Read a book

[finalark]

Link to original post: [drupal=3350]READ A BOOK[/drupal]



This is something that has been on my mind for a long while now. I am sick of all of the hate that literature gets by people in today's world. It really pisses me off when people treat reading as something stupid and boring. Seriously, it annoys the hell out of me how dumbed down the world is today. Seriously people, you have limitless knowledge at your fingertips through this magical thing called the internet but god forbid that you actually take time to sit down and seek it out. I believe that one of the things contributing to this little problem is how reading has suddenly become "uncool" or some similar bull****. I mean god****, if people actually took the time to sit down to enjoy a good story more of us might actually know what these mysterious things like "character development" or "good plot structure" is. Although I'm sure that James Cameron wouldn't want people reading because if they did Avatar wouldn't have made all of that money that it didn't deserve.

This is a list of ten famous, well-known authors and some of their work:

Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility
Robert Luis Stevenson - Treasure Island, Kidnapped
Ernest Hemingway - A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Lost World, A Study in Scarlet
HP Lovecraft - The Call of Cuthulu, Azathoth
Ray Bradbury - Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles
Isaac Asimov - I, Robot, The End of Eternity
Jules Verne - A Journey to the Center of the Earth, Around the World in Eighty Days
Bram Stoker - Dracula, The Jewel of Seven Stars
CS Lewis - The Screwtape Letters, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

If you are not familiar with any of these people, and/or haven't read any of the books listed, you need to go out and do so. Honestly, people act like you need to be old and boring to enjoy books but you really don't have to go outside your interests to enjoy one. For instance, if you're a Castlevania fan you could check out the original story by reading Dracula, or a Prince of Persia fan might be interested in A Thousand and One Nights. Books are filled with various themes and stories that relate to similar themes within games. There are games about epic fantasy adventures (Zelda, Elder Scrolls) there are books and epic fantasy adventures (pretty much every high fantasy book ever written, ever), the same goes for horror, science fiction, just about everything.

So here's the point of this brief little rant, forget what television and your buddies have told you. Books can be interesting and entertaining, so head down to your local used book store and look for something that you're interested in. You might be surprised.

 

[Clownbot]

**** it, I want to go to the bookstore now.

I was actually wanting to read some of the books you mentioned, tbh.

 

[Mr.Freeman]

Dracula was such a cool book. Vampires were cool then, till Stephanie ****ing Meyers made teen porn out of it.

Call of Cthuhlu, also read that recently. Good stuff.

 

[§witch]

I dislike half of the authors you chose, but I agree with the main point of the blog.

 

[Zajice]

What's a book?

 

[finalark]

I dislike half of the authors you chose, but I agree with the main point of the blog.

I wasn't necessarily choosing authors I like, just ones that are well known.

 

[n88]

I agree 100%. I actually prefer books to television, myself.

I'd also recommend reading some Robert Heinlein books, particularly The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. There's some good stuff there.

 

[missedwithtruestrike]

yea dude, i agree with the post.. personally, i enjoy only one of those authors.
i like stephen king and R A salvator a bunch.

 

[Pink Reaper]

WEAR DEODORANT *****

 

[WaveLength]

I found myself nodding in agreement with your point, finalark.

It seems that most civilians in today's society seems to have this repulsion towards reading. They seem to have forgotten that reading is one of Mankind's reliable methods of attaining knowledge. This saddens me.

A word of advice towards people who don't like reading but want to get into reading. Try reading books or at least articles containing subject matter that interests you. This may lead you into other books which lead you into books etc, etc.

A Divine Comedy helped this smasher fall back in love with books. :v

 

[adumbrodeus]

There are so much better choices for your initial rant.

Ex, anything by J. D. Salinger, for the most part (with a few exceptions), you picked the easy ones.

 

[ndayday]

Reading is pretty cool.

If I had money to spend I'd spend a lot of it on books.

 

[GwJ]

I do all my reading online and I have no regrets

 

[adumbrodeus]

I do all my reading online and I have no regrets

Then read this online.

