[General] besides finishing this unhappy tale

[albert210]

Hello

Does "besides" here mean "instead of"? I know that it's not the correct meaning of "besides" (I checked the dictionary), but when you read the whole paragraph, you understand that it doesn't make sense because the author is trying to make us put away the book and do something else.

Instead, you may take a page from Bruce’s book, and skip ahead to Chapter Six, and find my report on Sunny Baudelaire’s tribulations—a word which here means “opportunities to eavesdrop while cooking for a theater troupe”—with Count Olaf, or you may skip ahead to Chapter Seven, when the elder Baudelaires arrive at the site of the V.F.D. headquarters and unmask the stranger who led them there, or you may take the road very frequently traveled and skip away from this book altogether, and find something better to do with your time besides finishing this unhappy tale and becoming a weary, weeping, and well-read person.

"The Slippery Slope," by Daniel Handler

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Hello

Does "besides" here mean "instead of"? I know that it's not the correct meaning of "besides" (I checked the dictionary), but when you read the whole paragraph, you understand that it doesn't make sense because the author is trying to make us put away the book and do something else.

Instead, you may take a page from Bruce’s book, and skip ahead to Chapter Six, and find my report on Sunny Baudelaire’s tribulations—a word which here means “opportunities to eavesdrop while cooking for a theater troupe”—with Count Olaf, or you may skip ahead to Chapter Seven, when the elder Baudelaires arrive at the site of the V.F.D. headquarters and unmask the stranger who led them there, or you may take the road very frequently traveled and skip away from this book altogether, and find something better to do with your time besides finishing this unhappy tale and becoming a weary, weeping, and well-read person.

"The Slippery Slope," by Daniel Handler

Good question. Yes. Even though besides does not mean instead of, in this context, instead of is strongly implied.

 

[Yankee]

In addition to.

 

[jutfrank]

other than

(Or instead of but not in addition to—he's suggesting you don't finish reading the book. You do something else instead.)

 

[GoesStation]

Does "besides" here mean "instead of"? I know that it's not the correct meaning of "besides" (I checked the dictionary) ….

… you may take the road very frequently traveled and skip away from this book altogether, and find something better to do with your time besides finishing this unhappy tale ….

The first dictionary definition I found was "in addition to; apart from." That's exactly how the author used the word.