Originally Posted by Mutt

I've read many of those classic books and while not a waste of time they are far from being essential - I get as much or more out of reading other types of writing as I do from novels/books. There's some intellectual snobbery involved. You can be brilliant and filled with insight without reading any of them.

People are becoming obsessed, it's the social Internet doing it, the bucket list mentality measuring a fulfilling life, keeping a scorecard of what you'd done, what you've eaten, where you've visited, what you own, how many followers on Instagram - all just a competition.