 

[Mota]

Reading <3
If I had money, I'd buy books non-stop.

After finishing a good book I once felt sad and powerless. There are so many good reads, I'll never have the time to seek & read them all.
Recently exams have prevented reading

 

[Greenstreet]

Go to the book thread in media metro! talk books w/me.

 

[Jonkku]

Despite not being very fond of (fiction-)literature, I have recently started reading Agatha Christie's works. And I like them actually.

Finished "10 little ******s/And then there were none" a couple weeks ago, and started "Why didn't they ask Evans?" yesterday.


I also have read Tolkien's Fellowship of the Ring about halfway through years ago, and plan to read the full Kalevala some day.

 

[MikeKirby]

WEAR DEODORANT *****

XD I was thinking the exact same thing!

Anyway, the reason people don't feel like reading is because school made it seem boring and made us connect reading with homework. I think, most of us know how we feel about HW. Still, even though I don't like reading literature that is handed to me, I like to read informative things such relating to science, technology, health/life, and geology. It could be online or a magazine.

 

[GwJ]

What he said.

 

[Matt07]

I agree with this blog.

I haven't been reading as much as I've like too . But now that's summer's here I can pick up a few books to read.

 

[#HBC | ZoZo]

I'm actually amazed if I'm even interested by a book :/

 

[Thunder Of Zeus]

I'm sad that Tolkien didn't make that list. I've only gone through The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring so far, but I hope to delve into more of his novels soon.

 

[OizenX]

Its the internet's fault.

People would rather check their Facebook 24/7 then read a book.

 

[jivegamer]

I'd like to believe that most people still engage in recreational reading, even if it isn't always high literature. I really have to say though, it is discouraging to see many people say that they "don't read books" as if that's normal and okay. You really are closing off worlds of cultural and intellectual enrichment by doing that. The last few years of reading for me have been especially invaluable. From ngugi wa thiong'o's Weep Not Child to Isabelle Delloye's Women of Afghanistan and delving further into Kafka's short stories and The Trial, I really feel like I'm just now finding out how rewarding some books can be.

...You just have to find what's right for you

 

[mzink*]

I'm usually only interested in fantasy/scifi type stuff. Made up stories that could never happen. And even then it takes a lot to make me continue reading. I'm a pretty picky reader. Some books just sound like blablablabla as I'm going through them paragraph after paragraph and I lose interest. But if an author catches my interest I usually continue through their books and actually care about what they have to say.

In some more adult books I read through a few pages and then I'm like wtf did I just read? Sounds a little ******** but complicated wording and grammar and such really confuses me to the point that I have no idea what the author is saying so I just figure eh forget it. Short and to the point is all I can focus on, like stuff mostly directed at a young adult audience.

 

[Zook]

Books are extremely overrated.

Don't get me wrong, I love reading, but I don't think that reading is a higher form of entertainment than, say, watching TV. People who read constantly and think that makes them 'smart' or 'sophisticated' are in my top 5 pet peeves.

Also, don't say Avatar 'didn't deserve' all of the money it made. It's a visual work of art, easily one of the most beautiful movies ever made. You're supposed to take it at face value.

Dracula was such a cool book. Vampires were cool then, till Stephanie ****ing Meyers made teen porn out of it.

I find it ironic that people are always compairing Twilight to porn and that Dracula was a total bad ***, yet the entire book of Dracula was just one big metaphor for sex. Often gay sex.

 

[Dre89]

Books are extremely overrated.

Don't get me wrong, I love reading, but I don't think that reading is a higher form of entertainment than, say, watching TV. People who read constantly and think that makes them 'smart' or 'sophisticated' are in my top 5 pet peeves.

Also, don't say Avatar 'didn't deserve' all of the money it made. It's a visual work of art, easily one of the most beautiful movies ever made. You're supposed to take it at face value.



I find it ironic that people are always compairing Twilight to porn and that Dracula was a total bad ***, yet the entire book of Dracula was just one big metaphor for sex. Often gay sex.

