When did reading become a thing to hate?

[Pessimitastic]

Reading is boring in comparison to all of the other interactive crap we shut-ins can do these days.

Hell, if your post is over a handful of sentences in length chances are I won't be reading it.

I don't have the attention span for it, especially when a lot of lengthy entries are just riddled with redundancy by reiterating the same point 5 kajillion fucking times in 3 different ways.

 

[electric discordian]

I'm about to start 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde. Never read any of his stuff, luddite that I am, so I'm looking forward to this.

Erm the term is Philistine not Luddite, if you had read some Oscar Wilde you would have known this! You cant be a Luddite as you would have to smash your computer as the Luddite movement believed in the destruction of technology that would remove control from the working man.

I now hold my hands up and show my ignorance by not knowing where the term philistine comes from. So perhaps I shouldn't throw stones!

Even here in blighty reading is frowned upon, my Md used to mercilesly rib me for reading in my lunch hour at work, the company went into liquidation two weeks after though maybe if he had read some dilbert he would have understood how not to go bankrupt selling illegal Microsoft licenses may also have had something to do with it.

I did walk round my idea of heaven yesterday a warehouse sized bookshop, i sat drank a coffee and purchased the Latest Jim Butcher book, Darkly Dreaming Dexter and the third Mike Carey novel.

I have recently completed a creative writing degree so am hoping reading will be as popular as ever when I come to write my magnum opus.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

I personally find Robert Jordan to be the WORST fantasy author ever.

First, it's not actually that good to begin with.

Second, there's too f**king many of his novels.

Third, his books are marketed like Beanie Babies or Pokemon cards, not novels... Many are out of print, some are available only through special offers or members of X Y or Z club. So why would someone want to get into his 'verse when they have to jump in at the middle, cannot get the whole set without paying collectors prices through places like EBay, and in the end its crap not suitable for use as asswipe?

Hold the presses! I have finally found someone else who is not a fan of Robert Jordan! God, I still cannot even think about reading fantasy, for fear that I'll run into an author like him, though I have heard good things about Goodkind, and I enjoy the Dark Tower series by Stephen King (shut it, read it and you will find it is pure fantasy).

 

[The Potato Lord]

I haven't been reading as much as I usually do but the last book i read was "Cell" by Stephen King which was very good and an interesting take on a zombie apacolypse.

 

[stompy]

Reading is boring in comparison to all of the other interactive crap we shut-ins can do these days.

Hell, if your post is over a handful of sentences in length chances are I won't be reading it.

I don't have the attention span for it, especially when a lot of lengthy entries are just riddled with redundancy by reiterating the same point 5 kajillion fucking times in 3 different ways.

And THAT boys and girls, is how to spot an X-Box gamer...

Uhh, I'm an X-Box gamer. Even worse, I play teh Haloz. When I'm not defending poetry as a valuable form of artistic expression.

Yeh, some Xbox gamers aren't bad. Like me... Right?

 

[MrHappy255]

Man I must admit at first I agreed that this was traveling a little on the feel bad for me road but hey this has brought up some great conversation and comparisons. Ya gotta love it when literature brings people together.

I have to agree with whoever said Iain M. Banks for being a wonderful author, he is amazing but does require some investment in time and thought if you are to see everything he is trying to show you and not just the space opera he wraps his information in.

Secondly for a bunch of guys on a forum page I am amazed no one has mentioned William Gibson, I mean his theories may not have been completely correct but man that guy can write.

BTW if you do like Banks try some of his other fiction under the name Iain Banks (no M), Just don't start with the wasp factory it'll probably just freak you out, The Bridge and dead air are pretty good however.

 

[iamnotincompliance]

as my friend father, an english teacher, said "you only need to know 2 things for english class and that is bull and shit"

never have truer words been spoken about that class

I have felt that way for a long time. So far as I'm concerned, English lost me after the sixth grade. At least up until then, they also had spelling, and spelling is useful. When the hell am I going to need to know the complete soliloquies of Shakespeare, outside of pursuing that as a career?

More to the point though, I do like to read, but I have selective tastes, and very little comes out on my areas of preference, so I usually end up reading the same things over and over... and over. These forums help: usually intelligent discourse, topics in one of my areas of interest, plus I can chime in with my own perspective, plus it gives me a good excuse to keep playing Zero Punctuation in the background. I don't think reading is really a shunnable offense so much as it has fallen out of favor in light of everything else there is to do, but reading still has it's place, and I'm not referring simply to power outages.

As for suggesting reading a book, that might also be bit hard to do what with the broken fingers, but attempting Halo is just idiocy plain and simple. Sitting back with a good DVD might not be as stimulating as reading or gaming, but at least it's easier, all things considered.

[EDIT] Meant to mention, at some point, I hate to use the whiny phrase "when am I ever going to use this?" but it made my point. Frankly, in Calculus, when the teacher mentioned something new we were doing had no real world applications what-so-ever, it was actually quite refreshing, and I did well finally having an answer to that tired question, and an acceptable one at that. If she'd've said something about on the odd chance we choose such and such career field, I'd've tuned right out.

