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InvisibleDividedQuantumM
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the sociology of reading * 1
    #22088402 - 08/13/15 05:57 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

SURPRISING BOOK FACTS


Quote:

33 percent of high school graduates never read another book the rest of their lives

42 percent of college grads never read another book after college

57 percent of new books are not read to completion

70 percent of US adults have not been in a bookstore the last five years

80 percent of US families did not buy or read a book last year


source: The Jenkins Group/Brian Tracy






Comments?  Does this alarm anyone?


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Vi Veri Universum Vivus Vici


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InvisibleJokeshopbeard
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: DividedQuantum]
    #22088484 - 08/13/15 06:17 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Absolutely.

Whilst I accept that reading is not for everyone (some people, such as those with dyslexia, find it hard to read but can pick up the same data from listening instead), I do think that seeking, and working for information in this manner is extremely important to development. It's not like you have to dedicate huge chunks of time to it either; I only read books whilst taking a shit, but still manage to devour them at an incredible rate.

Problem is, television and smartphones provide stimulation without having to put in the work. Which is a bad thing IMO. What good comes of anything if you don't put in the dedication and hard work? As Terence McKenna said:

"Television is by nature the dominator drug par excellence. Control of content, uniformity of content, repeatability of content make it inevitably a tool of coersion, brainwashing, and manipulation."

I think this is probably the biggest influential factor in those scary numbers above.


--------------------
Let it be seen that you are nothing. And in knowing that you are nothing... there is nothing to lose, there is nothing to gain. What can happen to you? Something can happen to the body, but it will either heal or it won't. What's the big deal? Let life knock you to bits. Let life take you apart. Let life destroy you. It will only destroy what you are not.
--Jac O'keeffe


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InvisibleDividedQuantumM
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: Jokeshopbeard]
    #22088567 - 08/13/15 06:42 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Oh, I couldn't agree more.  Not everyone needs to read -- but a lot more people need to read than currently do!  In order to have a well-informed, reasonably savvy populace, reading is completely necessary.  And quite obviously, we don't.  Moreover, in order to have a well-functioning brain, one needs to exercise it.  Reading is one of the best and most beneficial ways to do that.  I'm afraid modern society in large part comprises some pretty atrophied brains.


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InvisibleJokeshopbeard
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: DividedQuantum]
    #22088614 - 08/13/15 06:57 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Modern society is just so far gone off the rails about what's really important IMO DQ. It makes me fucking cringe inside if I think about it too much, and it makes me feel like a fucking alien for thinking too much.

Society is so far up it's own fucking arse in regards to the wellness of us as individuals, it's like it's become some kind of self perpetuating machine, causing mass sickness, death and destruction in its wake. It fucking sickens me, and the only positive I can see to it is the fact that it's helped a lot to alleviate my DA - I can't wait to not be around it anymore.

As you can see, I have some pretty strong feelings about the subject of modern society!!


--------------------
Let it be seen that you are nothing. And in knowing that you are nothing... there is nothing to lose, there is nothing to gain. What can happen to you? Something can happen to the body, but it will either heal or it won't. What's the big deal? Let life knock you to bits. Let life take you apart. Let life destroy you. It will only destroy what you are not.
--Jac O'keeffe


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InvisibleKurt
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: DividedQuantum]
    #22088625 - 08/13/15 07:00 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Thus spake Jokeshopbeard: "Books shall be read wincingly on the throne." :lol: :tongue:

I'd say books can be a unique and engaging challenge. It's kind of like they are geared uniquely geared for our heads. Nothing like them I can think of.

Clearly we have so much ease in steerage of content in our modern media, it's a whole new thing. The internet is naturalized, found "in trial" but not in any challenge exactly... a choose your own adventure of memes, instant sexual selection, and developed personality. All the necessities of life, in a form of convenience. The cave of forms...

It'd be interesting to see TM talk about things today, with his early views on internet technology...

I'm pushing for a reading club here on the shroomery.


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InvisibleDividedQuantumM
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: Jokeshopbeard]
    #22088643 - 08/13/15 07:06 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Quote:

Jokeshopbeard said:
Modern society is just so far gone off the rails about what's really important IMO DQ. It makes me fucking cringe inside if I think about it too much, and it makes me feel like a fucking alien for thinking too much.

Society is so far up it's own fucking arse in regards to the wellness of us as individuals, it's like it's become some kind of self perpetuating machine, causing mass sickness, death and destruction in its wake. It fucking sickens me, and the only positive I can see to it is the fact that it's helped a lot to alleviate my DA - I can't wait to not be around it anymore.

As you can see, I have some pretty strong feelings about the subject of modern society!!




Oh, dude, I could go on all night, too.  It's been one of the primary points of my mental and critical focus for the past, probably sixteen years or so.  The world is indeed in a very sorry state.  It's tragic.  And there's a lot of talk about how we can fix it, save the world, etc.  Frankly, I think things are too far gone for that.  As far as I can tell, this thing's been pretty much over since the seventies or so -- in terms of being able to do anything about anything.  Now we'll just have to see how AI shapes the picture.


