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/lit/ - Literature

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18311739 No.18311739 [Reply] [Original]

This board is really obsessed with non-fiction literature, but how come your non-fiction readings are pretty much exclusively limited to politics and philosophy/religion? (especially when those are the two topics are what's allegedly against the rules in the sticky)
There's so much great non-fiction lit out there which doesn't get discussed at all here, and is less prone to shitflinging arguments.
Why not read about ecology and nature writings and Audubon books?
Why not histories and criticisms or art or biographies of artists?
Why not books about national parks?
Why not books about building things, like log cabins or boats?
Why not comedy, cinema, fishing or a gazillion other interesting things besides politics?
It sometimes appears as though this board is against the notion of taking pleasure in your reading, or having fun while doing it.
ITT: Recommend non-fiction books which aren't mainly about politics, philosophy or religion.

>> No.18311783
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18311783

I really like herbariums

>> No.18311787

>>18311739
Because humans are political animals and they also do care much about their existence and cultural practices.

>> No.18311790

>>18311739
I read fiction :(

>> No.18311814

>>18311739
People discuss books on hobbies on the hobby boards. They discuss history books on /his/ (sort of). They discuss science books on /sci/. I think it's just selection. Economics books show up here because /biz/ is just /crypto/ and politics come here because /pol/ is just /race/ and is spammed to shit. /his/ might be a more logical place for politics and social sciences but mods delete threads all the time and /pol/ leakage is especially bad there.

>> No.18311880

>>18311739
I'm sure many do. I read about architecture and film history/theory alongside everything else, but I have no interest in posting about it on this board. If you do have an interest in doing so, why not start some threads? If there are others, they will likely partake. Complaining about it isn't really going to fix anything.

>> No.18311894

>>18311739
The Kon-Tiki Expedition: By Raft Across the South Seas by Thor Heyerdahl

>> No.18311900

>>18311739
Is it?

>> No.18311931

>>18311880
Also, there are better places than this board to find active discussion for more esoteric interests. There's probably only like 6 actual individuals on /lit/. We're all just arguing with each other in separate threads about different topics.

>> No.18311980
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18311980

>>18311814
>People discuss books on hobbies on the hobby boards.
A popular misconception!

>> No.18312139

>>18311739
90% of this board is just a self-aggrandizing circle-jerk.

>> No.18312174

>>18311739
I'm reading an extensive 10 volume essay on apples

>> No.18312218

>>18311739
I assure you it's a lot more fun to read a commentary on the book of Job by a doctor of the church than it is to read a book about natural parks, ecology, art criticism, or DIY projects I'll never attempt. I actually had a hard time not cringing at your suggestions while I was reading the post.

>> No.18312420

Most of those non-fiction readers here are trying to justify their nihilism, misanthropy, reactionary politics/religious bona fides or bolster them to use a cudgel in arguments. Just the nature of the type of dude that frequents this site/board.
For non-fiction I've been reading Quicksand-America's Pursuit of Power in the Middle East and Poetics of Cinema by Bordwell but I just discuss those on /his/ and /film/

>> No.18312431

>>18311739
Good literature gets no attention on this board so why do you think obscure topics would work?

>> No.18313160

I read books on music and the history of music.
Looking for a book about traditional islamic embroidery but hard to find.
I don't discuss them here because I don't expect it to generate discussion.

>> No.18313340

>>18311739
All three of those have boards dedicated to their subject: we don't discuss books about ecology and parks because we have /sci/, we typically don't discuss books about history because we're not /his/ (although there are great threads on this topic once in a while), and we don't discuss books on various trades and crafts because we have /out/ for that.
>what about philosophy?
Although the quality of the philosophical discussion on this board is staggeringly shallow, people tend to prefer having conversations here rather than /his/ because that board has gone to absolute shit with all the /pol/ stuff on there.

>> No.18313366

>>18311739
Sorry, we only read about the important stuff in life. You can read about trees and shit if you like but we discuss the adult stuff here.

>> No.18313404
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18313404

>>18311739

It's probably because like a lot of people on this board, including myself, grew up very disillusioned with their indoctrination and teachings about the world. Thus the natural reaction for people would be to seek politics, philosophy and religion because all the post-modern world views induced was existential dread, nihilism, hedonism etc which most people inherently know is sick to the soul and needed somewhere to make sense of all their thoughts and feelings.

>> No.18313424

I wish this board talked about actual politics books and not retarded shit like Evola

>> No.18314230

>>18311783
extremely based. What book is that?

>> No.18314994

>>18311739
>Why not read about ecology and nature writings and Audubon books?
Why not histories and criticisms or art or biographies of artists?
Why not books about national parks?
Why not books about building things, like log cabins or boats?
Why not comedy, cinema, fishing or a gazillion other interesting things besides politics?
It sometimes appears as though this board is against the notion of taking pleasure in your reading, or having fun while doing it.

All boring platitudinal trivia. Unless one of these subjects is detrimental to my career I would not care to read any of this. I don't read to have fun, when I read I try and seek something greater. As pretentious as that sounds it's true, if I wanted to have fun I wouldn't pick up a book.

>> No.18315018

>>18311739
it's because everyone just comes here either to posture as an intellectual or to learn how to do so.
leave this place and never return, it is an eater of ambitions and a burden on a man's eternal soul

>> No.18315038

>>18311783
>italian herbarium
i love you anon

>> No.18315042

>>18313424
The only "meme philosopher" whose books have ever been worth reading is De Maistre. De Maistre is actually a somewhat worthwhile thinker. All the rest--Evola, Guenon, Yarvin, Land, etc.--all of them are garbage.

