5 ms·
I personally tend to look down on people who read only non-fiction (though obviously not as much as people who don't read at all). It suggests a lack of imagina
by ojbyrne 18y ago
I personally tend to look down on people who read only non-fiction (though obviously not as much as people who don't read at all). It suggests a lack of imagination. And I think perhaps that's the self-improvement aspect of fiction - it exercises the imagination.
- yters 18y agoI think so, it teaches us to form complete views of the world in our head - which allows us to see the world as it is, and as it could be, much more comprehensively.
- ice_man 18y agoI read non-fiction books exclusively. I find them to be a nice break from my imagination. I tend to look down upon people who look down upon people.
- ojbyrne 18y agoI think the nature of this site is that we are somewhat critical of the mainstream (digg, etc). I.e. we look down on them. I didn't mean my comment to be taken personally, it is just my opinion, and it may be flawed. But I don't think so.
- nicko 18y ago> I tend to look down upon people who look down upon people. nice quip, until followed to its logical conclusion ;-)
- ice_man 18y agoWhat can I say? I hate myself. ;)
- shard 18y agoRight, because reading _Godel Escher Bach_, _Shock of the New_, and _Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain_ (my current reading list) obviously doesn't exercise the imagination.
- ojbyrne 18y agoI said "only." And just for the record, I've read all of Hofstader's books, not just the popular/mainstream one. EDIT: Ok, not all, just the ones in English. ;-) And a further EDIT: all three of those books are about "Art" more or less. I can't see how someone who read those books can't read fiction. So I'm guessing you missed "only."
- shard 18y agoNo, I didn't miss the "only". I don't read fiction anymore. No time. I pretty much want everything I read to be full of new knowledge for me.