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InvisibleDividedQuantumM
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: DividedQuantum]
    #22088658 - 08/13/15 07:10 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

And I mention the seventies purely as a proximate point of political reference.  The picture has been set for quite a bit longer than that.  We just never did anything to really improve it much.


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InvisibleJokeshopbeard
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: DividedQuantum]
    #22088706 - 08/13/15 07:22 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Quote:

Kurt said:
Nothing like them I can think of.



I agree, I feel books are so very special, a relative oasis of sanity in this crazy world.

Quote:

Kurt said:
I'm pushing for a reading club here on the shroomery.



I look forward to that a lot!

Quote:

DividedQuantum said:
Oh, dude, I could go on all night, too.  It's been one of the primary points of my mental and critical focus for the past, probably sixteen years or so.



Sounds like you've had a decade more than me of seeing the sickness of it's state! That gives me hope that's it's not gonna be able to bring me down in the long run - I very much admire the way you look at the world so it seems that having that gnawing awareness of it hasn't done you any great harms. I agree that I don't think it's fixable, George Carlin puts it quite succinctly at times:

"I sort of gave up on this whole human adventure a long time ago. I've divorced myself from it emotionally. I think the human race has squandered its gift and this country has squandered its promise. I think people in America sold out very cheaply, for sneakers and cheeseburgers. And I don't think it's fixable."

I only just recently relinquished the last hold of any sort mass media had on me - newspapers. Up until about 3 months ago I would still get drawn in by their headlines. I now avert my eyes if they start to wander towards them in order to protect my sanity. TM again:

"The cost of sanity, in this society, is a certain level of alienation."

My father in law suggested the other day that my wife actually needs to follow the mass media! As if there isn't anything that could do even more harm to her already fragile state than that!! If it weren't for the fact he's lending me a huge chunk of cash for the deposit for a house, I don't think I would've been able to hold my tongue!!


--------------------
Let it be seen that you are nothing. And in knowing that you are nothing... there is nothing to lose, there is nothing to gain. What can happen to you? Something can happen to the body, but it will either heal or it won't. What's the big deal? Let life knock you to bits. Let life take you apart. Let life destroy you. It will only destroy what you are not.
--Jac O'keeffe


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InvisibleJokeshopbeard
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: DividedQuantum]
    #22088713 - 08/13/15 07:25 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Quote:

DividedQuantum said:
And I mention the seventies purely as a proximate point of political reference.  The picture has been set for quite a bit longer than that.  We just never did anything to really improve it much.



It's an interesting point of reference to bring up. I guess there was a small chance at redemption then. I often wonder if it was the disbanding of our tribal existence, or the industrial revolution that did the most harm.


--------------------
Let it be seen that you are nothing. And in knowing that you are nothing... there is nothing to lose, there is nothing to gain. What can happen to you? Something can happen to the body, but it will either heal or it won't. What's the big deal? Let life knock you to bits. Let life take you apart. Let life destroy you. It will only destroy what you are not.
--Jac O'keeffe


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InvisibleSun King
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: DividedQuantum]
    #22088732 - 08/13/15 07:28 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

I listen to fiction and non-fiction audiobooks to completion. Does that count?


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InvisibleJokeshopbeard
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: Sun King]
    #22088736 - 08/13/15 07:29 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Quote:

Sun King said:
I listen to fiction and non-fiction audiobooks to completion. Does that count?



I reckon so.


--------------------
Let it be seen that you are nothing. And in knowing that you are nothing... there is nothing to lose, there is nothing to gain. What can happen to you? Something can happen to the body, but it will either heal or it won't. What's the big deal? Let life knock you to bits. Let life take you apart. Let life destroy you. It will only destroy what you are not.
--Jac O'keeffe


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InvisibleDividedQuantumM
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: Jokeshopbeard]
    #22088773 - 08/13/15 07:36 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Very nice quotations above. :thumbup:


Quote:

Jokeshopbeard said:
Quote:

DividedQuantum said:
And I mention the seventies purely as a proximate point of political reference.  The picture has been set for quite a bit longer than that.  We just never did anything to really improve it much.



It's an interesting point of reference to bring up. I guess there was a small chance at redemption then. I often wonder if it was the disbanding of our tribal existence, or the industrial revolution that did the most harm.




Yes I bring up the seventies because, purely in my estimation, that was the point of no return for radical change.  At that time, if we engaged in truly radical, sustained, intelligently orchestrated alterations, we might have had a chance of salvaging something worth having, culturally.  This is of course for me only theoretical because I don't believe radical change is possible in a civilization like ours.  So it's academic, but I feel there is nothing, even in theory, that we can do to pull ourselves out of the whirl of the drain at this point.  We have passed the point of no return.  And, as I said, the only thing left to do is see how AI does.  There may, after all, be some redemption, who knows.  But that is the next phenomenon to look for, if anything.

I think once we left tribalism and egalitarianism behind, that was curtains for us -- in a way.  I think everything we've got was inevitable once we began to cordon off, designate property, specialize, worship and build.  As William S. Burroughs said, "America is not a young land: it is old and dirty and evil. Before the settlers, before the Indians... the evil was there... waiting."


