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Am I really a better person for having read more books? For having been exposed to certain ideas? Yes. Even if you can't directly recall what you have read, if

by frossie 17y ago

Am I really a better person for having read more books? For having been exposed to certain ideas? Yes. Even if you can't directly recall what you have read, if you understood it while you were reading it you would have internalised some of the world view, if not the blow-by-blow account. As somebody else replied, discussing it with your friends (or, making friends of the people who would discuss such books with you) is a great way of integrating the ideas into your thinking. As to the list: Anybody interested in reading Arthur Koestler (and he is really worth reading) might want to start with The Sleepwalkers. It is a very readable account of the development of science - if you like it you will be motivated to delve into some of his other work.

Radix 17y ago
I was going to say this. Specifically that this is particularly true when you are young. I recall discussing Atlas Shrugged with a friend not long ago. I can see that book permanently influencing someone's world view. (For better or worse, positively or negatively, I cannot say.)
justlearning 17y ago
Yes. Even if you can't directly recall......not the blow-by-blow account. Thank you! I believe this is applicable to everything that is related to the dominating senses -see/hear. So i try my hardest to narrow my information overload. I have accepted the fact, that i can't know everything - politics..knowing why situation in iran came to be,why this vocal outburst doesn't happen in other places...to feeling like the dumbest guy after looking into google research papers.
rodrigo 17y ago
Agree. Last week I was discussing with a friend about the significance of certain writer (wich I read in highschool and havent reread again) and I was surprised I could come up with some significant hindsigths about his work. I guess I internalized and talking about it years later, at the ligth of many other things I have read and received, I was able to articulate about it.
electromagnetic 17y ago
This is very true, the important thing about reading is in actually doing it. It is probably more helpful if you can remember a fair amount of detail on the book, but the act of reading will certainly improve not only your understanding of ideas but your ability to read and write too. I remember reading a psychological study on musicians and that they can selectively hear their favourite instruments in a piece. Personally as a bass guitarist I can relate, in fact I have a problem listening to music without good bass playing. I believe this will happen with all artistic talents including reading and writing. The more you read, the more it will increase all of you abilities related to it. I can barely remember any songs on bass because I haven't played since before I moved country, but I'm still highly proficient at playing. Stephen King once stated that there is no point in writing if you don't read and from my understanding, virtually all writers are well read and it largely doesn't matter what you read, just that you read. Hopefully scientists will come along and prove this sentiment some day as it's almost universally held in writing circles. So I would say with a certainty to the OP that with a margin of doubt so small that it would be too big to write out here, that you truly are a better person for having read more books. Not only have you likely enlightened yourself to a broader world view, but you have likely also distanced yourself further from the unpunctuated and grammarless masses. Also, this maybe because of the reading, but you seem quite adept at philosophising so kudos.

by frossie 17y ago

Radix 17y ago

I was going to say this. Specifically that this is particularly true when you are young. I recall discussing Atlas Shrugged with a friend not long ago. I can see that book permanently influencing someone's world view. (For better or worse, positively or negatively, I cannot say.)

justlearning 17y ago

Yes. Even if you can't directly recall......not the blow-by-blow account. Thank you! I believe this is applicable to everything that is related to the dominating senses -see/hear. So i try my hardest to narrow my information overload. I have accepted the fact, that i can't know everything - politics..knowing why situation in iran came to be,why this vocal outburst doesn't happen in other places...to feeling like the dumbest guy after looking into google research papers.

rodrigo 17y ago

Agree. Last week I was discussing with a friend about the significance of certain writer (wich I read in highschool and havent reread again) and I was surprised I could come up with some significant hindsigths about his work. I guess I internalized and talking about it years later, at the ligth of many other things I have read and received, I was able to articulate about it.

electromagnetic 17y ago

This is very true, the important thing about reading is in actually doing it. It is probably more helpful if you can remember a fair amount of detail on the book, but the act of reading will certainly improve not only your understanding of ideas but your ability to read and write too. I remember reading a psychological study on musicians and that they can selectively hear their favourite instruments in a piece. Personally as a bass guitarist I can relate, in fact I have a problem listening to music without good bass playing. I believe this will happen with all artistic talents including reading and writing. The more you read, the more it will increase all of you abilities related to it. I can barely remember any songs on bass because I haven't played since before I moved country, but I'm still highly proficient at playing. Stephen King once stated that there is no point in writing if you don't read and from my understanding, virtually all writers are well read and it largely doesn't matter what you read, just that you read. Hopefully scientists will come along and prove this sentiment some day as it's almost universally held in writing circles. So I would say with a certainty to the OP that with a margin of doubt so small that it would be too big to write out here, that you truly are a better person for having read more books. Not only have you likely enlightened yourself to a broader world view, but you have likely also distanced yourself further from the unpunctuated and grammarless masses. Also, this maybe because of the reading, but you seem quite adept at philosophising so kudos.