/lit/ - Literature

Joe O'Shea was also a Truman scholar who is getting a Master of Philosophy at Oxford.

>using paper internet

I'm the same. Academically, I wont read a 30+ book mountain of textbooks and reference books, cover to cover, looking for one excerpt or explanation of a concept I already grasp. It's a substantial waste of my time when the same essay or assignment can be crafted by efficient internet use. If you can get an A by doing using a very small fraction of the time, you are pretty foolish to waste your time. I read for pleasure, and studying is not always pleasure.

>>4796074
Don't tell the commie autists that, m8, they'll flip their shit

>>4796074
I understand using the internet for research purposes, but to not read whole books at all is pathetic, especially for a Rhodes Scholar.

>>4796074
Also, a wikipedia article will never give you the extensive understanding of a subject that reading a whole book on the subject will.

>>4796172
>>4796154
>>4796082
>going to college for the learning and not the degree
Job market muthafucka

>>4796064

I think this stems from modern textbooks being filled in with junk information just to make the textbook thick.

I am all for reading, but technical books these days are filled with crap you don't need. Fiction on the other hand, you're not allowed to skim that shit unless you're some kind of moron.

This is why I just take what I want from Uni libraries. Nobody is going to read old literature unless it's some crusty, tenured professor who has more priviledges to access than he can use. Even then there's mountains of books in any given research library. I want to read, not pay monthly fees to take a book that's been on a shelf for thirty years.

>>4796203
>Fiction on the other hand, you're not allowed to skim that
lmao. fiction is 99% filler. there's a reason why sparknotes is a godtier site

>>4796218
The journey is the true goal anon, not the treasure at the end. At least in fiction, and in good authors.

>>4796246
the journey is filled with a lot of pointless and useless shit anon even with good authors. if you're reading for pleasure, sure, waste your time however way you please but most students don't have time for that.

>>4796259
>but most students don't have time for that.
Because they are stupidly wading through a very dense, mildly relevant, two thousand page book for one sentence to quote so they can bulk up their bibliography, when google could assist in finding the relevant quote in a few key taps.

>>4796185
You know there's welfare, right? I just have an easier time learning by method of an old hippie speaking than by a bunch of written words demanding that I put in the effort of sucking their meaning into my head through my eyeballs

>>4796218
you conveniently left out the last part of the statement bb ;)

Isn't the real problem here the conflation of academic results with intelligence? I understand that it's a decent indicator, but people study for tests more than for the actual knowledge. There's still a pretty rich vein of knowledge that can't be mined just by going to Google, partially because knowing the right questions to ask is often a challenge.

>>4796074
Books aren't just piles of shit you have to dig through to find the good bits. (good ones anyway) Are structured to weave together relevant information to make their case. A-and reading books is a good way to pick up information you may not have even known you needed. It's like thumbing through a magazine vs going straight to the Internet for a specific article. You see other articles in magazines that may be useful, interesting, or lead to something else.

>>4796325
Agreed. Even if physical books die, the format will survive because of the utility offered by something other than a list of facts.

>Maybe she’d been watching Wes Anderson?

Lol oh god

>>4796342
But you are arguing for pleasure. This thread is strictly about the modern education system, which rewards the list-of-facts and pre-made answers approach. You can always study your interests in your own time.

>>4796218
>fiction is 99% filler

This is what happens when somebody who has absolutely zero idea what they are talking about makes a post. If I was a mod, I would probably ban you.

Don't come back.

>>4796355
I don't really think that maintains its usefulness after you stop being a student. If you're actually interested in learning about a subject, the context and analysis offered by something other than lists is too useful to be passed up.

>>4796355
It rewards the *appearance*of understanding rather than true understanding. It also reinforces the way of thinking that has been the downgrade of murka. The majority of our scientists and engineers are imported.

>>4796357
>If I was a mod, I would probably ban you.
You're a bad person. There were no rules being broken in that post.

Just kidding, you'd fit in just fine with current moderation.

>>4796438
Complaining about the moderation is a bannable offense, and a serious one. Delete your post now or prepare for an imminent banning.

>>4796464
I don't even care anymore.

>>4796485
Srsly tho, they suck. And butterfly is a cunt janitor

>>4796246
The journey is subjective.

"Required reading" is code word for "suffer through these awful books so your teacher can think you are a good reader".

Its bullshit. Students should be allowed to pick their own books, based solely upon their own interests. How else does one read?

>>4796413
>The majority of our scientists and engineers are imported.

You are full of shit.

>>4796355
That only counts when you don't actually have to prove your education to people. It's pretty obvious when someone just took the minimum information necessary to pass classes. They can't actually do the work they got their degree for.

Unless it's a business degree, you essentially blew your money.

>>4796507
It's getting there

http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2011/usforeignbornstem.aspx

Mfw no one has mentioned The shallows by Nicholas Carr yet

>>4796531
I'd like to see how they define scientists and engineers. The imported code monkeys from India hardly qualify as engineers, though they claim to be.

>>4796064
Keep in mind work load also.

My one India culture class (mandatory) assigned us 4 books for the 16 wk course. Now scratch off 2wks at the top and bottom and we really only had 3wks to read each book. These were not short books and given the work load from other courses I only manged to read the first one 70 percent through.

This is sad, but it also makes me a bit happy, because I'm reminded each day that these are the people I compete against in my classes. If I want to chat with people who are smart, I talk to the graduate students or professors.

For the people here who are justifying not reading textbooks for technical subjects--that's bullshit and you know it. As a physics major, I assure you it's just as important for people to actually read and understand the textbook material as it is for an English major. Yeah, the book has a lot of information, some of which it isn't essential to solving the problems on your problem set, and it can be difficult and challenging to get through. That's the entire point of coming to university; I dunno why you'd pay money and then just not put in any actual effort.

Books are ultimately worthless, relevant information can be presented in a simple bullet list. If it can't, it's not relevant.

>>4796676
le pleb face