Beyond Intellectual Showmanship

Do these books really need to be so long, or are they simply a reflection of old habits in publishing?

In today’s world, where information is abundant and time is limited, the way we engage with books is rapidly changing. Particularly in non-fiction, readers are no longer as enamored with long, voluminous works. Instead, they seek concise, focused content that delivers value without unnecessary elaboration. Yet, many non-fiction books, especially those by well-known authors, continue to adhere to traditional publishing standards of length, often relying on anecdotes and additional information that could be seen as extraneous. This raises a question:

Do these books really need to be so long, or are they simply a reflection of old habits in publishing?

While many readers admire authors like Yuval Noah Harari or Jared Diamond for their intellectual rigor and exhaustive research, there is a growing recognition that not every subject requires hundreds of pages to convey its core message. The tendency to extend works beyond what is necessary has, for many, become a source of frustration rather than admiration. In fact, the rise of book summary services like Blinkist speaks directly to this desire for conciseness. These services distill books down to their essential ideas…