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Offlinefalcon
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: DividedQuantum]
    #22088780 - 08/13/15 07:39 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Eh, doesn't alarm me, more people are involved in two way written communication, via texting.

Besides, what were most people reading say 30, 40 years ago? Was challenging and well written or were they just reading a genre that appeals to them, a visceral thrill, a crumpet to while away time, without thinking about it?


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InvisibleDividedQuantumM
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: falcon]
    #22088790 - 08/13/15 07:42 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

I dunno, I would reckon most average books are more mentally stimulating than most average texts.  :shrug:


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InvisibleJokeshopbeard
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: DividedQuantum]
    #22088841 - 08/13/15 07:53 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Texting!? Have you seen the average use of language in text talk?

hey how r u
c u 2nite
etc, etc

I've read books dating back to the 1600's and whilst the language was difficult, they're still very much mentally stimulating. Of course the further forward in time you come, the more trash is out there, but I think it's the very act of dedicating oneself to finishing a book that we're on about here.


--------------------
Let it be seen that you are nothing. And in knowing that you are nothing... there is nothing to lose, there is nothing to gain. What can happen to you? Something can happen to the body, but it will either heal or it won't. What's the big deal? Let life knock you to bits. Let life take you apart. Let life destroy you. It will only destroy what you are not.
--Jac O'keeffe


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Offlinefalcon
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: DividedQuantum]
    #22088847 - 08/13/15 07:54 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

You have to reply to texts, that involves more attention to details, I think.


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InvisibleJokeshopbeard
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: falcon]
    #22088979 - 08/13/15 08:19 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

I couldn't disagree more. I see nothing about texting that will stimulate the mind in the way dedicating yourself to a book will. Have you been to major city recently and see the zombies glued to their phones? Shit, a 20 year old guy got killed by a truck outside my office recently after he walked into the road without looking - staring at his phone no less. Or couples, sitting across the table from each other, staring at their phones, not talking.

I'm surprised you think they're comparable.


--------------------
Let it be seen that you are nothing. And in knowing that you are nothing... there is nothing to lose, there is nothing to gain. What can happen to you? Something can happen to the body, but it will either heal or it won't. What's the big deal? Let life knock you to bits. Let life take you apart. Let life destroy you. It will only destroy what you are not.
--Jac O'keeffe


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InvisibleWhite Beard

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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: DividedQuantum]
    #22089090 - 08/13/15 08:40 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

not surprising.


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InvisibleJokeshopbeard
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: White Beard]
    #22089107 - 08/13/15 08:44 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Why not?


--------------------
Let it be seen that you are nothing. And in knowing that you are nothing... there is nothing to lose, there is nothing to gain. What can happen to you? Something can happen to the body, but it will either heal or it won't. What's the big deal? Let life knock you to bits. Let life take you apart. Let life destroy you. It will only destroy what you are not.
--Jac O'keeffe


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Offlinefalcon
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: Jokeshopbeard]
    #22089111 - 08/13/15 08:45 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Do you think everyone who read when it was popular dedicated themselves to books?
I don't, I think it passed through many minds without a critical thought. The capacity for critical observation is not dependent on the media.


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InvisibleWhite Beard

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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: Jokeshopbeard]
    #22089154 - 08/13/15 08:53 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

human nature. why read a book when there are tons of electronic gizmos to distract and entertain now a days?


Edited by White Beard (08/13/15 08:55 PM)


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InvisibleDividedQuantumM
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: White Beard]
    #22089274 - 08/13/15 09:31 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Quote:

White Beard said:
human nature. why read a book when there are tons of electronic gizmos to distract and entertain now a days?




I agree with you, that's a major part of it.  It's especially relevant to the youth.  If you're young, and you have to choose between some drab-looking paperback and a shiny i-pad, ten kids out of ten will take the gadget.  The problem then becomes that we have kids who excel at video games, and may even have considerable tech-savvy, but when it comes to critical thinking, or any even quasi-philosophical subject, well, they've never used their brains for that before.  And now we have a generation of idiots.

Which is what I observe, incidentally.


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Offlineyeah
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: DividedQuantum]
    #22089351 - 08/13/15 09:56 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Anyone have any authors to recommend if I like Frank Herbert and Tolkein?


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Offlinefalcon
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: yeah]
    #22089408 - 08/13/15 10:19 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)



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InvisibleDisoRDeR
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: yeah]
    #22090630 - 08/14/15 10:44 AM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Check out Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast books...

Quote:

Gormenghast, that is, the main massing of the original stone, taken by itself would have displayed a certain ponderous architectural quality were it possible to have ignored the circumfusion of those mean dwellings that swarmed like an epidemic around its outer walls. They sprawled over the sloping arch, each one half way over its neighbour until, held back by the castle ramparts, the innermost of these hovels laid hold on the great walls, clamping themselves thereto like limpets to a rock. These dwellings, by ancient law, were granted this chill intimacy with the stronghold that loomed above them. Over their irregular roofs would fall throughout the seasons, the shadows of time-eaten buttresses, of broken and lofty turrets, and, most enormous of all, the shadow of the Tower of Flints. This tower, patched unevenly with black ivy, arose like a mutilated finger from among the fists of knuckled masonry and pointed blasphemously at heaven. At night the owls made of it an echoing throat; by day it stood voiceless and cast its long shadow.




