5 ms·

Švejk is what I call a "scalable" book. It works for readers of almost any level. The first time I read it I was maybe 8 years old and had a lot of fun, even th

Švejk is what I call a "scalable" book. It works for readers of almost any level. The first time I read it I was maybe 8 years old and had a lot of fun, even though I completely missed most of the nuance.

hilbert42 3y ago
Very true, I wouldn't have recognized many of the nuances had I not had military training and having worked in government bureaucracies.
- runlaszlorun 3y ago
  Oh yeah? I’ll add it to my list. I’ve served and I was thinking of passing on it. Luckily I was well versed before I showed up to Uncle Sam’s doorstep. Catch-22 paints paints a good picture. And had a high counselor who was a Vietnam vet and said Apocalypse Now was the most realistic Vietnam movie he’d. And I can’t say that my experiences in were too far from my expectations. I think the thing people don’t get about the military, at least speaking of my experience in the US’s, is even in places like special operations units and doing the stuff that reads great in a newspaper, often enough there’s an absolute, epic, comedic shitshow going on inside with a cast of characters that you couldn’t even do justice to in a goofball comedy. Suppose that might apply to lots of things. Luckily, no military really has to have their shit together, they just gotta be better than the other side.
  - 48864w6ui 3y ago
    One of Napoleon's cavalry generals said his average trooper's horsemanship was mediocre at best, yet they still made the tour of Europe. (Later, in the time of Napoleon III, the Prussians would outdo the French in utilizing mediocrity, providing yet another example that for a conscripted military, quantity is its own quality)
lukan 3y ago
More examples of "scalable" books please?
- SergeAx 3y ago
  "The Mysterious Island" by Jules Verne. Was good for me at 11, 16, 28 and 40.
- hagbard_c 3y ago
  Jules Verne, just about everything he wrote. We had a collection of his books from the early 1910's which I read from around age 11. Get either those old copies or reprints which include the wood cut illustrations.
- gumby 3y ago
  The lord of the rings is a good one, especially if you skip the songs. Then it’s simply an adventure story. The Sword in the Stone is pretty good in this regard. Apart from that first book (which is published as a standalone book) the entire Once and Future King is too complex for a child, I think (instead it would come off as boring and obscure). But in general almost any book a kid wants to try to read will be fine. Also: back in the day when small towns had a single cinema screen, movies would travel around as physical media and play for a week or two. So they had to be appropriate for anyone in town else the cinema owner wouldn’t take them. My kid loved those Fred Astaire musicals. I do too. For him they were just fun. To me, many of them were quite racy and quite explicit! But all that just went over his head.
- tsc 3y ago
  The Little Prince
- j_french 3y ago
  My older brother gave me Animal Farm to read as a child, I enjoyed it as a (somewhat depressing) story about animals taking over a farm.
  - HanClinto 3y ago
    I was probably 7 or 8 my first time through Animal Farm. I cried so hard when Boxer died.

hilbert42 3y ago

Very true, I wouldn't have recognized many of the nuances had I not had military training and having worked in government bureaucracies.

runlaszlorun 3y ago
Oh yeah? I’ll add it to my list. I’ve served and I was thinking of passing on it. Luckily I was well versed before I showed up to Uncle Sam’s doorstep. Catch-22 paints paints a good picture. And had a high counselor who was a Vietnam vet and said Apocalypse Now was the most realistic Vietnam movie he’d. And I can’t say that my experiences in were too far from my expectations. I think the thing people don’t get about the military, at least speaking of my experience in the US’s, is even in places like special operations units and doing the stuff that reads great in a newspaper, often enough there’s an absolute, epic, comedic shitshow going on inside with a cast of characters that you couldn’t even do justice to in a goofball comedy. Suppose that might apply to lots of things. Luckily, no military really has to have their shit together, they just gotta be better than the other side.
- 48864w6ui 3y ago
  One of Napoleon's cavalry generals said his average trooper's horsemanship was mediocre at best, yet they still made the tour of Europe. (Later, in the time of Napoleon III, the Prussians would outdo the French in utilizing mediocrity, providing yet another example that for a conscripted military, quantity is its own quality)

lukan 3y ago

More examples of "scalable" books please?

SergeAx 3y ago
"The Mysterious Island" by Jules Verne. Was good for me at 11, 16, 28 and 40.
hagbard_c 3y ago
Jules Verne, just about everything he wrote. We had a collection of his books from the early 1910's which I read from around age 11. Get either those old copies or reprints which include the wood cut illustrations.
gumby 3y ago
The lord of the rings is a good one, especially if you skip the songs. Then it’s simply an adventure story. The Sword in the Stone is pretty good in this regard. Apart from that first book (which is published as a standalone book) the entire Once and Future King is too complex for a child, I think (instead it would come off as boring and obscure). But in general almost any book a kid wants to try to read will be fine. Also: back in the day when small towns had a single cinema screen, movies would travel around as physical media and play for a week or two. So they had to be appropriate for anyone in town else the cinema owner wouldn’t take them. My kid loved those Fred Astaire musicals. I do too. For him they were just fun. To me, many of them were quite racy and quite explicit! But all that just went over his head.
tsc 3y ago
The Little Prince
j_french 3y ago
My older brother gave me Animal Farm to read as a child, I enjoyed it as a (somewhat depressing) story about animals taking over a farm.
- HanClinto 3y ago
  I was probably 7 or 8 my first time through Animal Farm. I cried so hard when Boxer died.