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80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.

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posted on Nov, 17 2008 @ 09:15 PM
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I have a Suggestion....


The ATS library of sorts or at least a catalogue?

Here we may add what books we have.

Then if another member is interested in getting a proper and not paid critical response from a Sunday paper or such like, we could actually ask someone who has read it what they thought.

It would be an Interesting read to as such what other members have, I am sure around 60-70% of certain fringe books in circulation are actually owned by ats members lol, lowing of course from a current book that 102% of statistics are wrong.

Also if anyone wants some information from a book i.e where you see one quote referenced in a book elsewhere maybe we could then....careful here get the entire context of ahem how the reader saw that entire page or chapter?

So to start I will post what I am currently reading, always have 3 or 4 on the go and they are:

Supernature Lyall watson - for about the twentieth time

In search of secret India (an original 1934 copy
) definately not in print now..

Che - a memoir by Fidel Castro

Elf.



posted on Nov, 17 2008 @ 09:19 PM
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reply to post by badgerprints
 

This would explain an apparent lack of basic knowledge I see in many of these posts. One can even name the event they deny, and they won't even look it up on the internet, much less a book.

Some of my most informative and comforting friends are the many books I have in my libraries. While I have personal interests, I think I can find a fair spread of research on just about any subject you would wish to pursue.

It's a shame. Between computers, electronic games, and a lack of interest, we have some very ignorant generations.



posted on Nov, 17 2008 @ 09:21 PM
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Originally posted by MischeviousElf
The ATS library of sorts or at least a catalogue?

Here we may add what books we have.

Then if another member is interested in getting a proper and not paid critical response from a Sunday paper or such like, we could actually ask someone who has read it what they thought.


There's a thread on BelowTopSecret called "What are you currently reading?" It's not exactly what you're talking about, but people could at least list books as they read them. So if a member is interested they could search by title there and get the members who have most recently read the book. It would save lots of duplicate entries, I assume....so instead of "who here's read 1984?" you'd get "who here most recently read 1984?"

[edit: italicized the book titles, just to be clear]


[edit on 17-11-2008 by Vault-D]



posted on Nov, 17 2008 @ 09:27 PM
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Originally posted by americandingbat
BTW, for those who love Neal Stephenson and Neil Gaiman, I highly recommend China Mieville – pretty much anything he's written but especially Perdido Street Station.


I think I shall recommend a Author also. Harry Turtledove, one of the masters of the Alternative History scene. World War series is - in my most humblest of opinions - his best one. Imagine World War Two being fought out and getting invaded by an Alien species half way through.



posted on Nov, 17 2008 @ 09:32 PM
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Here are four that I am reading:

The Success Principles~ Jack Canfield
The Aladdin Factor~ Jack Canfield
The Einstein Factor~Win Wenger
Photo Reading~Paul R. Scheele



posted on Nov, 17 2008 @ 09:38 PM
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Love books, cant read enough. If I could I would do nothing but do my oil painting and read with bathroom breaks lol

Red Mars series- K. Stanley Robinson
Fallen Angels- Richard K Morgan
Gold Coast- K. Stanley Robinson
The Reality Dysfunction-Peter Hamilton (my fav)



posted on Nov, 17 2008 @ 09:40 PM
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Why are books commonly seen as some sort of accessory to intelligence or intellect? Books can be filled with lies and bias just like anything else. Since this is a conspiracy sight, is it worth mentioning that books are an extremely powerful influence? That influence has been dangerous in molding many psychotic minds.



posted on Nov, 17 2008 @ 09:45 PM
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reply to post by bizone
 


All that is true.

Books are still common accessories to intellect though.

You separate the wheat from the chaff. Just like anything else.



posted on Nov, 17 2008 @ 09:50 PM
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reply to post by Lucid Lunacy
 


Or even the Wheat from the catchers of the rye?

The poster has a point, though checking sources and reading opposing material brings IMHO true balanced knowledge.

Elf



posted on Nov, 17 2008 @ 09:53 PM
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Originally posted by bizone
Why are books commonly seen as some sort of accessory to intelligence or intellect? Books can be filled with lies and bias just like anything else. Since this is a conspiracy sight, is it worth mentioning that books are an extremely powerful influence? That influence has been dangerous in molding many psychotic minds.


I believe they are an accessory, you will get no intellect from a bathroom wall and I think there are more lies there as well.......For a good time call..555-5555..



posted on Nov, 17 2008 @ 09:56 PM
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reply to post by MischeviousElf
 


He has a point insofar as books can lie just like TV or the internet. I'm not so sure about the shaping of psychotic minds, though – I tend to suspect that someone who bases his psychotic delusions off, say, Catcher in the Rye would be just as psychotic if the book had never been written.