Quote:

In the presence of real tragedy you feel neither pain nor joy nor hatred, only a sense of enormous space and time suspended, the great doors open to black eternity, the rising across the terrible field of that last enormous, unanswerable question.




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InvisibleDisoRDeR
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: DividedQuantum]
    #22090832 - 08/14/15 11:41 AM (8 years, 5 months ago)

"for what use are books to anyone whose days are like a rook's nest with every twig a duty"  -- Mervyn Peake, Titus Groan


I'd be curious to see reading statistics from other countries for comparison, or historical data to see how things have shifted with the surge in other media. I've lived in some less developed parts of the world (remote parts of India, Tajikistan) and found the reading of books to be far less common there than the American statistics would suggest (with the exception of the local culture's Holy Book of choice). Access to books seemed to be part of the problem, as bookstores, if they existed, were places to buy school supplies and little else.

I'm not alarmed by the stats presented, as they may be indicative of a general upward trend in literacy and intellectual engagement in the long term, with a local drop due to other new sources of stimulation emerging.

As suggested by earlier posters, people seek out books for different reasons and with varying degrees of critical reflection. It seems reasonable that the recent explosion in other media would draw some away from reading if their  primary interest was entertainment.

I dug up some interesting studies on recent American reading trends from the National Endowment for the arts, linked below. I've only skimmed them, so I will not attempt a summary.


2009 -- Reading on the Rise


2007 -- To Read or Not To Read


2004 -- Reading At Risk


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OfflineWScott
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: DisoRDeR]
    #22090852 - 08/14/15 11:46 AM (8 years, 5 months ago)

I wonder if the decline of bearded men has any correlation to the lack of general interest in self-maintained literacy. :strokebeard:


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InvisibleJokeshopbeard
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: WScott]
    #22090860 - 08/14/15 11:48 AM (8 years, 5 months ago)

I dunno man; in London at least, beards are making a big comeback. I just wish I could a decent one.


--------------------
Let it be seen that you are nothing. And in knowing that you are nothing... there is nothing to lose, there is nothing to gain. What can happen to you? Something can happen to the body, but it will either heal or it won't. What's the big deal? Let life knock you to bits. Let life take you apart. Let life destroy you. It will only destroy what you are not.
--Jac O'keeffe


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InvisibleDividedQuantumM
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: DisoRDeR]
    #22092346 - 08/14/15 06:46 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Yes DisoRDeR, these statistics are as American as apple pie, but I assume could spill over into other parts of the western world as well.  I would further assume that wherever in the world reading had a strong position, it is now weakened by available technology.  As far as the trends go, if you're curious about the arc of literacy in American society, from its inception to now, as well as many other cultural factors, I have to recommend Morris Berman's books, especially The Twilight of American Culture, and Dark Ages America.  Those two will leave you with some food for thought. :wink:


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Vi Veri Universum Vivus Vici


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Invisiblesudly
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: Jokeshopbeard]
    #22093308 - 08/15/15 01:56 AM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Quote:

Jokeshopbeard said:
I couldn't disagree more. I see nothing about texting that will stimulate the mind in the way dedicating yourself to a book will. Have you been to major city recently and see the zombies glued to their phones? Shit, a 20 year old guy got killed by a truck outside my office recently after he walked into the road without looking - staring at his phone no less. Or couples, sitting across the table from each other, staring at their phones, not talking.

I'm surprised you think they're comparable.




I personally disagree with part of your disagreement. Texting is a stimulant for my mind, it's beneficial to my focus and ability to effectively articulate my feelings. I am able to better express myself to discuss difficult or thought requiring subjects such as emotional distress.

I do agree that there are too many irresponsible texters. I don't walk with my phone because I can't see when I do and I don't use it around friends either. I use my phone as a sketchpad for emotions.


--------------------
I am whatever Darwin needs me to be.



Edited by sudly (08/15/15 02:01 AM)


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InvisibleJokeshopbeard
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: sudly]
    #22093367 - 08/15/15 02:40 AM (8 years, 5 months ago)

I hear ya man. I concede my opinion here somewhat, I think I'm just a little bitter about the way phones have so quickly turned 50% of the people I see on a daily basis into semi-zombies. I mean really, it's fucking amazing how often I see people stumbling or walking into things cause they can't take their eyes off their phones. Surely they can't be taking in the full essence of what they're reading when trying to navigate a busy street?

I do totally get how text (not necessarily phone based, but such as the way we use it here, or in emails, letters, etc) can be a really valuable medium for transmitting deep thought and emotion for some, myself included. In fact, I think I express emotion better in this format than verbally, as I often fuck it up verbally due to my lack of empathy/body language skills.

