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“Learning to Read” excerpt from The Autobiography of Malcolm X
- dwolfson20 12y agoEveryone should really just read the entire Autobiography. http://www.amazon.com/The-Autobiography-Malcolm-Told-Haley/dp/0345350685 http://www.amazon.com/The-Autobiography-Malcolm-Told-Haley/d... Also, they should spell "Malcolm" correctly. :)
- streptomycin 12y agoAgreed, Malcolm X is one of the most fascinating individuals in recent history. The movie based on his autobiography is also quite good: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104797/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104797/
- cheez 12y agoThat's the understatement of the year! I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it but I don't remember ever feeling as attached to a character except maybe in Shawshank.
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- brickmort 12y agoThis is one of my favorite movies of all time. Despite being 3+ hours, There isn't a single boring moment and Spike Lee and Denzel do a superb job at showing the transformation of Malcolm X. Now I have to go check out the autobiography.
- yincrash 12y agoSurprisingly, this book was one of the options I had for required summer reading growing up in Georgia public schools. Definitely a good read.
- nether 12y agosame here growing up in rural virginia
- tomjen3 12y agoIs it still worth reading for somebody who despise the man? Both what he was (a robber) and what he became?
- streptomycin 12y agoYes.
- tesq 12y agoWhy do you despise the man?
- tim333 12y agoI'm not tomjen3 or even that up on Malcolm X but note from Wikipedia that when that when with the Nation of Islam he taught that "white people are 'devils' that blacks are superior to whites, and that the demise of the white race is imminent." and that he split with the Nation of Islam over saying the Kennedy assassination was 'chickens coming home to roost' while they sent condolences to the family. All seems a bit iffy to me.
- _nullandnull_ 12y ago> even that up on Malcolm X Then you shouldn't comment on a subject that you know nothing about. Read his book, listen to his speeches, watch the movie, study the civil rights movements and then comment on what you feel is "iffy".
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- tim333 12y agoMaybe but I don't much like "<people A> are 'devils' that <people B> are superior to <people A>" bunk. Some of my family got gassed on account of that kind of stuff not long before Malcolm did his thing and it's still racist even if the speakers skin is dark in colour.
- theOnliest 12y agoAlso worth reading is Manning Marable's excellent biography Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention. http://www.amazon.com/Malcolm-X-A-Life-Reinvention/dp/0143120328/ http://www.amazon.com/Malcolm-X-A-Life-Reinvention/dp/014312...
- Bulkington 12y agoAgreed, mainly because the period is so alien to many sub-40s Americans today. Also resonant: Islam, race, ugly American politics. It's an easy read, written by Alex Haley, who also wrote Roots. (Don't read the book (Roots) if you can find the more culturally significant mini-series. LeVar Burton was an icon in the US in the late 70s, well before he boarded the Enterprise.) The Spike Lee movie on Maclolm X is interesting, but a significantly different experience than reading the book.
- dwolfson20 12y agoI actually disagree that you shouldn't read "Roots." I just finished it myself, and it's about as close as you can get to experiencing what it would be like to be taken away from your home in chains.
- lclarkmichalek 12y ago> At one-hour intervals the night guards paced past every room. Each time I heard the approaching footsteps, I jumped into bed and feigned sleep. And as soon as the guard passed, I got back out of bed onto the floor area of that light-glow, where I would read for another fifty-eight minutes—until the guard approached again. That went on until three or four every morning. I did something similar as a child, with my guards being my parents (oh what a metaphor). Looking back, as someone who does not read a vast amount any more, I was privileged with both the means, and the inclination, to have such a habit. God knows it made me who I am.
- tomjen3 12y agoGood parents will learn not to listen too closely to whether their children are asleep or reading - great parents will make sure the flashlight batteries are periodically replaced.
- CDRdude 12y agoNot necessarily. Getting enough sleep is incredibly important.
- sanderjd 12y agoThat's true, but it's very unclear to me whether it's more important than supporting the rare and fragile passion of the childhood reader.
- ChuckMcM 12y agoGoing hungry for a while to afford a new tool that increases you productivity is a wise investment.
- davidgerard 12y agoManaged to convince my 7yo midnight reader that she needed to get to sleep so she wouldn't be tired for school in the morning. Sweet reason! It works on kids on rare occasions!
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- oldmanjay 12y agowhat a shame that his intellect ended up wasted on reactionary racism. understandable in a sense, given time and place, but still... a waste.
- dwolfson20 12y agoActually, his views were rapidly evolving at the time of his death. Read the whole book.
