/lit/ - Literature

If you read everything you find interesting, you will gain a wide education.

>>13562123
Well yeah, that's true. But some books are better then others. You go into a library 90% of the books are skip-worthy. You have an interest in say Math you can get a math book, sure. But unless you luck out, you get a shitty math book. People sometimes say that it doesn't matter what textbooks you choose to read, but I disagree. In every subject, most of the books are bad. So it's good to get reccs, at least some of the time, so you're not constantly wading through mediocre books.

>>13562147
Fair enough. I only said what I did because in my experience, I have picked out an interesting book on a relatively narrow topic, then followed a couple related threads with other books, and so on. I enjoyed Pinker's The Blank Slate on neuroscience, William Shirer's Berlin Diaries on living in Germany from 1933 to 1941, and The Story of Mankind for a very very very basic overview of history

any books on building a house/cabin?:

Bump

>>13562091
Well, have you read all those?

>>13562147
>But some books are better then others. You go into a library 90% of the books are skip-worthy.
how do you know before you read them

>>13562193
Is Pinker like Dawkins in that he's good when he stays in his field but when he ventures outside of his field he's a complete meme?

>>13562193
Thank's anon. The Story Of Mankind seems nice.
>>13562197
That's like a whole different thread anon.
>>13563066
Only the first two but I own many of the others.
>>13563069
It's just in my experience. Even the classics have bad sections, their own flaws. I wouldn't know every book ever written, but through experience with literature and other art forms, most art pieces are not worth more then a quick glance over. Maybe I'm wrong.

>>13563419
>most art pieces are not worth more then a quick glance over
most that you've already seen maybe.
also it's "than."

>>13563428
Ok, to clarify further. I don't mean that there isn't inherent worth to even the worst of art pieces. You can get something out of anything. You can read randomly generated books and listen to generated music, and still there is merit. However, there is a benefit to having stuff like reccs from /lit/ so as to more likely discover the most well made and vital art pieces. I'm just saying to set sail without a map is cool. But it isn't everybodies style. There is absolutely merit to venturing out into the wild open world of unknown art. But it's only expected there to be an excess of passable art pieces in that expanse. Narrowing it down to classics and reccs only takes you so far, yes. But, it's a better place to start with the greeks vs starting with a random book from the library, in most cases.

>>13563499
you don't know whether you will find merit until after you read it

>>13563506
Yes, that is true. That's the merit to adventuring the unknown art pieces. But the finding of the hidden gem, though one of the greatest feelings, is bookended with sifting through the lousy. It's vital, and I respect anyone that does it. If they didn't, we'd never discover the classics. But getting recommendations help to more eaisliy find quality. Even though a few classics are duds.

>>13563536
but you don't know that those recommendations will be any better than random choice until you've already done both.

>>13563540
Alright, you're right. It's true. But, I'd still argue the rough math for artistic quality is
>Absolutely random book = 90% of the time mediocre
>Semi-Random Classic Highly Recc'd and Interesting looking book = 75% of the time mediocre
This can be applied to many forms of art.

>>13562091
MATH SCIENCE HISTORY, UNRAVELING THE MYSTERY

>>13563078
He's a quasi-centrist/right-wing shill and buddy buddy with Epstein. He likes to pretend the world (read capitalism) is great and all because we are at an absolute scale better off than 50 years ago (less war and such). While at the same time ignoring the downsides of capitalism.