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Poll

What do you read most often? (Pick all that apply)

Adult Magazines
- 22 (1.4%)
Sports Magazines
- 16 (1%)
Entertainment Magazines
- 25 (1.6%)
Electronics Magazines
- 88 (5.7%)
Hobby / Crafts Magazines
- 27 (1.8%)
Home / Garden Magazines
- 25 (1.6%)
Outdoor  / Guns / Hunting / Fishing Magazines
- 41 (2.7%)
Fitness / Exercise / Health Magazines
- 30 (2%)
Music / Scene Magazines
- 27 (1.8%)
Technical  / Trade Magazines
- 64 (4.2%)
Newspaper / News Magazines
- 107 (7%)
Religious Books / Magazines
- 32 (2.1%)
Sci-Fi / Fantasy Books
- 148 (9.7%)
Nonfiction History Books
- 115 (7.5%)
Technical / How To Manuals
- 91 (5.9%)
Romance Novels
- 1 (0.1%)
Mystery / Thriller Books
- 43 (2.8%)
Other Fiction Books
- 112 (7.3%)
Other Nonfiction Books
- 125 (8.2%)
Political / Philosophical Issues Magazines
- 140 (9.1%)
Car / Auto / Mechanics Magazines
- 28 (1.8%)
Science Magazines
- 78 (5.1%)
Fashion Magazines
- 7 (0.5%)
Art / History / Culture Magazines
- 29 (1.9%)
"Classics" Books
- 60 (3.9%)
Self (Help, Health, Motivation) Books
- 26 (1.7%)
Business / Finance / Investing Books
- 26 (1.7%)

Total Members Voted: 203


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Author Topic: Demographics - Reading Material?  (Read 47918 times)

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Johnson

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Re: Demographics - Reading Material?
« Reply #90 on: October 22, 2007, 10:55:01 PM »

...but you prove your own ignorance by rejecting...

Are you incapable of gleaning good, or do you just rebel against authority so blindly as to deny yourself this ability?

you claim you don't even like classics, and I therefore imagine have not invested much time in learning what there is to know about them...   

Reading a classic is "mere knowledge;" understanding comes at a higher price.

There is nothing iconoclastic about prejudice.

And you don't have to be elitist or anti-freedom to recognize that you, sir, are prejudiced.

Maybe you thought I didn't read classics, and so you thought that a meandering milieu of multisyllabic mockery would be overlooked by me, or not quite grasped. I assure you, I have read and understood, a great deal of "classical" literature... and understanding does not always lead to appreciation. I have stated that time and again, and you neglect to acknowledge or accept the idea that a "classic" might actually lose relevance with time. True prejudice comes with the act of prejudging. If a book says "classic" on the cover, you immediately throw it into the bin of "good books I must read".

Even I, as a sci-fi fan, know better than to assume all sci-fi is good. For a genre of books to label itself thusly is grossly inaccurate and arrogant. If the terminology were referring to a time period, or a style mimicking something from a specific time period, as with the term "Classical Music" the terminology would be far more acceptably accurate.

At any rate, I didn't misconstrue anything about your original post. I said I didn't like the terminology used to describe the class of books we are referring to as "Classic Literature" and you took the opportunity to talk down to me, insult me, and generally be rude in a manner specific to me. There was nothing 'malextended' about it.  Therefore I reiterate my reply of... fuck you. Spend a little more time talking to people, rather than down at them, and maybe you won't think everyone misconstrues what you have to say. I understood you quite clearly.

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"In silent resignation, one must never submit to them voluntarily, and even if one is imprisoned in some ghastly dictatorship's jail, where no action is possible - serenity comes from the knowledge that one does NOT accept it. To deal with men by force, is as impractical as to deal with nature by persuasion... Which is the policy of savages who rule men by force, and who plead with nature by prayers, incantations and bribes (sacrifies)." - Ayn Rand

Laetitia

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Re: Demographics - Reading Material?
« Reply #91 on: October 22, 2007, 11:05:37 PM »

Thank you, Johnson & Free Marketeer, for the lovely exchange in your last couple of posts. Ties in beautifully with my day. The Rotary Club just handed out a good old Websters Dictionary to each and every Third Grader in Sandy Springs.  My son spent the afternoon following me around, trying out his expanding vocabulary.

An imaginary +1 to you both.
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Lindsey

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Re: Demographics - Reading Material?
« Reply #92 on: October 22, 2007, 11:08:20 PM »

Thank you, Johnson & Free Marketeer, for the lovely exchange in your last couple of posts. Ties in beautifully with my day. The Rotary Club just handed out a good old Websters Dictionary to each and every Third Grader in Sandy Springs.  My son spent the afternoon following me around, trying out his expanding vocabulary.

