The Gang of Five

Beyond the Mysterious Beyond => The Arts => Attic Treasures => Topic started by: landbeforetimelover on July 17, 2007, 09:10:07 PM

Title: Reading
Post by: landbeforetimelover on July 17, 2007, 09:10:07 PM
Never read a fantasy book before.  Only computer manuals and such, but the fantasy movie's I've watched were okay.

I mean, honestly, who has the time to sit down and read a book purely for recreational purposes?
Title: Reading
Post by: Petrie. on July 17, 2007, 09:27:44 PM
Quote from: landbeforetimelover,Jul 17 2007 on  08:10 PM
I mean, honestly, who has the time to sit down and read a book purely for recreational purposes?
I make time. ;)  Your brain needs some down time where it doesn't have to over analyze every single second.
Title: Reading
Post by: landbeforetimelover on July 18, 2007, 01:08:43 AM
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Your brain needs some down time where it doesn't have to over analyze every single second


I find that when I try to do something that's considered to be "relaxing", I get bored really fast.  My brain has to constantly processing tons of information at once for me to be entertained.
Title: Reading
Post by: DarkHououmon on July 18, 2007, 01:10:50 AM
Quote from: landbeforetimelover,Jul 17 2007 on  09:10 PM
I mean, honestly, who has the time to sit down and read a book purely for recreational purposes?
What do you mean? A lot of people like to read just for fun. Heck, during school, I used to read books during class as much as I could. When I start to read a book I like, I can't put it down. My imagination of what's going on is entertainment enough for me when it comes to reading.
Title: Reading
Post by: landbeforetimelover on July 18, 2007, 01:13:51 AM
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What do you mean? A lot of people like to read just for fun. Heck, during school, I used to read books during class as much as I could. When I start to read a book I like, I can't put it down. My imagination of what's going on is entertainment enough for me when it comes to reading.


I find no pleasure in reading.  I read only to acquire information.  I might actually enjoy it though if they made some LBT books. :P:
Title: Reading
Post by: DarkHououmon on July 18, 2007, 01:18:21 AM
You're missing out on a lot then. Books tend to have a lot more character development than the movies. There are books out there you'd like. There's always something out there that people like to read.

I wouldn't really enjoy an LBT book.. It would only be about 100 or 200 pages, most likely, and be pretty simplified, since it would be geared towards children. I prefer books that are around 400-500 pages long or so.

I can't really read a book just to aquire information. I would get a headache from it all.
Title: Reading
Post by: landbeforetimelover on July 18, 2007, 01:27:54 AM
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I can't really read a book just to aquire information. I would get a headache from it all

well then you're normal.  I'm just weird.  I can't stand fictional books.  They make me tired.
Title: Reading
Post by: DarkHououmon on July 18, 2007, 01:29:50 AM
I can say the same for non-fictional books.
Title: Reading
Post by: landbeforetimelover on July 18, 2007, 01:37:45 AM
I've just never been able to see the logic in reading just to read.  Very confusing.  The end result has no use, the process is boring, time has been expended.  Nothing more.  I am often times confused with illogical activities that people around me participate in.  *sigh*.  I guess I'll never learn. :(
Title: Reading
Post by: DarkHououmon on July 18, 2007, 01:41:51 AM
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I've just never been able to see the logic in reading just to read. Very confusing. The end result has no use, the process is boring, time has been expended. Nothing more. I am often times confused with illogical activities that people around me participate in. *sigh*. I guess I'll never learn.

