/lit/ - Literature

by book you mean only specifically codices, printed or not, or any kind of literature set in some kind of lasting medium? are we counting reprints or not?

>>4213389
14th of August 13000 bc

I've read half of them and I'm only 28

>>4213400
>stone age

>>4213389
I need more of that girl.

>>4213484
seconded

>>4213484
>>4213513

>>4213484
>girl

It's a trap bro

>>4213449
Book 1 is in Ireland. Book 2 is in India. Book 3 is in China. Book 4 is in Panama.

>>4213522
Don't care. More.

>>4213523
Ireland always fucking wins.

>>4213389
My god, why is that girl so hot

It started with the Greeks.

>>4213577
Because you have low standards

>>4213389
bout 350bc

>>4213867
6/10

I wish the ability to store consciousness/live forever would come in my lifetime so I can dedicate my life to knowledge. How unfortunate.

>>4213907
he's right though average girl

>>4213867
>>4213907
>>4213965
Let's see what you consider hot. Post a pic. Traps don't count.

Carl Sagan said a thing about how this was an impossiblity.

Probably a short while after the concept of a "book" was made popular. But really, what constitutes a "book" and what constitutes real writing?

The question is so inexact it would be very hard to answer

>>4214046

>>4214295
Hnnnnnnng.
HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG

I'm a meta-book nerd of sorts(Intellectual history, history of books, libraries, education, etc) so I've pondered this and some related questions. First, however we want to approach answering that question for the period before the mechanical printing press, I'm fairly certain once that happened it would have been impossible after that point. The introduction to Nate Silver's The Signal and The Noise has an excellent discussion of this, and I believe a graph as well. Don't have it at hand so I can't cite it directly. Second, predating the printing press, it was practically impossible to centralise all 'books' (vast majority were probably scrolls) so your main problem would have been traveling all over. Some of your best chances would have been the ancient Library of Alexandria before it burned or later the House of Wisdom in Baghdad during the intellectual golden age of Islam, before it was looted (I believe). I haven't recently had my nose in books about ancient Alexandria but I wouldn't be surprised at all to hear that even at that point it would've been considered practically impossible to read all the volumes they held. I'm sure you can find some estimates easily enough about how many items it held. Therefore, the question that I think is more important is 'What books are *worth* reading?' This will obviously be a subjective question for everyone, but if you tried to approach an objective answer (or I can tell from even my own subjective list) it would soon seem that you won't even have enough time to read all the books you or others would deem 'worth reading'. This is my great sadness. That and the fact that I'm here typing on /lit/ when I should be reading.

>>4213939
Let's start that club

>>4214307
I'd like to add two things to your interesting comment.

First is that the rumor in the Arabic Middle Age had that the philosopher/physician/astronomer/poet Avicenna had memorized nearly all the works in the Library of Alexandria before turning 20. Of course that's a rumor, but given the record of Avicenna, that's not completely impossible. So your hypothesis seems cogent with what was believed possible at the time.

Second thing -pertaining to your regret of not having enough time t read all the books you deem worthy- consider this sentence from French writer Jules Renard: "Whenever I think about all the books that I have left to read I am filled with joy".

>>4214295
>tfw someone dog ears your favourite author

Really? The best trolling you can muster?
Who giefs a shite

>>4214307
this clip seems relevant:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JTN7YnM72A

Define book. If you consider everything untranslated, probably Mesopotamian empire. If you consider everything translated already, the late Roman empire. If you consider Don Quixote to be the first novel/book, no earlier than 1605.

etc etc

>>4214314
I know Avicenna was a badass, but the further back in history you go the more prone people are to bragging (or letting others brag about them) and the less people call them on their shit (at least in print I guess)
And I suppose I agree with your philosopher. It's sort of both. I am happy because I know I'll never run out of stimulating/challenging things to read, but it will always eat at me to know I'll miss some.
The great conversation, motherfucker.

>>4214307
>Library of Alexandria
Well good question.
How big was it exactly? Too big for a lifetime of reading already?

>>4214346
>all those sanskrit buddhists/hinduists writings
Holy crap yeah, this by its own is probably way too large already.

