet, I don't know that it is even my favorite Greg Egan book.
There are other times where I have that feeling without even needing to re-read. "Upon reflection, I enjoyed that a lot at the time, but there is not a lot of there there."
Do you want to learn about a topic, you know little about? Books are great, but if you don't a know a topic it's hard to know which book to chose.
This thread exists to request recommendations about what to read on a given topic.