An imaginary +1 to you both.

Well, it's good to know I'm not the only person that read the dictionary as a child.   :lol:
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Laetitia

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Re: Demographics - Reading Material?
« Reply #93 on: October 22, 2007, 11:23:05 PM »


Well, it's good to know I'm not the only person that read the dictionary as a child.   :lol:

Me too. Started with a picture dictionary when I was four. And my first crush was on the middle brother in the Trixie Belden Mysteries book series. He drove people nuts with some really choice words, though being the only kid in the group to know the word pneumismatist did save their butts on one occasion.

Oh. My. God. I'm such a dork! What was I thinking, having kids?
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Evenstar

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Re: Demographics - Reading Material?
« Reply #94 on: October 22, 2007, 11:27:49 PM »

I didn't read the dictionary, but I did read World Book Encyclopedia.  I was so captivated by the outline at the end of the article on animals that I briefly worked on a fleshing out of it -- if I'd completed it, it would have been a book (or more) about every aspect of animals.

Then again even so, that's not so lofty a goal as when I was going to translate Chaucer's Cantebury tales to a more modern form of English. 

Ah, the passions of youth!
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zebraflood

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Re: Demographics - Reading Material?
« Reply #95 on: October 22, 2007, 11:37:20 PM »

Then again even so, that's not so lofty a goal as when I was going to translate Chaucer's Cantebury tales to a more modern form of English. 

It can be done.

http://www.lolcatbible.com/
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Evenstar

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Re: Demographics - Reading Material?
« Reply #96 on: October 22, 2007, 11:45:39 PM »

True, but at my age, I must have been 10 or so... I think I got the definitions for all the words in like the first stanza or something, gave up on the re-poetry (enlisted my father to do that part), then the entire project stalled.  Still, it was fun.
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Johnson

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Re: Demographics - Reading Material?
« Reply #97 on: October 23, 2007, 12:20:18 AM »

I'm wondering if pneumismatist and numismatist are the same, or different.

One appears to have the prefix derived from pneumaticus meaning "of the wind, belonging to the air"  or pneu - "to breathe" like those tubes you see at  you bank (or on the Jetsons)

One has the prefix nomos "custom, law, usage,"  or the base *nem- "to divide, distribute, allot"

Numismatic is in the dictionary... at least... Merriam Webster and Dictionary.com

Pneumismatic... well... that's not... but I can only guess it's someone that studies or establishes facts with regards to wind or breathing...
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Free_Marketeer

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Re: Demographics - Reading Material?
« Reply #98 on: October 23, 2007, 01:47:10 AM »

...
Maybe you thought I didn't read classics, and so you thought that a meandering milieu of multisyllabic mockery would be overlooked by me, or not quite grasped. I assure you, I have read and understood, a great deal of "classical" literature... and understanding does not always lead to appreciation. I have stated that time and again, and you neglect to acknowledge or accept the idea that a "classic" might actually lose relevance with time. True prejudice comes with the act of prejudging. If a book says "classic" on the cover, you immediately throw it into the bin of "good books I must read".

Even I, as a sci-fi fan, know better than to assume all sci-fi is good. For a genre of books to label itself thusly is grossly inaccurate and arrogant. If the terminology were referring to a time period, or a style mimicking something from a specific time period, as with the term "Classical Music" the terminology would be far more acceptably accurate.

At any rate, I didn't misconstrue anything about your original post. I said I didn't like the terminology used to describe the class of books we are referring to as "Classic Literature" and you took the opportunity to talk down to me, insult me, and generally be rude in a manner specific to me. There was nothing 'malextended' about it.  Therefore I reiterate my reply of... fuck you. Spend a little more time talking to people, rather than down at them, and maybe you won't think everyone misconstrues what you have to say. I understood you quite clearly.


It's patently clear you have not understood what I spoke of, Johnson, if you think I reject the possibility of a work losing relevance over time (my discussion on the evolution of literature should have made quite clear the exact opposite); or that I assume the quality of any work or idea before acquainting myself with it.

I made two remarks which you interpreted as insults.  One, that you are prejudiced against literature and those who work professionally for better understanding of it, and those who choose it as a hobby (who you off-handedly sneer as pursuing base egoism).  My notion was not untoward.  Your too-quick and unjust vilifications of literature were based on unjust, or at least logically vapid, stereotypes of literature.

Second, I noted that merely reading does not fully establish understanding of literature.  Contrary to your assumption that this statement is based on some insult of you, it is merely my recognizing that the field of literary analysis has a depth in consequence of the division of labor and specialization that pretty much all fields have contemporarily.  To deny this time-established depth is not only ignorant, it is an implicit rejection of the very competitive market processes that you, as a libertarian, most probably support otherwise.