I guess I should have defined 'texting' before I got into a rant about it!


--------------------
Let it be seen that you are nothing. And in knowing that you are nothing... there is nothing to lose, there is nothing to gain. What can happen to you? Something can happen to the body, but it will either heal or it won't. What's the big deal? Let life knock you to bits. Let life take you apart. Let life destroy you. It will only destroy what you are not.
--Jac O'keeffe


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OfflineRennHuhn
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: DividedQuantum]
    #22098041 - 08/16/15 09:19 AM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Your generation and the one before and so on was probably also called a generation of idiots. This cultural pessimism is somthing that really hampers a culture, as it is a form of conservativism. The lack of critical thinking is not the fault of the youth. The previous generations fucked that up. All this whining about the younger generations is victim blaming at its best. Books are helpful but not a critical part of developing critical thinking. The surrounding culture and parents are far more important.


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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: RennHuhn]
    #22098064 - 08/16/15 09:29 AM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Quote:

RennHuhn said:
Your generation and the one before and so on was probably also called a generation of idiots. This cultural pessimism is somthing that really hampers a culture, as it is a form of conservativism. The lack of critical thinking is not the fault of the youth. The previous generations fucked that up. All this whining about the younger generations is victim blaming at its best. Books are helpful but not a critical part of developing critical thinking. The surrounding culture and parents are far more important.





Well, I wouldn't separate any of this from culture overall.  Even parenting is very much an aspect of culture.  The whole phenomenon is cultural per se.  Books are more than 'helpful,' we're talking about basic literacy here, which is a very important factor.  As in some of the other posts in this thread, this is much larger than just reading statistics.  The whole cultural arc comprises demonstrably decadent and decaying aspects, of which the decline in intellectual aptitude (which is also eminently demonstrable) is but one manifestation. 

Everything is not okay.


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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: DividedQuantum]
    #22098353 - 08/16/15 11:10 AM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Quote:

DividedQuantum said:
Well, I wouldn't separate any of this from culture overall.  Even parenting is very much an aspect of culture.  The whole phenomenon is cultural per se.  Books are more than 'helpful,' we're talking about basic literacy here, which is a very important factor.  As in some of the other posts in this thread, this is much larger than just reading statistics.  The whole cultural arc comprises demonstrably decadent and decaying aspects, of which the decline in intellectual aptitude (which is also eminently demonstrable) is but one manifestation. 

Everything is not okay.




I agree with this 100%


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Let it be seen that you are nothing. And in knowing that you are nothing... there is nothing to lose, there is nothing to gain. What can happen to you? Something can happen to the body, but it will either heal or it won't. What's the big deal? Let life knock you to bits. Let life take you apart. Let life destroy you. It will only destroy what you are not.
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: DividedQuantum]
    #22141409 - 08/25/15 03:34 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Quote:

DividedQuantum said:
SURPRISING BOOK FACTS


Quote:

33 percent of high school graduates never read another book the rest of their lives

42 percent of college grads never read another book after college

57 percent of new books are not read to completion

70 percent of US adults have not been in a bookstore the last five years

80 percent of US families did not buy or read a book last year


source: The Jenkins Group/Brian Tracy






Comments?  Does this alarm anyone?





A little poking around has revealed that these statistics may be unpublished, and there is no confirmed original source for the data. From this link:

Quote:

So I decided to don some detective garb and investigate.  And, honestly, it took about five minutes to find out that the study is not at all what it appears.  How did I reach this conclusion?  I called the 1-800 number* on The Jenkins Group's website, and spoke with a very helpful gentleman, who informed me that erroneous information about this "study" has been floating around the internet, unfounded, for almost a decade. 

He told me that the reason for the confusion is that the founder of The Jenkins Group once  gave a presentation at an event in which he cited these reading statistics in his speech.  The statistics were, as far as The Jenkins Group can recall, from a variety of legitimate sources, including the Book Industry Study Group and U.S. News & World Reports.  However, since it's been a decade since this presentation, and I suppose it's unreasonable to think The Jenkins Group still has the notes from the speech, that's where the trail ends.  Wherever these statistics were originally published, they were clearly not published by The Jenkins Group. 





In addition to this, and in the absence of further clarification, the statistics are otherwise problematic. What is the relevance of bookstore visits to literacy? What type of books were considered in the 57% of new books that were not read to completion?

80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year? I call bullshit, unless it is some specific stat about everyone gathering around the fire and reading a book together. The individual adult reading statistics are much higher than that number suggests.

Quote:

As in some of the other posts in this thread, this is much larger than just reading statistics.




Sure, but we must anchor our suppositions in some data, otherwise the sky is falling.

The three studies I linked go into more detail and are worth a look for anyone interested. Of particular interest is the apparent resurgence in reading revealed in the 2009 publication, Reading On the Rise

Quote:

These findings come from the NEA’s 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, the nation’s
largest federal survey of arts and cultural participation of U.S. adults. The data were obtained in
partnership with the United States Census Bureau. The sample is both large (more than 18,000 adults)
and representative of the current U.S. population. Equally important, the survey has been conducted
at five intervals since 1982. The core questionnaire has remained consistent, ensuring that reliable
comparisons can be made for the purpose of long-term trend analyses.