It helps to develop the mind. It helps broaden vocabulary. It helps broaden the imagination. It can induce hope, and help heal a broken heart. It can create excitement, and inspire people, and touch the hearts of many people.
Title: Reading
Post by: Malte279 on July 18, 2007, 03:48:12 AM
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I mean, honestly, who has the time to sit down and read a book purely for recreational purposes?
Poor you. You have my greatest sympathies!
Here I sit amidst no less than 32 books I have to read for the university (most of them about the cold war and I must also admit that not all of them have to be read from the first to the last page), yet it didn't kill of my love for voluntary reading. I'm looking very much forward to the appearing of the next Harry Potter book. I'm looking very much forward to the publishing of the next book by one of my favorite authors of historical novels (scheduled for September), and I'm very, very sorry for those who really feel they can obtain nothing but information from books; information from which they can derive nothing but knowledge. Books can be so much more.
Many books are written for those who haven't yet unlearnt to dream. Machines don't have any dreams. Albert Einstein once said:
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Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.
I agree, and it is imagination that makes books enjoyable beyond the mere aquiring of information. Through imagination you can interpret the information offered to you to a picture and through imagination you can add elements not presented as information in the text. Much more than movies books allow you to use your imagination rather than prescribing what to see.

I'm afraid this is a topic too important to be dealt with as off topic. Therefore I shall clip the respective messages from this thread and make them a thread of their own.
Title: Reading
Post by: DarkHououmon on July 18, 2007, 03:53:45 AM
Quote from: Malte279,Jul 18 2007 on  03:48 AM
Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.
I completely agree. While it is nice to have knowledge, it is just not as enjoyable as imagination. What good is knowledge if it allows our imagination, the very thing that has been a major part of human society for thousands of years, to rot away?
Title: Reading
Post by: Flathead770 on July 18, 2007, 12:18:35 PM
Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings series are the only books i've been able to sit down and enjoy reading, but i never really take the time to try other novels.
Title: Reading
Post by: DarkHououmon on July 18, 2007, 12:32:46 PM
I've only read one of the Lord of the Rings books, and it was all right. And I don't plan on reading Harry Potter.

Some good books I've read and recommend are:

Jurassic Park
The Lost World
Watership Down
Dinosaur Wars
Firebringer
The Sight
Title: Reading
Post by: Flathead770 on July 19, 2007, 01:57:27 AM
thanks but i'll probably never get to reading them because im a bit lazy and tend to shove the idea of reading aside, even though i don't mind reading if i like the book enough.
Title: Reading
Post by: Petrie. on July 19, 2007, 03:39:03 PM
What you see in the films of Jurassic Park, The Lost World, and Watership Down do not even compare to what they were like in literature.  Very often if you watch the film and only read the book after, you'll find two different animals but the book is much more detailed and offer background info. that's often not presented in films.
Title: Reading
Post by: NewOrder on July 29, 2007, 06:37:48 PM
That's true Petrie, I read Jurassic Park the novel during christmas break, found it at an used book sale, only cost me 5 euros. Anyway, there are so many details there that were left out of the movie, more dino's and a lot of cool scenes that either showed up in other movies or just never aired.
Ian Malcom dies at the end of the novel and curiously enough he ressurects in The Lost World :D
I'm a great JP fan, and I still say the movie is one of the best ever maid, but the book is even better.

I'm currently reading a Stephen King novel, that I can't remember the name, so far it's about an old lady who was arrested and is confessing to killing her husband and another old lady she was a made to. Do you like this author?
Title: Reading
Post by: DarkHououmon on July 29, 2007, 07:01:19 PM
Ian Malcolm never died, actually. It was a premature report.
Title: Reading
Post by: Manny Cav on July 29, 2007, 09:42:39 PM
I mostly read my Bible and Car and Driver. However, I do enjoy reading projects assigned in school, like Charlotte's Web, The Swiss Family Robinson, etc. Reading is good for you.

I must sympathize with you too, landbeforetimelover. Anyone who has time enough to watch a LBT movie has enough time to sit down and read a good book. I really find it amazing to believe that you find reading "illogical."