The particulars of the psychosis might be different, but once you're shot you probably don't much care which fictional character inspired your murder


One thing I like about the written word, with respect to verifiability, is that it stays put and you can simultaneously reference numerous versions of a story. This holds for the Internet as well as books/journals/newspapers. Whereas with a video medium time becomes a factor – the information is constantly passing through you rather than staying face-to-face with you.



posted on Nov, 17 2008 @ 10:14 PM
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As a creative writing major, I find these statistics both shocking and strangely suspect. True, it could be that I am denying this for my own self interests, but the idea that 80% of families in the US haven't bought a book in the last year seems ridiculous.

What about the successes of Harry Potter, Twilight, The Golden Compass, The Road, and all the other books that are currently (and in the past several months) have been critical raves that have seemed to infiltrate the culture?

Either way, even if the statistics ARE true, I think we have a generation coming up who will have grown up with reading all kinds of books, and our culture will benefit from it.

My essential reading list (for all interested)
Moby Dick is probably one of the single greatest books ever written. It certainly is my favorite book of all time, and I feel that it should be read by everyone.

A more modern classic is Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. This book is astounding in it's levels of genius, and anyone who reads it will be shocked by the profoundness of it.

White Noise by Don DeLillo is a great read that discusses many of the things talked about in this thread (also while taking some shots at the elitist class)

Gravity's Rainbow, and The Crying of Lot 49, both by Thomas Pynchon are both fantastic books that trick you into using your mind in new ways.

In terms of fantasy and lighter fare, I would recommend American Gods by Neil Gaiman, The Terror by Dan Simmons and The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon.

Good reading, people!



posted on Nov, 17 2008 @ 10:16 PM
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Originally posted by Lucid Lunacy


Apparently you are unaware, or unwilling, to acknowledge that Marx was not the founder of socialism.



So marx is, what........irrelevant? I could post a paragraph or two about blanqui, but I don't know how many people could (or would) follow it. Leninism has been the major flavor of socialism advocated in my lifetime, and Marx was certainly a key player in the formation of that particular strain of internationalism.

Sure, I could have talked about Trotsky's attitude toward intellectualism, but most people reading here [/irony] don't have any clue who he is.

And I even named a sandwich after him, featured on BTS.


*insert pun here about ....... "better dead than well-read" *



posted on Nov, 17 2008 @ 10:21 PM
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From the late great Bill Hicks--

"I was in Nashville, Tennesee last year. After the show I went to a Waffle House. I'm not proud of it, I was hungry. And I'm alone, I'm eating and I'm reading a book, right? Waitress walks over to me: " Hey, whatchoo readin' for?"

Isn't that the weirdest #ing question you've ever heard? Not what am I readING, but what am I reading *for*? Well, godammit, ya stumped me! Why do I read? Well... hmmm... I dunno... I guess I read for a lot of reasons, and the main one is so I don't end up being a #ing waffle waitress."



posted on Nov, 17 2008 @ 10:28 PM
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reply to post by dr_strangecraft
 


No sir, not irrelevant. If you had said Leninism I would have embraced your point



posted on Nov, 17 2008 @ 11:25 PM
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Not a big fiction person, but still 80%?! I'm the type who passes the new Harry Potter book to get something written by an ex-Secretary of State or expose on the government. That being said, The Stranger, Catcher in the Rye, and Heart of Darkness are still my favorites of all time.



posted on Nov, 18 2008 @ 12:15 AM
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I question those statitstics, and the validity of the measuring reading by "books."

Is someone better read because they read one or two books a year versus someone who reads 100 magazines, or 5,000 web pages?

The statistics don't really show us how many people read extensively for their career, but do not read for pleasure. It doesn't not show how many people listen to books on tape. It certainly doesn't demonstrate how many people read a newspaper every day.

Books are a dead -- and rightfully should be. They are a one-way communication device, slow, expensive, heavy and wasteful. Browsing a book store to find something to read may be entertaining, but is not the best way to garner information about a topic.

If you look at the vast amount of information on this website alone, the exchange of ideas, the free-flow of topics, you begin to see why books are a thing of the past.

There are very few new titles published every year because the prospect of publishing and marketing a book is extremely expensive, as well as risky. Therefore, many good books never see print because they will not guarantee a return for the publisher. Relying on books for information only perpetuates this exclusionary industry which prevents countless good ideas from seeing print. And, it's not good for the environment.

Reading a book for pleasure is understandable, but to equate that with some sort of intellectual achievement is ridiculous. Many people seek to get their information in more expeditious manner.



posted on Nov, 18 2008 @ 12:21 AM
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A book? A book....OH YEAH! Those things made out of trees that are kept in museums called libraries?
jk



posted on Nov, 18 2008 @ 12:24 AM
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Whatttt 80%...thats really a shocking number...not that I read alot but I do read but wow that 80% is really a high number and I don't know if I entirely trust that number.



posted on Nov, 18 2008 @ 01:02 AM
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I think reading anything should be noted as being worthwhile. Remember there are people that do not have access to book or simply cannot afford them. Yet some are just to lazy to get up off their behinds and go to the local library to pick something to read. Although the number of people that read books are low the majority of the reasons could be the ones I posted above. It's to make a point we should never equate the lack of reading with the lack of knowledge.

-Ign0RanT



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