3 ms·
The sad fact of the matter is that this boils down to: you will never live long enough to read even all the good books, for almost any value of "good" [1]. Whil
by npsimons 11y ago
The sad fact of the matter is that this boils down to: you will never live long enough to read even all the good books, for almost any value of "good" [1]. While the OP may be responding to another writer whom he deems "troll", the other author is just pointing out "look, I'm not going to live forever, and I've determined I don't like this author, so I'm not reading his works." albeit in a trollish way.
This old chestnut has been trod out so many times it's becoming a dead horse. Not that it doesn't have a point, but I can remember a discussion here a while back (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8492659 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8492659) where we went over a very similar topic, although with not as deep connections to culture in general.
Suffice to say, everyone selects, and usually from ignorance, unfortunately. The best you can do is force yourself to look at things you wouldn't normally, get out of your comfort zone, consider expert advice like that given in "How to Read a Book". And I say this as someone who has read Pratchett, enjoyed some of it, didn't enjoy other parts, and I will (probably) never read the twilight series as I consider it garbage (and no, I've never even looked at it).
[1] - https://what-if.xkcd.com/76/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/76/
- rdc12 11y agoExcept that is not what the orginal posts [1] author said, he slagged off Pratchett's writing calling it pot boiler and calling Pratchett himself mediocre, while being preachy about his taste. Despite having never read any of his work himself (he openly admits that). The cynic in me thinks it all was really just a bunch of click-bait which in pratice it vertainly has been. [1] http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2015/aug/31/terry-pratchett-is-not-a-literary-genius http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/20...
- npsimons 11y ago> he slagged off Pratchett's writing calling it pot boiler and calling Pratchett himself mediocre, while being preachy about his taste. Hence the trolling. And while it might be clickbaitish, he did have a very good point, and just pointed out what we all do, which is namely to select, and usually from a position of ignorance. While the call to read Great Literature can be seen as preachy, it survives for a good reason: Great Literature enriches, makes people better for having read it. It's one of those things people should aspire to for self-improvement.
- JoeAltmaier 11y agoSome of 'great literature' is dated and of questionable value. But of what endures, much is very good (or it wouldn't have lasted of course).