I spend too much time on the computer as it is because of nothing-much-else-to-do-isms. With school coming up soon, mabey I'll get some good reading in.
Title: Reading
Post by: NewOrder on July 30, 2007, 08:15:37 AM
The Bible? I'm supposed to be catholic and never read it :D I have a friend who's an athiest (not sure on the spelling) and who read it all the way through.
Title: Reading
Post by: Malte279 on July 30, 2007, 09:39:36 AM
I'm an agnostic. I did not read the entire bible parts of which are really not very "reader-friendly" so to speak. I did read many passages of special interest though and I can tell most of the basic content or when people claiming to have read the bible are claiming contents which cannot be found anywhere in the book.
Title: Reading
Post by: Manny Cav on July 30, 2007, 10:44:49 AM
I'm a Christian, and I make it a point to read it through once a year, and then meditate further on particular passages.
Title: Reading
Post by: DarkHououmon on July 30, 2007, 12:02:37 PM
I've never really read the Bible before, and I don't really plan to. It's way too big, thousands of pages. Way too long for me to want to read, to be honest. No offense.
Title: Reading
Post by: Manny Cav on July 30, 2007, 12:14:13 PM
Quote from: DarkHououmon,Jul 30 2007 on  11:02 AM
I've never really read the Bible before, and I don't really plan to. It's way too big, thousands of pages. Way too long for me to want to read, to be honest. No offense.
It varies from publisher to publisher, but my copy has something around 700 pages.
Title: Reading
Post by: DarkHououmon on July 30, 2007, 12:36:18 PM
The one my mom has had at least a thousand pages. I think my grandma owns a smaller copy though. She doesn't live here though.
Title: Reading
Post by: Manny Cav on July 30, 2007, 01:15:31 PM
The reasons for the page variances is that some have different sized pages and different sized fonts. However, unless it's a different version from King James Version (New King James Version, Amplified Bible, The Message, etc.), they will have the same message and words (not counting 'extras,' like dictionaries, concordances, etc.). So, if you read, say, a 600 page King James Version Bible through one year and a 1,000 page King James Version Bible through the next year, you would be reading the exact same content and the exact same words.
Title: Reading
Post by: Petrie. on July 30, 2007, 10:10:07 PM
All those versions, changed by man...is it even the "word" of God?
Title: Reading
Post by: NewOrder on July 31, 2007, 07:39:47 AM
Nothing in the Bible is the word of God, it's just metaphores and stories, apart from a few facts, interpreted by the writers of those times.
I've read the Apocalipse, and other parts, some are quite interesting. I remember going to church and just have to fight to hold my laughter at the way the priests interpreted some passages.
Title: Reading
Post by: Manny Cav on July 31, 2007, 10:15:34 AM
Quote from: NewOrder,Jul 31 2007 on  06:39 AM
Nothing in the Bible is the word of God, it's just metaphores and stories, apart from a few facts, interpreted by the writers of those times.
I've read the Apocalipse, and other parts, some are quite interesting. I remember going to church and just have to fight to hold my laughter at the way the priests interpreted some passages.
Ruh-roe! Mabey we should continue this train of thought in "After Midnight" and change the topic here to what it was oriented to before.
Title: Reading
Post by: Malte279 on July 31, 2007, 12:32:40 PM
I agree that if this discussion is to be continued it should rather be continued in the after midnight section. Participants in the discussion are very welcome to present their views, but must keep in mind that, no matter their convictions they need not be the convictions of others.
Title: Reading
Post by: NewOrder on August 01, 2007, 06:59:33 AM
Woah, hit a hot spot there  :rolleyes:
Anyway, I'll not be participating in such discussion, it's way too boring.

Returning to the topic, when do you prefer or have time to read books? I find myself reading mostly during summer and christmas vacations.
Title: Reading
Post by: Weather_lord_7 on September 02, 2007, 08:19:33 AM
Yes, I enjoy a good book every now & then. I wish kids nowadays around my area (and in general) would do so as well, they're so hooked up on cell phones and text messages they probably forgot what a book even looked like.  Good Lord, I'm starting to sound like an old codger here.