The survey is designed to give a national overview of adult arts participation in the 12 months
preceding the survey date. It does not identify causes for arts participation or for changes in arts
participation between each survey period. Yet it can track correlations. The reversal of downward
trends for young adult reading suggests at least one hypothesis.

Over the past six years there has been a greater sense of urgency in the U.S. about serious declines in
reading and low levels of reading proficiency, especially among students and young adults. Numerous
organizations and millions of parents, teachers, and librarians have increased their efforts to arrest
these trends. The NEA has been only one of these many agents of change, but it has played a catalytic
role in raising public awareness of the issue, introducing national model programs to address the
problem, and creating large national partnerships to foster new readers.





Self-congratulation aside, there is an interesting suggestion here. That is, that the awareness of declining trends in literacy has been sufficient to trigger alarm in people empowered to do something about it.

The OP asked 'Does this alarm anyone?' Apparently it does. Is this alarm and its response sufficient to remix our techno-culture to its optimal level of literary engagement?


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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: DisoRDeR]
    #22141496 - 08/25/15 03:52 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Well, I think this phenomenon is a manifestation of something much broader and more general than just distractions by gadgets.  Without diving too deeply into particulars, there are mountains of indicators that the fundament of the culture itself is declining in many ways.  And this ties very much into the phenomenon of civilizations becoming rotten after they grow and ripen.  I think there is a sweeping arc here of a very general decline in American society itself, as we see functional literacy dwindling, the middle and upper classes separating at unprecedented rates, consumerism and crass commercialism reaching all-time highs, the homogenization of almost all aspects of living in this society, etc., etc.  I think we have to look deeper than trying to get people to read.  This is systemic, and will be very hard to check, let alone reverse.


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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: DisoRDeR]
    #22141747 - 08/25/15 04:36 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Our attention spans have been decreasing because of modern technologies that are shoving more and more information into our brains. It's things like phones and computer that oversensitive our focus and often make it more difficult to sit down and focus on a book for extended periods of time.

http://www.woweducationrewards.org/decreasing-attention-span-ours-is-lower-than-that-of-a-goldfish/


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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: sudly]
    #22141770 - 08/25/15 04:41 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Instead of reading books people post youtube videos from unknown sources in "intellectual" conversations.  Reading is boring when you have all of this technology on hand 24/7.  I still read occasionally though.  My latest read was storm of steel, if you're a military buff it's a great read :thumbup:


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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: Cognitive_Shift]
    #22141918 - 08/25/15 05:07 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

I listen to audio books while travelling because I can focus on my surroundings as I listen.


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OfflineMarkostheGnostic
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: DividedQuantum]
    #22145226 - 08/26/15 09:29 AM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Quote:

DividedQuantum said:
SURPRISING BOOK FACTS


Quote:

33 percent of high school graduates never read another book the rest of their lives

42 percent of college grads never read another book after college

57 percent of new books are not read to completion

70 percent of US adults have not been in a bookstore the last five years

80 percent of US families did not buy or read a book last year


source: The Jenkins Group/Brian Tracy






Comments?  Does this alarm anyone?




I read this with complete incredulity, but upon further consideration of people I have known over say, the last 20 years, my incredulity turned to acknowledgement. A former co-worker, a bright but emotionally disturbed Cuban woman who said "I lovvvvve my guns," and who believed that Obama would not only force her to give up her guns, but believed every bit of Rightest Republican Cuban radio bullshit in Miami, never read books. A guy whom I socialized with for 20 years, never read. In fact when he DID read The DaVinci Code years ago, his wife mocked him saying it was the first book he's read since college. I knew a school psychologist who when asked what he read responded with, "Oh, I don't read anymore." I have gone into homes where there were no bookshelves or books lying about (I always scope the house out for that). Come to think of it, that is MOST of the homes I've been in.

I was not an avid reader as a child, other than reading encyclopedia articles, a children's illustrated The Golden Book Encyclopedia, followed by The World Book Encyclopedia, and my BFF's father's Encyclopaedia Brittanica. I only read fiction for school book reports and assignments (my loss). But as an adult I am very opinionated about reading. I look disdainfully on those who don't read unless their circumstances do not allow for leisure. But if they do have leisure time and they utilize it exclusively for sitcom TV, soaps, novellas, gaming, chat rooms, or bad movies, with no reading, then they probably also consume junk food and the other sensate garbage the pop culture excretes.

