> Just imagine reading Siddhartha or The Glass Bead Game at a steel mill—but that’s Philip Glass for you.
I don't know what this means. I worked a lot of "blue collar jobs" in my time, and I'd often see people reading "serious books" on break. It's not uncommon. I read a lot of Hemingway because of recommendations I got from a dude I used to work with cleaning concrete truck drums with jackhammers.
I'd almost say high concept books pair better with blue collar work. I'm mentally exhausted after a day of meetings or programming, but if I'm doing manual labor I end up physically exhausted, not mentally exhausted
An age old wisdom - if you work manually, rest via mental efforts, and vice versa. For most HNers it means do tons of sweat inducing efforts, often, so mind can rest a bit and do some defragmentation, not leaving everything only for sleep.
I don't know what this means. I worked a lot of "blue collar jobs" in my time, and I'd often see people reading "serious books" on break. It's not uncommon. I read a lot of Hemingway because of recommendations I got from a dude I used to work with cleaning concrete truck drums with jackhammers.