I like this analogy between reading and travel. I've never heard the thesis that business is the only authentic way to travel -- but it appeals to me! I have friends that travel to Asia for business, as well as those who go to Europe to drink and hang out. Certainly there is a considerable difference between these modes of travel.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that reading for comprehension, or travelling for business are the ONLY way of doing those things. That would be a bit presumptuous. But they resonate with me.

What I'm trying to avoid is the ailment of unproductive information addiction. Many people are complaining about this these days. It happens with fiction too -- there was a piece in the NY Times Book Review awhile back, where the author was questioning why he was such a voracious reader, when he could seldom remember things he read. He felt guilt at not remembering. It's even the case that some people forget THAT they read a book, not just the contents of the book...

To elaborate on reading, I feel like some good tests of whether reading was worthwhile are:

1) If I can build something that I couldn't build before (usually programming, but sometimes other things). This often requires concentrated reading from many difference sources, and following citations.

2) If the material comes up in a conversation, or an Internet forum like HN. Being able to explain something in your own words, in a different context, means you actually understood it, rather than just passively consuming words.

3) If I'm reminded of it while reading something else, and especially if I'm compelled to make notes about it. I have a wiki with 2300 HTML pages of notes, accumulated over 11 years. Each page has dozens of links... if I manage to keep all this information relatively accessible, then I feel good. I like when I make a link to a page/idea that hasn't been touched in 2 years, 6 years, 10 years. That means I'm adding some value over the long term.

Basically it boils down to connecting it to other things, so you are consuming ideas rather than just words. I'm reminded of Paul Graham's idea of "forgetting who said something" -- you are learning some truth, rather than just what one author happened to believe and happened to argue persuasively.

On travel, I always feel like a curmudgeon when I'm not excited about vacations. In the "social circles" I seem to be in, vacations are somehow a mark of status. People like to talk about vacations.

I feel like it's a lot of sitting in planes and cars, walking, and eating and drinking. That's fun for part of the day, but I don't want to do it all day for a week or more? It just sounds boring. I would rather be engaged somehow. Consumption is not engagement IMO. Consuming should hopefully aid in production, and business is a good example of production.

Some people are good at making lifelong friends abroad, and I would say that is a worthy pursuit. But most people are not, (In any case I feel like the dynamics of this kind of friendship have changed a lot with the Internet -- its value has been reduced for better or worse.)

Anyway, I'm just saying what I am trying to get out of things. It's just one way of looking at things, but people seem to appreciate the idea of having some focus rather than chasing gratification. To be clear, I don't really consider myself a "productive" person, in that I spend a lot of time laying in bed too. But if I'm going to get out of bed, IMO that energy should be well spent :)