So I saw the thread on Brooks in the GARM that turned into a lament about how crazy it is that he hasn't been reading any books at all. However, it got me thinking, are all books the same? The reason I pose this question is that I am a big reader myself, but there have been periods (upwards of 6 months) that I don't read a book. If I'm traveling, I bust out the laptop, dvd player, Nintendo DS etc. If I'm on the John I read magazines and books are not really essential. However, when I do read, I find myself not being able to read fiction any more (they are essentially just stories and a form of entertainment, a more time consuming one) save a few select titles and authors. I find that the only books I'm really into lately are books like When Genius Fails, Against the Gods, Moneyball, and other non fictions. I would even go as far as saying that reading fiction books are equal to watching a movie except you waste more time. Ever since I was little, I've been told it's good to read books, but save for the classics (with literary devices or social critiques that teaches), I find books like Harry Potter, New Moon, Tom Clancy's, and John Grishms as entertaining as movies, but no more helpful.
If nothing else, reading books will improve your spelling and grammar a hell of a lot more than watching TV.
The poll is a bit of a false dichotomy. There is modern (meaning contemporary) fiction that has legitimate artistic merit. That's not simply entertainment. If you mean to ask about pop fiction specifically, I think it still has a little merit, but not as much. You're engaging your brain in a different way from when you watch movies. Diversity of brain exercise is probably worth something.
Reading books does matter. I understand your point about often just not wanting to read and finding some novels so simple and trashy they are similar to watching TV. All the same I would suggest the following as a defense of reading: 1. Reading uses your mind very differently than watching television and that added work of imagining what you see is good for maintaining intellectual rigor. It is similar, in that respect, to doing puzzles. By keeping yourself as mentally active as possible you greatly reduce your likelyhood to suffer from mental disabilities in the future such as Alzeimers. 2. Good novels help you to see the world from a different perspective than your own, better novels do this better than worse ones. Apart from the author's point of view, novels also introduce scenarios you have not yet encountered. This allows you to take some time to more seriously consider moral dillemas, socio-political problems, social conventions, religious beliefs, etc. 3. Reading unifies and identifies you with other readers. Believe it or not, there are books that most well educated people have read. Yes, there are a lot of books out there but the core set of books that are consider truly worth reading isn't so unmanageable. In the same way that a fifteen year old girl who hasn't read the Twilight series is likely to feel a bit left out of the conversation, if you haven't read any Faulkner or Shakespear or Waugh you, too, will feel left out of the conversation. Even when they are not discussing those authors. 4. Authors are readers. Reading the books that they read helps you to get a great deal more out of them. Often they are building on literary achievements of others and they frequently make reference to other works. By recognizing these allusions you can better understand the relationships between characters and themes. 5. As fadeaway mentioned, it does improve your grammar and spelling. 6. Being better read helps you connect with visual and performing art as these are also usually created by other well read people. Hope that helps!
"Waste of time", whether watching movies or reading books is a very subjective statement and something I see in a lot of people these days (like business people in NYC). Reading books allows people to escape the 9-5 mundane existence. It lets people visit new people and places in their minds, and in doing so, make people think. It can expand your imagination, knowledge, how you think and develop ideas/themes, and even your vocabulary. Also, no movie can ever have as much depth as a good book. Books are invariably better than films because they allow the storyline, characters and context to be developed properly and in detail - films inevitably are limited by time, and so can't do this in the same way. They also have to rely on other senses to generate suspense and drama (although a great scriptwriter can get round this in part). There are some films better than books, but they are a minority. Titles like 1984, Catch-22, The Prince, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Lord of The Rings, Shakespeare's works and more some examples that I can easily point to that have shaped and influenced my cognitive abilities.
Reading a 200 page novel is different than reading 200 posts on Clutchfans. It requires more attention, more patience, higher level cognition, and a sustained concentration of what's going on. If you read for days, you get the added benefit of your mind working out the novel unconsciously or in your sleep. So yes, there's a definite difference in reading. Just like there's a difference between researching in the library rather than pulling up a factoid on Google.
I haven't read a fictional book since high school. The only books I read nowadays are non fiction. If I want fiction, I'll watch a movie.
You're reading the wrong fiction books. In a hundred years it's unlikely that anyone is going to give a **** about these books because they just aren't that good. It's easier to go back and read the classics because there is a general consensus as to what has merit. Reading contemporary fiction forces you to have to decide what and why to read AND seek out the material that satisfies said criteria. More work and thought involved.
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I've never been much of a reader of fiction - well, not since I was a little kid anyway. I read non-fiction, though. I realized a couple of months ago that I don't read as much as I did when I was younger, so I'm slowly changing that. Most TV bores the hell out of me unless it's on something like the History Channel, TLC, Discovery, Science Channel, etc.
I'm the complete opposite I hate non-fiction. I'd rather get lost in the classics or some good sci fi book. Anyone remember RABDARGAB from the 90's? This only pertains to HISD students. Read A Book, Do A Report, Get A Buck.
Nice post. I've thought about going back and starting to read works considered to be classics that I never appreciated as a kid. Books by Shakespeare, Twain, etc. But like I said in my previous post, I've never been a big fiction fan. I guess I'll force myself to give it a try in the future just to say I at least tried.
I don't do this myself, but I guess you could go to the New York Review of Books or other literary journals to find quality fiction reads. Just gravitating towards the biggest display at Barnes & Nobles won't do. That having been said, reading is almost always better than television or movies, because your attention span is alot like your hair or memory: you can't get it back once it's gone.
Outside of Grisham, I've never actually read more than a few chapters of the ones i listed, tried to get into them because they were suppose to be the it thing, but just not my style. I have been reading a reasonable amount of non fiction lately but recent fictions I can get into are the Brett Easton Ellis's stuff, the Frank Hebert's Dune series, Dan Browns stuff, those are books where I go through the whole series in a week, but that's about it. I thank the poster explaining the imagination and other benefits of reading. Defintely something to keep in mind.
Reading a book right now called The Art of Racing in the Rain. Its about a dogs life, through the eyes of the dog. Only gone through 5 or so chapters (they are short chapters), but so far it has been pretty good. I think any reading counts, even if its just magazines. The more you practice reading, the quicker and better you will be at it.