- oldmanjay 12y agoI do know that, but most of his public output was spent on vitriol that damaged race relations further. hence the part where I felt it was a shame.
- sp332 12y agoI think you should have been more specific then.
- poolpool 12y agoDamaged race relations more than centuries of slavery and systematic discrimination by our country's leaders did?
- tomjen3 12y agoDamage is cumulative. Arguing over who did the most damage is not likely to bring about anything but hatred, resentment and more damage. That is essentially what X did. King offered unity, healing and a better future.
- poolpool 12y agoYou don't politely ask your oppressors to give you the rights they have taken away from you.
- PaulAJ 12y agoSomewhat reminds me of Terry Pratchett's habit of attributing his education to his local public library.
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- parasight 12y agoIf I only could read all the books I want to read. I can't count the books I bought and only read half or not at all. The stack of to-be-read-next books grows and grows. And now after reading this text I just ordered Malcolm X's biography.
- VLM 12y ago"I just ordered Malcolm X's biography." Not on a Kindle, I'm sure. I checked. Aside from the main story, this is another example of the problems of copyright. The most recent release is from the mid 80s (admittedly on the bazzilionth printing) and for political or whatever reasons it'll probably never be released again, including in electronic format. Which is too bad. Just another 68 years until the copyright expires on the 80's version paperback, and then people will be able to read this again. Assuming they're allowed to, and the copyright laws aren't changed again (LOL) Its a pity, its a good book.
- Balgair 12y ago"You couldn’t have gotten me out of books with a wedge...my reading of books, months passed without my even thinking about being imprisoned. In fact, up to then, I never had been so truly free in my life." I'll pair that quote with this, please consider giving yourself: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/readingrainbow/bring-reading-rainbow-back-for-every-child-everywh https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/readingrainbow/bring-re...
- givehimagun 12y agoLooks like there are some better recommendations for book-related charities: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/05/28/you-might-want-to-reconsider-that-donation-to-the-reading-rainbow-kickstarter/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/05/... Charities rated highly on Charity Navigator: http://www.firstbook.org/ http://www.firstbook.org/ http://www.cliontheweb.org/ http://www.cliontheweb.org/
- Balgair 12y agoThank you for the links!
- dwolfson20 12y agoConsider reading the comments on that article. A lot of good points are made about why Reading Rainbow is worthwhile.
- novacole 12y agoMy favorite book of all time.
- sitkack 12y agoSuch a wonderful mind and finely tuned level of metacognition. The arc of the voicing in this passage is beautiful. It saddens me that the world has caused people like him so much pain.
- sq1020 12y agoFor those who feel uncomfortable with Malcolm's former creed that white people are devils and the black race is superior to all others, please do take note of the fact that he did convert to mainstream Islam near the end of his life thus disavowing any such racism or black supremacy. As Malcolm so eloquently stated: "America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem. Throughout my travels in the Muslim world, I have met, talked to, and even eaten with people who in America would have been considered white - but the white attitude was removed from their minds by the religion of Islam. I have never before seen sincere and true brotherhood practiced by all colors together, irrespective of their color." You see, orthodox Islam, from the very beginning, espoused equality for all races. In fact, race in Islam is an inconsequential matter. Take for example, one of the greatest and most respected companions of the Prophet Muhammad was an African: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilal_Ibn_Rabah http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilal_Ibn_Rabah The fact is that the Nation of Islam could not be any further from orthodox Islam. In fact, an orthodox Muslim could never possibly even consider one who believes in the NOI's teachings to be a Muslim. It's a shame that the NOI usurped the name Islam and applied it to its organization which really has absolutely nothing to do with a religion with such an illustrious history and tradition.
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- Perceval 12y ago> You see, orthodox Islam, from the very beginning, espoused equality for all races. In fact, race in Islam is an inconsequential matter. Oh, is this why Muslim Arabs engaged in the enslaving, transportation, and sale of 10–18 million black Africans over the course of 13 centuries (650 AD – 1900 AD)?
- swombat 12y agoI guess if there had been a market for white slaves they would have sold those too...
- redmaverick 12y agoIs this also a good way to master programming? i.e Take a reference book/open source project and type out everything till you internalize it?
- Perceval 12y agoCopying is an excellent way to memorize, but memorization is different from learning. I suspect that learning and mastering a programming language is going to require doing more than memorizing.
- thrush 12y agoIt's amazing how empowering reading is. Benjamin Franklin used to stay up reading the books dropped off at his brother's printing press, and Warren Buffet supposedly reads 5 hours a day as part of his standard work schedule. Forget 10,000 hours, I'd like to know how many words the most successful people have read in their lifetime.