And I did well in French, because that was what English class once was: something potentially useful, although I have forgotten most of it now through, of course, lack of use. C'est dommage.

Also, the spell check here seems to dislike my double contractions she'd've and I'd've. Tough.

 

[Ultrajoe]

i dont mean to start the english debate that has raged between me and so many people in RL, but what's so wrong with english?

it requires skills like any other class, it has a marking scale and given opportunities to earn certain marks.

you practice, learn how to do the work just like any other class, and succeed, i think the public opinion 'you cant practice english, its all bullshit' has become the popular excuse for simple incompetence. And i have about 4 aunts and uncles who are english teachers, one a principal, its become acceptable to fail english because: "there's no way to do well"

well, not to brag the place up, if my results aren't 'doing well', then the marking scale is broken.

As for 'when will i use Shakespeare's themes outside of school?':

You wont, but the ability to analyze and derive meaning from a given text is always useful. Good reading and communication skills, the ability to write persuasively, those are skills that english is supposed to impart. Know these core skills and practice them and success is then a matter of implementation.

 

[Joeshie]

Intelligent activities and hobbies are generally shunned by society (at least USA society).

Why read a book or learn something new when you could be doing something constructive like playing football or watching American Idol?

 

[MrHappy255]

i dont mean to start the english debate that has raged between me and so many people in RL, but what's so wrong with english?

it requires skills like any other class, it has a marking scale and given opportunities to earn certain marks.

you practice, learn how to do the work just like any other class, and succeed, i think the public opinion 'you cant practice english, its all bullshit' has become the popular excuse for simple incompetence. And i have about 4 aunts and uncles who are english teachers, one a principal, its become acceptable to fail english because: "there's no way to do well"

well, not to brag the place up, if my results aren't 'doing well', then the marking scale is broken.

As for 'when will i use Shakespeare's themes outside of school?':

You wont, but the ability to analyze and derive meaning from a given text is always useful. Good reading and communication skills, the ability to write persuasively, those are skills that english is supposed to impart. Know these core skills and practice them and success is then a matter of implementation.

Totaly agree with the latter but english truly is a BS concept since it is all in the perception of the writer or reader or the pretentious *#@^ who thinks they can decifer the meaning of life in a poem.

Look English is entertaining and literature is wonderful but I you are good with the BS you will do an amazing job, most writers would agree, you just have to research your ass off before you start the BS process .

 

[stompy]

Ultrajoe, I can't speak for other people, but for me, English has become a bit too subjective, IMO. We recently had a poetry assessment task, where I remember a friend not getting marks to a questions "What does so-and-so mean to you?" Now, the teacher expected a certain answer, and if you said something else, regardless of the evidence you gave, then you didn't get the mark. In subjects like Maths, either you're right or you're wrong. In English, even if you write something fantastic, chances are the teacher can find fault with it, and deny you the marks. If you've made an enemy of the teacher, then good luck.

I also don't believe you can study for most English assessments. Sure, if it's a speech, or an essay, you can practise, but, for the most part, my assessment tasks are structured in such a way that you can't.

The way I see it, either you're born with it or not. It's very hard for someone to develop skills in speech, or analysis of texts.

My 2 cents.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

/agree with Stompy (And this is from someone that used to teach English).

Dissection is a process where you start off with a living form and end up with a lot of squirty bits.

Verbatim regurgitation only teaches you how to ass-kiss.

 

[stompy]

/agree with Stompy (And this is from someone that used to teach English).

Wait, do you agree with me or not? Sorry, but I'm a little confused.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Heh. Yes, on this occasion, I do.

 

[Ultrajoe]

Personally i've never run across the subjectivity being a problem, if you know what gets marks and stick to that... it would logically follow...

i don't know if its just my style of writing (in exams, on the internet i revert to my natural state) but it doesn't seem to be a problem, how well do you support your statements? do the teachers marking comments specify where you have failed to meet requirements? i always go over exams with teachers, otherwise i never knwo where i lost the marks.

(then again, going into the HSC this year, my regular storm of drafts will only increase)

 

[stompy]

Oh, Year 12. That would suck. What subjects have you taken?

Replying to question, he wouldn't be able to ask the teacher, as major assessment tasks in my school are marked by one teacher, instead of each teacher marking their own class. And my teacher (who marked the assessment) is a real ***** (everyone agrees), so good luck trying to get the marks, even if you did have a valid reason.

Edit: Doin' my School Certificate. Any pointers?

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Personally i've never run across the subjectivity being a problem, if you know what gets marks and stick to that... it would logically follow...

Which is learning to pass exams, not learning to pass English, Maths or Bedroom Fluff Collection.

If the exam asks "Discuss Freud's oral stage in the development of Childhood." and you come back with "Freud's laughable theory exploits the adult fixation with trying to retrieve their earlier times and as such cannot be thought to have an impact on the development of Childhood, especially given that the few children he interviewed as part of his study had suffered parental abuse." then you get zippo. Whether right or wrong.