What a person reads says a lot about them. My ex-wife read and reread her collection of Agatha Christie murder mysteries. Sometimes she didn't realize she'd already read one until it was 3/4 finished. Her choice wasn't my taste, but in itself I am not judging the literature. I am judging my ex's thinking, since towards the end of the marriage she made comments about me dying on public transportation, because of some double indemnity insurance clause, and she made a comment more than once about glass in my food! :eek: I suspect she was having the kinds of thoughts towards me that Charles Addams depicted in his New Yorker drawings (later, The Addams Family TV show, which was more humorous than macabre). Since m'Lady and I prefer to discuss idea, the people we prefer to hang out with are the ones who read books. Magazine articles just don't do it. :shrug: There is something to be applauded in this quote that is frequently found on my Facebook pages: "Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." - Eleanor Roosevelt


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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: MarkostheGnostic]
    #22145912 - 08/26/15 11:33 AM (8 years, 5 months ago)

The reality is you have to be a bit of a nerd to read books regularly in our culture:shrug:


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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: DividedQuantum]
    #22146022 - 08/26/15 11:51 AM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Sure, I didn't mean to suggest that there are simple causal chains to trace back here, or that technology is to blame for anything. I'm a bit checked out of what most people are up to, and my expression of non-alarm corresponds to a general detachment à la George Carlin quote above. I just felt the need to follow up on the stats presented.

I'm not so well informed on the decline of western culture as you, but I find it interesting that the same technological integration that is sometimes blamed for cultural decay also forms a feedback loop which disseminates alarming information from few to many and enables impassioned democratic response. What empire of history had such dexterity? This response may only amount to ineffectual affectation in the current power structure, but it leaves me wondering how we might rebuild from the rubble should current trends prove irreversible.


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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: DisoRDeR]
    #22146105 - 08/26/15 12:14 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Good points.


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InvisibleJokeshopbeard
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: Cognitive_Shift]
    #22146124 - 08/26/15 12:18 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Quote:

Cognitive_Shift said:
The reality is you have to be a bit of a nerd to read books regularly in our culture:shrug:



Only if you're concerned about being judged by our wonderful culture, and the majority of people that comprise it.


--------------------
Let it be seen that you are nothing. And in knowing that you are nothing... there is nothing to lose, there is nothing to gain. What can happen to you? Something can happen to the body, but it will either heal or it won't. What's the big deal? Let life knock you to bits. Let life take you apart. Let life destroy you. It will only destroy what you are not.
--Jac O'keeffe


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InvisibleKurt
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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: Jokeshopbeard]
    #22146950 - 08/26/15 02:48 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

How about work in your field during the day, read in a spare moment, and meet up with the same people you work with at night?

I am not saying it's the only basis, but books are bodies in the world, in our culture. There is that basis.

Maybe it depends on the area. For instance, I knew a lot of stoic and intellectual farmers, with friendly connections in academics, in upper central California (there is a lot of commune type "permacultural" stuff too, that's something else and not what I mean though).

There is the traditional "spectator" types, associated with reading, the inert passivity that is always vesting more in the reality of removal, waiting ones turn to become "part" of what one sees in books. The kind that is nourished, by the abstraction of word. There is such a reality, in the world. It has been called "simulacrum" and it is naturally associated with the luminous screen.

I think when I see books in hand, especially a philosophy book, more and more often I see the body in the world, the signs of the hidden stoic, the true pragmatist, the intellectuals who do not live primarily in their intellect but in the world.

A quote that may be relevant to any discussion of "caste". Nietzsche wasn't too much in to the "nerd" stereotype... or the acquiescence which becomes reality:

Quote:

While the noble man lives in trust and openness with himself (gennaios 'of noble descent' underlines the
nuance 'upright' and probably also 'naïve'), the man of ressentiment is neither upright nor naive nor honest and straightforward with himself. His soul squints; his spirit loves hiding places, secret paths and back doors, everything covert entices him as his world, his security, his refreshment; he understands how to keep silent, how not to forget, how to wait, how to be provisionally self-deprecating and humble.

A race of such men of ressentiment is bound to become eventually cleverer than any noble race; it will also honor cleverness to a far greater degree: namely, as a condition of existence of the first importance; while with noble men cleverness can easily acquire a subtle flavor of luxury and subtlety—for here it is far less essential than the perfect functioning of the regulating unconscious instincts or even than a certain imprudence, perhaps a bold recklessness whether in the face of danger or of the enemy, or that enthusiastic impulsiveness in anger, love, reverence, gratitude, and revenge by which noble souls have at all times recognized one another.

Ressentiment itself, if it should appear in the noble man, consummates and exhausts itself in an immediate reaction, and therefore does not poison: on the other hand, it fails to appear at all on countless occasions on which it inevitably appears in the weak and impotent.





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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: Cognitive_Shift]
    #22146971 - 08/26/15 02:50 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Quote:

Cognitive_Shift said:
The reality is you have to be a bit of a nerd to read books regularly in our culture:shrug:




I don't see it that way at all. Thomas Jefferson, who had multiple books arranged on a 'lazy Susan,' is considered a great genius, not a nerd. Why? Because he read excessively during a time when there was no electronic communications? He had a tremendous curiosity. So did many other geniuses from the 17th-20th centuries. John Quincy Adams, son of the the 2nd President  of the United States, and himself, the 6th President, had an unprecedented (pun intended) IQ. HE is never referred to as a nerd. Isaac Newton is never referred to as a nerd, or Ben Franklin. Nerd is a term of mockery that stereotypes intellectuals as being unbalanced people, oblivious to fashion and having poor social skills, perhaps insinuating someone as being on the spectrum of Autism-Asperger's disorders. I am not abnormal any more than that guy who alone refused to raise his arm in a Nazi salute in that pic circulating on the net. He too was in the minority, he didn't belong with the sheeple who bought the big lies. I wonder if he survived the Third Reich.

