When You Start Reading Dostoevsky

#shorts
Have you ever heard of the Goldilocks Rule?

In simple terms, this rule states that humans experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge of their current abilities.

This rule works across the board, which means that it is perfectly applicable to reading books.

If you never read a book in your life, and tried to read one of Dostoevsky’s books, you would easily lose your motivation, which ironically can become frustration.

Instead, if you read books your entire life and tried to read a general self-help book, you would be easily bored and so lose your motivation.

The antidote to both these scenarios is to find something that is right on the edge of your current abilities. Don’t go too far not too easy. Pick something that will challenge you, but don’t exaggerate with that.

I’m sure that if I had started reading Dostoevsky’s books at the beginning of my reading journey, I would have been frustrated and would have probably given up on reading them, which might have led to frustration and a dislike of Dostoevsky’s books.

Luckily, I started reading them after a while, and I can now appreciate them reasonably well.

So, when you want to read a new book, or start reading for the first time in your life, keep the Goldilocks Rule in mind.

Have you ever dropped a book because it was way more complicated than you thought?

[jaye]

He is not excessively difficult most of time, but the beauty and challenge is how deep you can go into his writing, the man was a genius at his craft. I re-read his works more than any other 👌👌👌
I recommend starting with his short story The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, it's an absolute masterpiece, and just over 20 pages. The first novel I would read is Crime and Punishment, and the first novella would be Notes from Underground.

[robertimmanuel]

it took me 8 months to read one of his books I was inconsistent but you'll get there and eventually, you can genuinely enjoy his work.

[dinox]

When the doubt hits you “maybe I’m just not smart enough”😢😢

[-]

I stayed up whole night, I read about 400 pages of brothers karamazov and its really good

[bradleymcdonald]

me when I read a russian your name is Alexei... it's now alex... your name is Aloysha... it's now Aly... your name is Mikhail... it's now michael.... Lizaveta is now Liz

[fotisvon]

my favorite of his is "The Idiot" absolutely devastating masterpiece

[opticalmixing]

You start to feel the way you think change when you read books like this

[Zweetpea]

He talks so much and I love him for that.

[cocobeef]

Huh, I didn't think people found Dostoevsky very difficult, personally in love with the three books of his I've read so far, my personal favorite being The Idiot, but Raskolnikov is my favorite main character.

[nolamccarthy]

I don't find his writing super difficult but the NAMES are so confusing

[AtlasNL]

Those Russians man, they knew how to write complicated but profound shit

[dazaiosamu_kinnie_officals]

I read his crime and punishment fine and I’m 14!!

[OrdnanceTV]

His books will change your vocabulary and the way you talk to people, not even kidding. For some reason The Idiot is my favorite novel of his. Re-listened to the Audiobook literally 10 or 11 times, finally reading the actual book 😅

[primalious]

Literally what characterized C&P in days was its quite simple prose (in Russian) and use of slang, common words. I think the difficulty for many readers comes with the deep themes and length.

[mediamisfits]

Interesting... Im a beginner, and his writing flows and the language he uses is perfect

[jamestiburon]

Read Crime a Punishment at 17. Am 61, now, and My Philosophical Thoughts are quite different now. It is GOOD to question everything when you are young.

[vntex]

I’m so happy, that Russian is my mother tongue and I can read these novels in original🤤

[yousefal-otaibi]

I've had to read most of his work for a class in college. Wasn't a big fan of reading back then, and it was difficult, but I'm glad I did. His style is actually rather simple, and his ideas are interesting.

[joardermdshahriartanjim]

Reading Dostoevsky for the first time can be challenging for some people. So it should be kept in mind which book you start reading him with. I read Humiliated and Insulted, a comparatively less known book, at the age of 15, and I think it's a great place to begin.

[hotpink]

My dumb ass needs an audio book playing in parallel when i read dostoyevsky 😂