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Re: Who reads books?
Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 10:44 pm
by RackGaki
I'm aware of the monkey sphere, and your assumptions about mine are unfounded.
You go beyond apathy and revel in your hate of a man you never knew. There's nothing rational about that.
Re: Who reads books?
Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 10:52 pm
by lordofduct
yes it was unfounded... hence my use of the word "probably". Nor should empathy be considered a ridicule. Empathy is an admirable trait.
Anyways as my last statement declares, it is a revel in his "icon" for rational purposes. I didn't know him, there fore why should my emotion and id be brought down by his passing. It was more of a relief. His icon was a front upon every moral belief I had...
and on a more private sentiment, until you've shoved a gun into your own face you probably won't know the amount of empathy you have for the world before taking your own life.
But this was my initial point in the first place, literature and I offend all... so I bow out now.
Re: Who reads books?
Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 11:06 pm
by zarathstra
Hatta wrote:Most of my favorite books were written by people like Douglas Hofstadter, Richard Feynman, George Gamow, Daniel Dennett, Roger Penrose, etc. In other words, science/philosophy non-fiction. I also enjoy textbooks sometimes. Terse, information dense prose keeps my interest because I like learning.
Personally, I can't stand fiction. Don't see the point in it at all. Why do all that reading if you're not going to learn anything? I enjoy fictional video games because they're interactive. I enjoy fictional TV programs because I can just zone out and enjoy. Fiction occupies this weird no mans land where it requires some effort on my part to read, but
there's no participation to keep me interested.
There is a tiny bit of fiction I do like. George Orwell is pretty good, but his novels were political essays in disguise. I like his non-fiction essays even more than his novel(la)s. Lewis Carroll is pretty awesome too, but then his books are crammed with math jokes.
The worst is poetry. Pretentious garbage. Can't stand it at all. Except for poems like Jabberwocky, or the works of Dr. Seuss, that don't pretend to be anything more than funny rhymes. Those I don't mind so much.
Anyone who fails to learn something from fiction is probably reading the wrong books. I've learned tons of stuff from fiction, including information I used in classes in college. For instance, I was reading a book by Eric Flint called "An Oblique Approach" about the Byzantine general Belisarius. Sure it was a fictional, alternate history book, but most of the characters were real, and it was framed around real events, like the Nike revolt. I used the info I got to answer a couple questions in my history class the next day. The same author also has a series called 1632 which presents a fairly accurate picture of what life was like in 17th century Germany, despite being a fictional story.
Reading "The Great Gatsby" tells you a little about what life in the 20's was like, reading the Foundation books makes you think about destiny and free will. Honestly, I can't imagine reading anything and not learning SOMETHING.
Re: Who reads books?
Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 11:11 pm
by Ack
lordofduct wrote:But this was my initial point in the first place, literature and I offend all... so I bow out now.
If it makes you feel any better, you didn't offend me at all. And frankly it doesn't matter, the man's dead anyway. I'm certain he doesn't care what we think about him. So if he doesn't, why should we?
Re: Who reads books?
Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 11:40 pm
by RackGaki
Good response lordofduct.
What we had was simply a differing in moral expression. Our second posts were mostly unneeded, though I now see you have revised yours.
*reading*
Okay, it's a little different, but I understand your position better. It doesn't illustrate how the monkey sphere works quite as brilliantly as your first defensive post, but it's still an example of our defensive mechanisms against outsiders. Essentially, we don't disagree about the damage an icon can perform (or even this particular icon), but we do disagree about our manners of expressing it. No more, no less.
Hopefully you can have a drink and laugh this evening!
Re: Who reads books?
Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 11:49 pm
by marurun
thejamessea wrote:Favorite writers : Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Poe, Haruki Murakami, Asimov.
Props on Murakami. Good stuff, especially for fans of urban fantasy and post-modern mental wack-jobs.
Re: Who reads books?
Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2008 12:00 am
by fox099
Larry Nivens "The Ringworld Throne". Slower than the previous two installments, but still good.
Re: Who reads books?
Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2008 12:04 am
by lordofduct
RackGaki wrote:Good response lordofduct.
What we had was simply a differing in moral expression. Our second posts were mostly unneeded, though I now see you have revised yours.
*reading*
Okay, it's a little different, but I understand your position better. It doesn't illustrate how the monkey sphere works quite as brilliantly as your first defensive post, but it's still an example of our defensive mechanisms against outsiders. Essentially, we don't disagree about the damage an icon can perform (or even this particular icon), but we do disagree about our manners of expressing it. No more, no less.
Hopefully you can have a drink and laugh this evening!
No drinks for me tonight... last night was crazy. You ever been partying so long that you left to get away from the party, just to go home and dream about partying? I woke up after 2 hours of sleep because I needed to leave the party in my head.
Art Basel tomorrow though! Attack of the killer 60 foot balloons!
Re: Who reads books?
Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2008 12:17 am
by Snickerd00dle
i read a lot of history books, books on atheism, and bukowski
Re: Who reads books?
Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2008 12:56 am
by otaku
I read alot of both fiction and non fiction. Fave authors: HP Lovecraft, bruce sterling, william gibson, john shirley
I read alot. At the moment I have a backlog of about 15 books to read (I read at least one a week) course I'm an english/business major so...