Reading fiction is no different to watching TV. It's just another form of attaining pleasure, just that it is considered 'higher' by certain members of society.

Educational reading is a different story, that actually has a purpose. I enjoy fiction, but personally I never bother read it because I figured if I'm going to take the time to read I might as well read something educational (usually something related to my degree) so that it is conductive towards a valuable long-term goal (in this case my personal education).

 

[SuperBowser]

Maybe when I retire.

 

[Zook]

Reading fiction is no different to watching fictional TV.

I'm pretty sure that is what you meant.

Educational reading is a different story, that actually has a purpose.

Fiction has no purpose? Fiction exercizes the imagination. Knowladge is limited; imagination is boundless. Not to mention the metaphors, morals, philosophical messages, medium to express oneself, and general possibilities that can be provided safely by no other medium than fiction.

Entertainment is extremely important, too; not many people want to live in a world which is all work and no play.

If you think that human creativity is pointless, you're a robot.

 

[Sucumbio]

Yeah, reading books is often equated to homework which makes them fail as viable recreational mediums. SSR (Sustained Silent Reading) is supposed to alleviate this trend, but as I just recently discovered during teacher observations, they insist upon putting letter grades to the effort, tracking sheets and accountability to prevent students from F'ing around when they're supposed to be reading. Reading -books- is a dying form of recreation. Reading is not, though. If anything people today read -more- than ever (and write). The argument here becomes about the quality of what's read and written. As we continue to rely on text-speech, short-hand, etc. we further degrade the quality of our own language. To rebut this principle, language's purpose is to relay an idea, and so GTFO is sufficient nonetheless. It's mainly English Professors and professionals who will balk at things like using slang in place of proper wording.

Also reading books may seem overrated but it's fairly inaccurate to compare reading a book to watching television. A book requires you to look at words, then process the meaning of those words. Television requires you to look at pictures and hear sounds, then process the meaning of those pictures and sounds. One happens much faster than the other. This would be why in general the LoTR Trilogy can be read in several days-weeks on average but to watch it takes 9 hours or so. Granted the more you read, the better you get at reading. The larger your vocabulary, the more familiar with sentence structure, syntax, etc. I don't necessarily find reading to be overrated, either. I think it exercises the brain in ways that television cannot. I also think it's a skill worth having. But I will agree that reading for pleasure is far less commonplace than it was 20, 50 or 100 years ago.

 

[Dre89]

I'm pretty sure that is what you meant.



Fiction has no purpose? Fiction exercizes the imagination. Knowladge is limited; imagination is boundless. Not to mention the metaphors, morals, philosophical messages, medium to express oneself, and general possibilities that can be provided safely by no other medium than fiction.

Entertainment is extremely important, too; not many people want to live in a world which is all work and no play.

If you think that human creativity is pointless, you're a robot.

Read philosophy, it will give you everything you just mentioned, plus it is educational, contributes to certain university degrees and professions, and has can be applied practically in real life.

Plus, I never said fiction was bad, I even said I enjoyed it, I'm just saying that I think putting it on a pedestal above other methods of attaining pleasure is incorrect.

 

[Firus]

The feeling I get from reading anything that really makes me think is amazing.

I don't read even half as much as I used to, but I really enjoy reading, and I'm with you, finalark -- I saw someone on here saying that they hate reading and have never read a book not required for school and never intend to, and that really bugs me.

I also agree with Zook that you're not automatically ten times more intelligent just because you read. They ARE a good source of entertainment, and a thought-provoking book can be really, really interesting, but you aren't an idiot just because you don't read, you're just potentially missing out on some good stories.

It is essentially that, as reading starts to fade more and more, schools try more and more to fix that with more required reading than anyone could want and people begin to hate reading. Then they'll assign people to read a book in 24 hours, and people start resorting to SparkNotes because they won't read the book, especially not in that span of time, and eventually books become an annoyance and completely unnecessary to kids. And if you didn't enjoy reading before they started piling it up, you'll really never have any desire to read again.