I don't understand this intellectual lock-down you've imposed on yourself.  Literature is my hobby, as I've said; and nothing here should be construed as grandstanding on my part.  If anything, I feel I'm more defending my friends and professors with whom I maintain discourse - and am routinely in awe of for their dedication and nuance of understanding - from those who would disparage their work (being unaware - that is, ignorant - of its nature). 

But thank you for your more polite response.  :)  You can keep your fuck you, though - I have little use for such things, as I am my harshest critic.
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Johnson

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Re: Demographics - Reading Material?
« Reply #99 on: October 23, 2007, 02:33:15 AM »

You seem to continually miss the fact that I am not disparaging any style of writing... I am questioning a particular terminology which is APPLIED to a multitude of genres.

People don't just sit down and WRITE classical literature... I don't know who your friends and these professors are, but if they set out to create a work specifically for it to be deemed a classic, I think they may be greatly missing the point of what it means to actually create one. I think you have to attempt master one genre before immediately hopping into the ether that is "classic literature".

I doubt Frank Herbert was attempting to write "classic literature" when creating Dune, but it would be far more likely he was trying to master Sci Fi.
I'm sure Herman Melville was not thinking... "this will be a classic" when he wrote Moby Dick. My bet is that his thoughts were on adventure... and a dramatic saga.
I'm sure Edgar Allen Poe was not thinking gleeful thoughts of his place in classic literary history when he inked out Mark's oft-quoted "The Raven"


It is the WORD Literature that I find meaningless... much like the words Liberal and Conservative hold very little meaning.
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"In silent resignation, one must never submit to them voluntarily, and even if one is imprisoned in some ghastly dictatorship's jail, where no action is possible - serenity comes from the knowledge that one does NOT accept it. To deal with men by force, is as impractical as to deal with nature by persuasion... Which is the policy of savages who rule men by force, and who plead with nature by prayers, incantations and bribes (sacrifies)." - Ayn Rand

Laetitia

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Re: Demographics - Reading Material?
« Reply #100 on: October 23, 2007, 07:30:36 AM »

I'm wondering if pneumismatist and numismatist are the same, or different.

One appears to have the prefix derived from pneumaticus meaning "of the wind, belonging to the air"  or pneu - "to breathe" like those tubes you see at  you bank (or on the Jetsons)

One has the prefix nomos "custom, law, usage,"  or the base *nem- "to divide, distribute, allot"

Numismatic is in the dictionary... at least... Merriam Webster and Dictionary.com

Pneumismatic... well... that's not... but I can only guess it's someone that studies or establishes facts with regards to wind or breathing...


Oops. Was posting elsewhere about pnuemonia. Got my spelling wires crossed.  :oops:
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Johnson

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Re: Demographics - Reading Material?
« Reply #101 on: October 23, 2007, 09:39:08 AM »

and made possibly a new word....

pick a meaning...

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/161
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"In silent resignation, one must never submit to them voluntarily, and even if one is imprisoned in some ghastly dictatorship's jail, where no action is possible - serenity comes from the knowledge that one does NOT accept it. To deal with men by force, is as impractical as to deal with nature by persuasion... Which is the policy of savages who rule men by force, and who plead with nature by prayers, incantations and bribes (sacrifies)." - Ayn Rand

lessthanthree

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Re: Demographics - Reading Material?
« Reply #102 on: May 14, 2008, 11:47:27 PM »

Am I really the only who reads romance novels??  Are there no other girls on this board?????  :shock:
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Re: Demographics - Reading Material?
« Reply #103 on: May 16, 2008, 08:00:27 PM »

Literature is not a category...


Entertainment Mags, and Fashion mags are both already options...

The goal is not superspecifics... For example, I will not be adding "Pet Magazines" for those that read Cat Fancy...
Somewhat general is the point... I'm only looking for things that DON'T clearly fit into an existing category...

Considering Fashion and Entertainment are both there... That is not a new category...
I didn't really appreciate how you grouped Science Fiction with Fantasy.  Anybody who reads Larry Niven is probably in agreement with me here
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Johnson

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"In silent resignation, one must never submit to them voluntarily, and even if one is imprisoned in some ghastly dictatorship's jail, where no action is possible - serenity comes from the knowledge that one does NOT accept it. To deal with men by force, is as impractical as to deal with nature by persuasion... Which is the policy of savages who rule men by force, and who plead with nature by prayers, incantations and bribes (sacrifies)." - Ayn Rand
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