People love to utter phrases like “data is the new oil” or “data is the new gold.” When we hear these phrases, we immediately think of businesses and big data, not the simple aspects of our daily lives. However, this obsession with data seeps into every crevice of our existence, even when the data is worthless. The reality is that people find activities less valuable, or even pointless, unless they have data about them. This is like Nikola Tesla, who had a terrible meal if his portions weren’t divisible by three.
Many can’t just wake up well rested after a good night’s sleep. They need to confirm using data from a sleep tracker, ensuring that their sleep duration, O2 saturation, and heart rate variability fall within specific ranges. In many cases, reality is overridden by data, despite the fact that devices aren’t foolproof. When your device conflicts with your reality, the device wins because… data.
Modern readers are also data-obsessed. They hunger for a wealth of statistics and datapoints that they can poke, prod, and analyze. They seem more infatuated with data about their reading than the reading itself. As it so often does, our modern world, with its hyperfocus on optimization, shifts our attention away from what matters and leads us to optimize the wrong things. This result leaves us worse off while giving us the illusion of productivity.
Reading Data Obsession
In my previous post on reading, one thing I failed to mention was people’s obsession with data about their reading. As I mentioned in that post, I prefer physical copies of books, but I also have an eReader. In 2026, I switched from a Kindle to a Kobo as my primary eReader. As I poked around the Kobo community, I found that people were very excited about StoryGraph coming to Kobo.
For those unfamiliar, StoryGraph is an application that seems to suck the value and fun out of reading. StoryGraph has three main features: reading stats, personalized recommendations (including mood-based recommendations), and a read-with-friends feature. None of which enhances the reading experience. However, all of which are detrimental.
Read With Friends
The read-with-friends feature is a clear drawback. Yes, please interrupt the flow and focus of my reading so I can see what one of my dumb friends has to say about it. This provides the same type of distraction as social media, now available on your dedicated reading device.
Algorithmic Shoving Match
People will argue with me about algorithmic recommendations until the heat death of the universe. They tell me how AI is much better than other forms of recommendation. I’m sure some will swear by the value it provides. I mean, it’s not like I haven’t benefited from algorithmic recommendations myself, so fair enough. Despite this, mediating everything through algorithms isn’t the great idea it’s cracked up to be.
First of all, you take a social activity, getting recommendations from others, and turn it into an anti-social one, taking whatever recommendations the algorithm spits out. People may say, if the recommendations are good, who cares? Maybe. But other forms of discovery may provide even better value.
Ultimately, the algorithm removes any chance from the equation. There is never any room for happy accidents. Every decision is bent towards the mean, eliminating any chance of discovery as you are shoved towards the narrow selection of books that others “like you” have read. However, this article is about data, so let’s look at that.
The Data
The image below shows stats from StoryGraph. Not a single stat being tracked here is useful for your reading experience. In fact, I’d argue they are the opposite.
Describing the data from left to right and top to bottom, we have, who gives a shit, irrelevant, pointless, and stupid. What’s displayed is data for data’s sake and tells you nothing useful. Let’s start with Pace and end with the number of books and pages.
Pace
What does the Pace chart even tell you? Nothing. Not all books are created equal. Some are harder to read than others. Some authors even make up their own language, and still others contain dense technical content. There’s nothing to track and nothing to optimize. This data is irrelevant.
Despite its irrelevance, whenever data is shown, people tend to want to “optimize” that data. Taking actionable steps based on this pace data can mean you beat yourself up about nothing at all. Maybe you purposefully try to read faster to optimize your pace and, in doing so, degrade your comprehension. Maybe you chose different books that are easier to read. Regardless, this isn’t good for your reading experience.
Moods
What about Moods? It’s pointless to keep a historical record of this data. Just imagine what the chart would look like for someone who is goth. Like, what are they supposed to do? Balance their Poe with some comedy to provide levity for their tortured soul? Call me NightPain.
I guess Mood is intended to be a check yourself before you wreck yourself, but it’s just pointless. Read what you are in the mood for, and read what you want. Life is too short for anything else. Obsessing over balancing your reading mood can diminish the value of the reading experience, nudging you in different directions for absolutely no purpose.
Ratings
Tracking your average rating of books is just plain stupid. I mean, all of your values are going to be right-skewed, heavily weighted toward the high end. Why wouldn’t they? Who spends time reading a book they’d give 1.5 stars? The reality is, nobody keeps reading a bad book unless it’s for some other purpose, such as a class or research.
Number of Books and Pages
Of all the data shown, the number of books and pages will be the most contentious. Let’s strip reading down to its core and focus on the benefits. What does the number of books you’ve read tell you about the benefits you received from reading? More specifically, what does the number of pages read tell you about the benefits you receive? Does reading fewer books mean that you’ve gotten less value? By now, it should be obvious that this data tells you nothing.
For those who still think this data is relevant, let’s consider that War and Peace, with its approximately 560k words, is one book. It’s easy for one large book to throw off your statistics.
Regardless of length, as I previously mentioned, some books are more difficult to read than others, but this doesn’t make them less valuable. However, given that long books will throw off your stats, you may be tempted to only read smaller books to keep your stats up. That doesn’t sound very valuable for your reading experience.
I have no idea how many books I read last year, or the year before that. Not having data doesn’t bother me because it has nothing to do with the value I gained from my reading.
Despite being an irrelevant metric, people love tracking how many books they read. Knowing their number means they can talk about it online. Reading becomes something to be performed, and that performance is an important part of reading for these people.
Still, some may claim that setting a target for reading a number of books gives people a goal to shoot for. First of all, you don’t need an app for that. Second, how does that number relate to the value from reading? Some may say that setting this goal forces them to set time aside for reading. Okay, but if the number of books is just a proxy for something else, then measure the proxy.
Ultimately, if people are looking for a way to optimize their reading, it’s not about the number of books, words, or pages. It’s about time.
Optimizing Reading
True optimization of reading requires manipulating factors that lie outside the pages of a book. It involves an investment of time, space, and attention.
If you are looking to truly optimize your reading, the most important thing you can do is dedicate time to it. Without dedicating time, there’s no way to build a habit. It’s the same when you are trying to start a workout routine. Find the time and schedule that work for you, and do your best to stick with them. The more you do it, the easier it will get.
You also need to create the space for reading. Trying to read surrounded by distractions isn’t a recipe for success. However, as a positive effect, the better you get at focused reading, the better you get at tuning out distractions. In the meantime, do your best to keep distractions to a minimum. Silence devices and notifications. Utilize do-not-disturb mode if necessary. Better yet, keep your devices in a different room.
Attention is required for reading. I know, attention is in short supply these days. Deep reading is an exercise with multiple benefits, including increased attention. However, you need to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. If you haven’t read in a while, you’ll experience some discomfort. You may get easily distracted, your mind may drift, and you have to reread passages. This is because your brain has been rewired. Don’t get frustrated or beat yourself up about it. Just stick with it, you’ll see the change.
Conclusion
Data has become a security blanket. Something we are happy to have, whether it provides value or not. It’s there if we need it. However, whenever we are shown data, we need to ask how it’s valuable to whatever we are trying to accomplish. This will differentiate between data that’s truly helpful and data as a distraction.
Accidents aren’t always bad. That’s why we have the phrase “happy accidents.” When algorithms are involved, we never leave room for chance or happy accidents. Some would call this a feature, but I call it a bug.