several people made comments about people not reading much and glen mentioned
he has read maybe 2 books this year. This triggered me, a lifelong addicted
bibliophile.
I started reading (comic books with* Donald Duck in Mathemagic Land* and heroes
like Lex Luthor) a couple of hears before starting school. I maxed out my
Weekly Reader Book Club order every week during grade school. Weekly trips to
neighborhood book store for 20-25 cent paperbacks (mostly science fiction, but
a hell of a lot of non-fiction popular science books as well). A simple mention
in a TV show, *Outer Limit*s, prompted a library trip to check out and read
Kant's *Critique of Pure Reason*, My freshman year at Macalester required
buying and reading over forty books—mostly monographs, not textbooks. I have
read just over 10,000 books in my lifetime (a significant percentage being
fiction—mysteries and science fiction). Until the past decade, I had subscribed
to at least two local papers and one national paper. Before they descended to
junk, read Newsweek and Time every week and subscribed to at least six-seven
different periodicals (a lot of them computer journals). When I encountered a
mention of Graeber, I bought and read one, then all, of his books (*Dawn of
Everything *is, IMO, a really important book with insights that could inform
much of the socio-political discussion on this list). Whenever anyone on this
list mentions a book, I am on Amazon with seconds ordering it. When I attended
FRIAM at St. John's, I visited the bookstore's new books table and always left
with 3-8 books; every week.
When speaking at professional conferences I always ask how many people have
read 1-2 computer books this year. and most of the audience raises their hand.
How many have read one book other than a computer book this year—less than half
the audience. How many a fiction book—four or five people.
Alan Kay once said, *"If you do not read for pleasure, you cannot read for
purpose."* An exaggeration perhaps, but a valid observation.
My last three or four years teaching, I was not allowed to mandate any books
for any class. I could recommend one text book.
The year i spent teaching high school in Las Vegas, NV; not one student,
outside of 'honors/AP' courses had read even one book in their entire 4-year
high school career.
Books are not the only medium of course, but I am deeply suspicious of the
value of much of what is consumed from on-line and mass media sources.
I would attribute any descent into authoritarianism, any demise of social
order, and any succumbing to existential threats on humanity to nothing more
than the massive ignorance of the vast majority of people who do not read.
davew
On Thu, Nov 7, 2024, at 8:29 AM, glen wrote:
> I would guess the majority of those who voted for Harris also don't
> read. Or, maybe it's better to say they don't read the same way we used
> to read: https://www.the-hinternet.com/p/the-future-of-reading
>
> I'll admit that I rarely read books anymore. I think I've read 2 this
> year. The overwhelming majority of my reading is journal, magazine, and
> news articles. And I spend a LOT of time listening to podcasts and
> video essays. Granted, my only social media is Mastodon. Though I do
> try to post to Instagram sporadically. I just have no idea why serious
> people still use eX-Twitter. I mean, WTF?
>
> All this stuff plays an important role in "how democracies die". And my
> guess is we'll learn less from the deep thinking book writers or
> essayists and more from attempts at network analysis across media like
> TikTok, Telegram, Signal, Discord, & SimpleX. There was this (good)
> article on Graeber in the Guardian:
> https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/nov/07/david-graeber-optimistic-anarchist-rebecca-solnit.
>
> And despite it tweaking my old philia, it just reads so empty to me
> now. A stroll through .5TB of leaked chat logs is much more exciting
> these days
> (https://ddosecrets.com/article/paramilitary-election-interference).
>
> On 11/7/24 02:16, Sarbajit Roy wrote:
>> "> ..,The people who voted for him probably do not read Paxton, Arendt or
>> Levitsky and Ziblat ..."
>> The people who voted for him don't read...
>>
>> We have a similar problem in India, the great semi-literate masses have been
>> handed cheap smartp[hiones with cheap data plans so they are connected 24x7
>> to the Matrix.
>>
>> On Wed, Nov 6, 2024 at 2:04 PM Jochen Fromm <j...@cas-group.net
>> <mailto:j...@cas-group.net>> wrote:
>>
>> I woke up today and saw the horrific news on TV that Trump has won
>> again. It is incredibly bad on many levels. It is bad for the environment.
>> The world will not be able to stop global warming without the U.S. It is bad
>> for Ukraine as well. To me it feels like the end of civilization and
>> democracy. The people who voted for him probably do not read Paxton, Arendt
>> or Levitsky and Ziblatt. Or do not care.
>>
>> https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/562246/how-democracies-die-by-steven-levitsky-and-daniel-ziblatt/
>>
>> <https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/562246/how-democracies-die-by-steven-levitsky-and-daniel-ziblatt/>
>>
>> I was wondering how this is possible. If we define populism as an
>> ideology that presents "the people" as a morally good force and contrasts
>> them against "the elite", who are portrayed as corrupt and self-serving then
>> this could be a reason why Trump is so successful. He is good at populism
>> because he is corrupt and self-serving himself, and uses projection to
>> accuse others.
>>
>>
>> https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/308163/what-is-populism-by-muller-jan-werner/9780141987378
>>
>> <https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/308163/what-is-populism-by-muller-jan-werner/9780141987378>
>>
>>
>> What do you think? Why have people voted for him although they know what
>> kind of person he his? Are we doomed now?
>>
>
>
> --
> ꙮ Mɥǝu ǝlǝdɥɐuʇs ɟᴉƃɥʇ' ʇɥǝ ƃɹɐss snɟɟǝɹs˙ ꙮ
>
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