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> I find it very disturbing and revealing that such a high level and respected guy did read no real book, I mean real books that will be read in 50 years, liter

by irahul 14y ago

> I find it very disturbing and revealing that such a high level and respected guy did read no real book, I mean real books that will be read in 50 years, literature or philosophy, or classics like Seneque, Proust, Montaigne, Austeen. Bill Gates is reading about how much college students learn in college instead of reading Kant and sipping wine by his fireplace and being a pretentious douche-bag. Oh, the horror. What has the world come to. EDIT: If it didn't occur to you, the definitions of real, classic and important are different for a random punk on an internet forum and Bill Gates. Also, Bill Gates doesn't seem like a guy who would read classics so that he can make blog posts about it.

keithpeter 14y ago
"Bill Gates is reading about how much college students learn in college instead of reading Kant and sipping wine by his fireplace and being a pretentious douche-bag." I understand your point, but, I can't help recognising the irony given the key findings of the book mentioned.
gadders 14y ago
I take your point, but there books that are hundreds or thousands of years old that still help to illuminate the human condition and that people can learn from - Shakespeare, Plutarch, Herodotus etc. I'd take those over some buzzword laden piece of Gladwell-lite that will be irrelevant in five years.
- irahul 14y ago
  > I take your point, but there books that are hundreds or thousands of years old that still help to illuminate the human condition and that people can learn from - Shakespeare, Plutarch, Herodotus etc. I don't know what you are responding to. I didn't claim there aren't old books which are useful. I am taking exception to the unfounded claim about old classics being the real books. Personally, I find Shakespeare trash. I would rather re-read "Lord of the flies" or "To kill a mockinbird" than subjecting myself to the Shakespearean torture. > I'd take those over some buzzword laden piece of Gladwell-lite that will be irrelevant in five years. Tell me how Bill Gates reading about college students not getting much out of education(and actually acting on it) is not better by eons to Bill Gates reading Hamlet. How does it matter no one will remember about "state of education in the 21st century" 100 years down the road?
bitwize 14y ago
gbog sounds a bit like the main character from Verne's Paris au XXe siècle, a classics scholar who is shunned for searching for timeless truth in a modernist, materialist world that focuses only on technology and business. The classics are classics for a reason: they are universal and timeless, and contain deep truths about the human condition that resonate forever. If Gates had read them early in life, maybe he would not have developed the predatory personality that characterized his business career and Microsoft in general?
- gbog 14y ago
  Yes, that's my point, and the anti-culture trend I can feel on HN, while somewhat justified, because there are culture douche in some places, is missing the bigger picture: culture, classic books, and so on, are the only way to build a better world.
  - irahul 14y ago
    > and the anti-culture trend I can feel on HN What do you mean by anti-culture trend? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture Of all the definitions listed here, what on earth would anti-culture mean? This is the 20th century definition: In the 20th century, "culture" emerged as a central concept in anthropology, encompassing the range of human phenomena that cannot be attributed to genetic inheritance. Specifically, the term "culture" in American anthropology had two meanings: (1) the evolved human capacity to classify and represent experiences with symbols, and to act imaginatively and creatively; and (2) the distinct ways that people living in different parts of the world classified and represented their experiences, and acted creatively. If by culture, you mean the practices which have been followed for some time(won't that be tradition?), count me in as anti culture and tradition. "Something exists for a long time, hence it is useful" is bullshit. Culture and traditions are mostly dynamic, and people who think of a them as a static rather than ever changing snapshot of current human behavior are some of the biggest, bigoted assholes I have ever seen. > culture, classic books, and so on, are the only way to build a better world. Do you have anything other than your personal opinion to back up culture(whatever that means) or classic books building better world?

by irahul 14y ago

keithpeter 14y ago

"Bill Gates is reading about how much college students learn in college instead of reading Kant and sipping wine by his fireplace and being a pretentious douche-bag." I understand your point, but, I can't help recognising the irony given the key findings of the book mentioned.

gadders 14y ago

I take your point, but there books that are hundreds or thousands of years old that still help to illuminate the human condition and that people can learn from - Shakespeare, Plutarch, Herodotus etc. I'd take those over some buzzword laden piece of Gladwell-lite that will be irrelevant in five years.

irahul 14y ago
> I take your point, but there books that are hundreds or thousands of years old that still help to illuminate the human condition and that people can learn from - Shakespeare, Plutarch, Herodotus etc. I don't know what you are responding to. I didn't claim there aren't old books which are useful. I am taking exception to the unfounded claim about old classics being the real books. Personally, I find Shakespeare trash. I would rather re-read "Lord of the flies" or "To kill a mockinbird" than subjecting myself to the Shakespearean torture. > I'd take those over some buzzword laden piece of Gladwell-lite that will be irrelevant in five years. Tell me how Bill Gates reading about college students not getting much out of education(and actually acting on it) is not better by eons to Bill Gates reading Hamlet. How does it matter no one will remember about "state of education in the 21st century" 100 years down the road?

bitwize 14y ago

gbog sounds a bit like the main character from Verne's Paris au XXe siècle, a classics scholar who is shunned for searching for timeless truth in a modernist, materialist world that focuses only on technology and business. The classics are classics for a reason: they are universal and timeless, and contain deep truths about the human condition that resonate forever. If Gates had read them early in life, maybe he would not have developed the predatory personality that characterized his business career and Microsoft in general?

gbog 14y ago
Yes, that's my point, and the anti-culture trend I can feel on HN, while somewhat justified, because there are culture douche in some places, is missing the bigger picture: culture, classic books, and so on, are the only way to build a better world.
- irahul 14y ago
  > and the anti-culture trend I can feel on HN What do you mean by anti-culture trend? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture Of all the definitions listed here, what on earth would anti-culture mean? This is the 20th century definition: In the 20th century, "culture" emerged as a central concept in anthropology, encompassing the range of human phenomena that cannot be attributed to genetic inheritance. Specifically, the term "culture" in American anthropology had two meanings: (1) the evolved human capacity to classify and represent experiences with symbols, and to act imaginatively and creatively; and (2) the distinct ways that people living in different parts of the world classified and represented their experiences, and acted creatively. If by culture, you mean the practices which have been followed for some time(won't that be tradition?), count me in as anti culture and tradition. "Something exists for a long time, hence it is useful" is bullshit. Culture and traditions are mostly dynamic, and people who think of a them as a static rather than ever changing snapshot of current human behavior are some of the biggest, bigoted assholes I have ever seen. > culture, classic books, and so on, are the only way to build a better world. Do you have anything other than your personal opinion to back up culture(whatever that means) or classic books building better world?