I find it really quite fascinating how reading books can throw you into that uncanny valley, even with books published just a few years ago.

I recently had this with a book by John Grisham that I found in a used-books-box, happily picking it up. But I was ultimately unable to finish it because it just wasn't fun, and too many of these "that's not how life works" moments.

Pretty much every book published before mobile phones became widespread are pretty hard to read, especially combined with the weird-ass way that books around the 2000s felt the need to explain the most basic IT terms, or outright talking out of their asses about technology that is commonplace these days. I had that with a Jack Reacher book from the early days lately, where they spent several pages trying to explain how image enhancement works to make a number plate readable.

Now, imagine how weird it must feel to read even the most basic of novels a few years after a societal collapse - nothing in those books would be relatable anymore. Going to a cafe with your friends? Going to the movies, to a park, even the problems that we struggle with today - they would all be pretty meaningless, and fall right into that "dude just take the phone and call, why on earth are you asking your neighbor to borrow his car so you can drive to the hotel that has a landline?" kind of territory that we get with books published not even that long ago.