I was looking at a book by Harold Bloom the other day (yes, I'll admit it, I was looking because I'm becoming more and more of a book snob) that was called "How to Read and Why", which sounds a little like the type of book a parent would get to convince their kid to pick up something, anything. Which it isn't, I'm assuming, since it is Bloom. (Who, I've never actually read, by the way.) :)
Anyway, this book made me remember a weird thing about myself.. ready?
I don't read because I have some sort of intrinsic love for reading.
Don't get me wrong, I like to read, but I don't read because reading is an end in and of itself. I'll read because I like having read. Because I like knowing different things and being annoying by being able to say things like "Well Huxley thought.. actually, if you look at what he talks about in Black Like Me.. etc."
Actually, for years I read next to nothing. Why? Because most of what I had read up until that point could easily be labelled "junk food" literature - the fast paced page turners that you finish and realize you just wasted two hours of your life. Blegh. It wasn't until I discovered that there could actually be a point to reading that I really started doing so.
It was funny the day my Senior year that I realized that the most intelligent people weren't always, or even usually, the ones who got the highest grades. Rather, they were those who read quite a bit. Alas, such is our education system that I wasted eleven years of school before I figured this out and started picking up some books.
The reason why this is a big deal to me? It's because people always seem to assume that when I tell them how many pages I have left in a book or something along those lines that I don't like the book and I'm not reading it by choice, which is, generally, not true.
I read because I like having read things. I read to be able to know about the World. And because, maybe, every so often, reading gives me more of a chance of being smart enough to use that knowledge to tap into something, anything, more hopeful or useful than merely unconciously existing. Moving beyond Absurdism.
Jan 22, 2009
Jan 5, 2009
The deepest post
"Brevity is the soul of wit."
- Polonius (Hamlet)
(But it's Polonius, so what does he know?!)
My posts are getting more and more outrageously long. So this one is short.
Fin.
- Polonius (Hamlet)
(But it's Polonius, so what does he know?!)
My posts are getting more and more outrageously long. So this one is short.
Fin.
Jan 4, 2009
Kick out the devil's sin; pick up a good book now.
Two thousand eleven pages later where am I?
This is, in fact, a bragging post. Not because I think that this is an "amazing" feat for most.. but one for me.
You see: I told myself that I was going to read at least two thousand pages during the break. Not only did I tell myself this, but I actually did it. Weird, right?
I tend to tell myself I'm going to do lots of things that I end up not really doing.
Here's the thing.. I may have read all of those pages, but unless I try to make some sense of all that I read there's no reason why I should've read them. And so these are a few of the things that I learned over the break; book by book.
The Picture of Dorian Gray: The self is more terrifying than anything than any other subject. The most frightening part of the self: apathy towards the honor of the self and towards the universal golden rule.
Three Cups of Tea: Ok. This book really isn't as "revolutionary" as it is proclaimed by book snobs as being. I was reminded of the fact that not only can there be non-violent forms of intervention, but that non-violent intervention is usually more effective.
Mormon Scientist: I'm not the only one who thinks that evolution is not contrary to Mormon Doctrine (for me - a special emphasis on "Theistic evolution" in opposition to "Intelligent Design" which is really not evolution.. but I'll write something else on that later). Mormons, even prominent ones, can argue opinion with Prophets on such controversial topics as Evolution and not be considered "apostate" as many label Orson Scott Card for having written books that aren't just fluff. :)
Slumming: This is a radical book for me to have liked because it has two of the features that I usually avoid when it comes to selecting a novel: A) It's Young Adult and B) it's written by an LDS author. Perhaps the most interesting thing I learned from this one is that if you write an LDS YA and it has too many "depressing" parts to it no one will buy it (Que the people at the library telling me "That's not uplifting"). 'Twas very hard to find.
Nonviolence: I have yet to find an intensely convincing argument for either side of this debate. The most interesting thing in this book? There is no word for nonviolence in any language. I actually could not tell you the difference between pacifism and nonviolence before I read this though, so it gets some points.