>>4214360
>I know Avicenna was a badass, but the further back in history you go the more prone people are to bragging (or letting others brag about them) and the less people call them on their shit (at least in print I guess)

That's pretty much the problem yeah. We're left with pitting was a genius like Avicenna could read in a matter of say, 20 years against how big the library could have been. It would be interesting to have realistic evaluation of one or the other.

> but it will always eat at me to know I'll miss some.

Perfectly understandable, but this will simply spoil your good time. I think one has to learn to live with its own limitations (or to overcome them, but in our particular case that's impossible). I'm not well-placed to give such advice, but from experience it's a real good advice. Just enjoy the books you have (and write some if you feel like it).

>>4214382
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_alexandria#Collection
>>4214398
I feel you. Everyone in my family has told me to write something, but I put down pretty much any book when I don't feel like the author is intellectually dominating me. Not that I wouldn't want to write something someday, but when I make a point of reading only people I perceive to be smarter/more erudite than me I can only think 'who the fuck am I to think I have something worth saying.' I frequently search for a sparsly populated niche in history that I could perhaps occupy.

>>4214046
The reason why you consider her so supremely hot is because she plays to your subculture's desires. Mind you she's keenly aware of this. She knows the pale, glasses, redhead, cute and innocent look makes basement-dwelling fedoracore types lose their minds. She becomes an object of worship to a rather decently sized group of women despite possessing no more than average aesthetics. The reason you and your ilk are attracted to her is very simple - attainability. In this case of course it is completely false, as the girl in question only wants your attention and would never give you the time of her day. Nonetheless, on your part the attraction is triggered by the fact that she appears attainable through a nerdy innocent je ne sais pas look - that is typically associated with women who are below average aesthetics wise and closer to your league. Though that personality isn't hers, she assumes it and portrays it in order to become an idol of worship, something that she would not be able to accomplish otherwise competing in normal circumstances (see also: girl gamer). She is savy and manipulative, but far from hot, my friend. She played you.

>>4214446
>group of men

not women

>>4214446
Goodreads needs a dating section

>>4213389

whose the qt pie? shes too cute but looks like JB

>>4214446
>she is a mediorce woman who is being sexy/trying to look like a slut
nothing to find her hot

what is the problem with you guys

>>4214415
Writing is not only about ideas, it's about language, and conveying an unique experience and wolrdview through. And here I mean worldview in a very broad sense, so that's any kind of personal preference that's bending or shaping your language in some way (be it through themes, way of phrasing, most frequently used words, preferred choice of genre, characters, plot, rhymes, way of using prepositions, articles and word order, way of building sentence,of cutting propositions, etc...). There's no such thing as purely intellectual writing, your ideas whatever they are will be irredeemably shaped by the way your formulate them, have them sift through narration or put them into context. Work on that, search for something that is special and important to your intelligence and your take on this world. Also, try to have fun and enjoy what you write (or dedicate yourself to an unattainble but sufficiently definite ideal, so that you stay depressed but keep getting better at writing).
>>4214446
True enough, but still, small but clearly noticeable boobs, sexy glasses, semi-long straight-red hair and a pleasant youthful face- she's pretty cute. Not smoking hot, but cute.

>>4214531
actually she is a mediocre woman who is trying to look cute and innocent. if she tried to look hot in the classical/"slutty" way, it would be beyond obvious she is average. she's just using her niche where the competition isn't as strong.

John Milton was the last person to have read everything available in his lifetime. look it up.

As soon as there were more than one culture producing books that were separated by a distance great enough that bilingualism and access to the books in question was impossible.

I remember in a book shop once saying to the owner 'man, there's so many books I still have to read' and he said 'I know, it's the same for everyone. The last person who ever read everything available to read within his culture was [insert german sounding name that I've forgotten]. since the invention of the printing press it has become impossible.'

I dunno if he just made that up but he seemed a smart guy that book shop owner

Assuming a readers life of 65 years, with 60% percent of that time being dedicated towards reading and 40% towards sleeping+eating+chores, with an average book lenth of 80k words and reading speed of 120 wpm, when more than 30,747 books came into existence. For 250 wpm, 64,056 books. Supposedly they had something around the hundred of thounsands in Alexandria (though we don't how long they were) so universal knowledge could have already been impossible at the time of Socrates.