We live in the Decline and Fall of the United States of America as a one-time place of opportunity for all manner of individuals. Post-Baby-Boomer generations CAN work a 40 hour week but choose to work longer hours because they're addicted to technology and social status. Having outweighs being, and doing outweighs thinking BIG thoughts. Kids don't know what philosophy is and many adults can't even name a philosopher. Maybe Plato's name will come up, but certainly nothing will be known about him. However, ask those same people about the goddamned Kardashians or some equally dumb-ass footballer, and they can tell you the latest gossip.

People race around in cars and on foot like they have important things to do, but they're completely deluded most of the time, deceived by the rules of the game and dazzled by the game's rewards, AS IF personal immortality will be achieved at the result of their frenetic pace. In reality, their inner lives are devoid of Presence, and their relationships keep failing.  They are no more than cogs in a collective machine and little better than the Communist worker of the last century who was told that an inner life apart from the Party was subversive. Reading was discouraged, as was thinking. Pol Pot the Cambodian dictator had people executed just for wearing glasses, since it suggested that they were intellectuals and could read! People in the U.S. calculate their net worth and may be calculating people, but very few WANT to think or even know what thinking is. Adolescents used to tell me they hated to think! Reading is food for thought. No reading, inferior thinking. :yesnod:


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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: MarkostheGnostic]
    #22147926 - 08/26/15 05:56 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Once again Markos, a bloody masterpiece of a reply. I take my hat off to you sir!


--------------------
Let it be seen that you are nothing. And in knowing that you are nothing... there is nothing to lose, there is nothing to gain. What can happen to you? Something can happen to the body, but it will either heal or it won't. What's the big deal? Let life knock you to bits. Let life take you apart. Let life destroy you. It will only destroy what you are not.
--Jac O'keeffe


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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: Jokeshopbeard]
    #22149326 - 08/26/15 10:31 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Thanks JSB. :cheers:


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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: MarkostheGnostic]
    #22149332 - 08/26/15 10:33 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Newton may have been a booknerd, the other intellectuals you mentioned were politically savvy and cut awide swath in the social world they were in, disqualifying them from nerdom by any measure. I'm wondering why you included three obviously not nerd contempoaries as examples of people who were not called nerd but should have been or would be today. Along with these three you throw in the protonerd from an earlier era. Was it that the weight of Newton's nerdness is enough to make the example believeable?


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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: falcon]
    #22149347 - 08/26/15 10:40 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

I was going to say the same thing. The guy was abstinent his whole life after all...


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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: falcon]
    #22149400 - 08/26/15 10:57 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Just people I've been reading about or thinking about. Particularly Newton. I recently read a couple of books about him in connection to his #1 identity, which was not mathematician, but chemist. Newton probably died a virgin, so you're right about "the weight of Newton's nerdness." Jefferson had his way with enough of his slaves to have sired untold numbers of 'Jeffersons' even down to the present day. Franklin apparently wasn't a 'looker' but his debauchery in The Hellfire Club might have significantly absolved his nerdy characteristics.  Bill Gates is the paradigmatic nerd in present times. He's the wealthiest man on the planet and he almost single-handedly created a paradigm shift in our evolution. I don't hear anyone calling him a nerd, or his contemporary, the late great Steve Jobs. I suppose Stephen Hawking is off-limits owing to his tragic ALS condition, but no doubt he would also be considered an epitome of nerdiness, while conversely, Neil Degrasse Tyson is considered to be a popular and 'cool' intellectual, but no doubt there are those who called him a nerd in his youth,


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Re: the sociology of reading [Re: Jokeshopbeard]
    #22150039 - 08/27/15 06:52 AM (8 years, 5 months ago)

Quote:

Jokeshopbeard said:
I couldn't disagree more. I see nothing about texting that will stimulate the mind in the way dedicating yourself to a book will. Have you been to major city recently and see the zombies glued to their phones? Shit, a 20 year old guy got killed by a truck outside my office recently after he walked into the road without looking - staring at his phone no less. Or couples, sitting across the table from each other, staring at their phones, not talking.

I'm surprised you think they're comparable.




the dining dead :eek:

Reading Kesey's second novel atm, Sometimes A Great Notion.... Do recommend, though anything to do with Oregon is of my interest... Learning this state's history has been something of a challenge, sometimes I feel like I don't have any idea where the fuck I live.

I don't read spiritual fluff anymore, I've done enough of it and enough drugs and have figured out my heart and peace of mind. :nicesmile:


--------------------
Everything is better than it was the last time.  I'm good.

If we could look into each others hearts, and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance, and care.

It takes a lot of courage to go out there and radiate your essence.

I know you scared, you should ask us if we scared too.  If you was there, and we just knew you cared too.


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