>> No.18315049

>>18315018
I don't see why you have to be so dramatic about it, I've gotten some pretty good book recommendations here and have had some fun memeing and internetting about philosophy and literature. Where do you think you're gonna find the 'true' intellectuals? University? On the street? Well considering that state of modern universities and the fact that most people just don't read, probably not. Just read, introspect, and come here every once in awhile to have fun. Quit being a little overdramatic faggot. Respectfully.

>> No.18315060

Most posters here are young, lonely, urbanite men without any practical skills and no personality. They think edgy politics and faux-faith will give them meaning in life. Just look at the Job-guy and utility-anon, and you see how single-minded and lacking in erudition the posters here are.

On-topic: Arabia Felix is an excellent travel book and insight into the 1700s scientific explorations. I'm currently cataloging as many plants as I can find in my local area, not that it's a book for people to read, but I read various flora books to improve my lacking knowledge on the topic.

>> No.18315068

>>18314994
>As pretentious as that sounds it's true, if I wanted to have fun I wouldn't pick up a book.

You should try it some time, reading a great book is wonderful.

>> No.18315082

>>18315060
>Just look at the Job-guy and utility-anon
Who?

>> No.18315100

>>18315068
To me great books aren't shallow trivia. Nothing wrong with having a hobby or career and reading books having due with the subject, it just shouldn't be ones only source of character if you are to avoid becoming bland.

>> No.18315131

for the past 5 years or so i've been so busy with work that when i have free time i want to veg out on electronic entertainment / shoot this shit and drink with mates instead of read
the only books ive read in the past five years that weren't technical textbooks have been Hogg and a book on natural history of the rocky mountains. the latter still feels like a textbook but is much more pleasurable to read than one

>> No.18315134

>>18311880
Got any good recs on film history/theory?

>> No.18315263

>>18311739
Nice, haven't seen this piece by Caravaggio before. What's it called?

>> No.18315311

You can recommend books and talk about national parks, as you mentioned, but there isn't that much to discuss about them. You can start a philosophical discussion with few simple questions and (which honestly isn't the case here because nobody reads here) spiral into a deep talks from many different perspectives.
Philosophy isn't and really shouldn't be the only thing, but it is the mother of all.

>> No.18315337

>>18311931
>We're all just arguing with each other in separate threads about different topics.
sounds p. based ngl famalam

>> No.18315340

The reason is simple. In order to talk about Frankenstein or Moosbrugger you have to read Shelley's and Musil's novels. In order to talk about Spinoza you just need to read a section from you uni manual or watch a few yt video. The anons who read are posting on here less and less, theredore threads about religion/philosophy pop out more frequently day after day, therefore the few readers remaining on here get even more tired, and so on.

>> No.18315350

>>18311739
Recommend some art books, anon. Nothing about anyone born in the 20th century or after.

>> No.18315370

>>18315340
>The anons who read are posting on here less and less
>the few readers remaining on here get even more tired, and so on
this is a problem endemic to all boards. i'm a physicist but refuse to go on /sci/ because it's all a bunch of pseud undergrads, and so here i am, an under-read STEM insect on /lit/, shitting up the board
tragedy of the commons, no?

>> No.18315378

>>18315350
Not OP but Edgard Wind's Pagan mysteries in the renaissance is very enjoyable

>> No.18315408

>>18315370
You don't see me shitting up /sci/.

>> No.18315425

>>18315408
yes but there's plenty of others to take your place and vice-versa were i to abstain from posting here

>> No.18315973

>>18314230
I Discorsi by P. A. Matthioli, illustrated by Giorgio Liberale da Udine (etcher) and Gherardo Cibo (painter)

https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_OGK3WyHq8iQC/page/n1/mode/2up

>> No.18317188

>>18311783
See, this is what I'd like to see more of on /lit/. I don't want to hear about politics and that garbage. I want to talk about tree identification and fungi with my bros.

>> No.18318336

A nice thread deserves a bump

>> No.18318365

>>18315378
Thank you, gorgeous.

>> No.18318428

>>18311739

>Books about ecology / nature

Useless and non-challenging subject. If I want to know about nature I better watch a documentary.

>Histories and criticisms

Here I agree.

>Art or biographies of artists

Pointless, but this is pretty ambiguous since there's a lot of things that are "art".

>Books about national parks

Sounds like something a toddler would read

>Books about building things

Pointless if you don't have direct interest in building stuff, Most people barely afford to pay rent, why would they read about logs, cabins, boats, all expensive hobbies that they can't pursue ?

Politics, philosophy and religion are the most interesting subjects. You added history, to which I agree.

>> No.18318429

>>18315049
>don’t be dramatic
don’t remember asking
>book recs
that’s pretty much the only reason I’m here
>internetting
unironically shiggy
>true intellectuals
I’m really not too elitist, I think anyone can be smart in several of various ways. This doesn’t change the fact I can also tell when someone collects book titles to name drop, and has nothing really more to say.
>muh modern universities
this is such a shit cope. obv universities are where smart people congregate— you have to READ to do well, something no one here is required to do, all political issues aside. if you sincerely want to plead with me not to be dramatic, then I plead with you not to fuck yourself over by falling for 4chin meemees. this is what I’m getting at: this place feels real but it isn’t, so don’t get attached and think you’re getting anything out of it other than a handful of book recs, faggot (disrespectfully)

>> No.18318569

>>18317188
Why are fungi so fucking BASED?
>Will eat you after you die
>They're everywhere
>They refuse to be qualified as either plants or animals
>Some of them make you see god or die, or maybe both