A Short History of Nearly Everything: Bill Bryson likes geology. Blah. Beyond that I learned that Scientists are radicals and if they're right, then they'll most likely get mocked while they're alive and they'll be made into Saints latter on. A lot of the well-known scientists throughout the years have hung out together. The fact that Yellow Stone is one huge volcano took years to figure out. Don't run around Yellow Stone at night even if you are a park ranger. Umm.. dang, you think I'd remember more from this book. Shoot.
Roots: This book is well-researched historical fiction, not nonfiction. Take it out of the 920s. This was the best book on slavery I have read. The history of all places, not just Europe (dang you Europeans! myself included), should be taught as a way of showing the Roots of America for even though we like to pretend that Western thought is "civilized" thought, it generally is further away from being "civilized" than other cultures.. whoops. The book also reminded me of Kite Runner because it was SO popular when it came out among those who "wanted to understand other cultures."
I'm hoping that because most of these books made do the outrageous thing - think of life in different terms than I did before I read them - that I can use them in shaping my opinions, myself, and, of course, as a means of making a point in debate. :)
Read. More. Books.
This is, in fact, a bragging post. Not because I think that this is an "amazing" feat for most.. but one for me.
You see: I told myself that I was going to read at least two thousand pages during the break. Not only did I tell myself this, but I actually did it. Weird, right?
I tend to tell myself I'm going to do lots of things that I end up not really doing.
Here's the thing.. I may have read all of those pages, but unless I try to make some sense of all that I read there's no reason why I should've read them. And so these are a few of the things that I learned over the break; book by book.
The Picture of Dorian Gray: The self is more terrifying than anything than any other subject. The most frightening part of the self: apathy towards the honor of the self and towards the universal golden rule.
Three Cups of Tea: Ok. This book really isn't as "revolutionary" as it is proclaimed by book snobs as being. I was reminded of the fact that not only can there be non-violent forms of intervention, but that non-violent intervention is usually more effective.
Mormon Scientist: I'm not the only one who thinks that evolution is not contrary to Mormon Doctrine (for me - a special emphasis on "Theistic evolution" in opposition to "Intelligent Design" which is really not evolution.. but I'll write something else on that later). Mormons, even prominent ones, can argue opinion with Prophets on such controversial topics as Evolution and not be considered "apostate" as many label Orson Scott Card for having written books that aren't just fluff. :)
Slumming: This is a radical book for me to have liked because it has two of the features that I usually avoid when it comes to selecting a novel: A) It's Young Adult and B) it's written by an LDS author. Perhaps the most interesting thing I learned from this one is that if you write an LDS YA and it has too many "depressing" parts to it no one will buy it (Que the people at the library telling me "That's not uplifting"). 'Twas very hard to find.
Nonviolence: I have yet to find an intensely convincing argument for either side of this debate. The most interesting thing in this book? There is no word for nonviolence in any language. I actually could not tell you the difference between pacifism and nonviolence before I read this though, so it gets some points.
A Short History of Nearly Everything: Bill Bryson likes geology. Blah. Beyond that I learned that Scientists are radicals and if they're right, then they'll most likely get mocked while they're alive and they'll be made into Saints latter on. A lot of the well-known scientists throughout the years have hung out together. The fact that Yellow Stone is one huge volcano took years to figure out. Don't run around Yellow Stone at night even if you are a park ranger. Umm.. dang, you think I'd remember more from this book. Shoot.
Roots: This book is well-researched historical fiction, not nonfiction. Take it out of the 920s. This was the best book on slavery I have read. The history of all places, not just Europe (dang you Europeans! myself included), should be taught as a way of showing the Roots of America for even though we like to pretend that Western thought is "civilized" thought, it generally is further away from being "civilized" than other cultures.. whoops. The book also reminded me of Kite Runner because it was SO popular when it came out among those who "wanted to understand other cultures."
I'm hoping that because most of these books made do the outrageous thing - think of life in different terms than I did before I read them - that I can use them in shaping my opinions, myself, and, of course, as a means of making a point in debate. :)
Read. More. Books.
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