# Why read anymore? **URL:** \ **Category:** NYSpeed Off Topic\ **Created:** [January 19, 2012, 7:16am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/why-read-anymore/219852 "2012-01-19T07:16:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fry](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/fry/32/7284_2.png) [@Fry](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Fry)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 7:16am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/why-read-anymore/219852/1 "2012-01-19T07:16:05Z")
[http://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/so-why-read-anymore/](http://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/so-why-read-anymore/) > How did incomprehensible slang, spiced with vulgarity, become an object of emulation? I used to listen to farmers without college degrees speak wonderful English; now to listen to a member of Congress almost requires a translator. > > Reading alone enriches our vocabulary; it teaches us that good writing requires a sense of melody as well as a command of grammar. Soon those well-read become the well-spoken. > Technology has deluded the modern West. We equate widespread knowledge of how to use an iPad with collective wisdom. Because a rare, brilliantly inventive mind from Caltech or MIT can craft a device undreamed of in the age of Einstein, we assume that we all warrant a share in his genius, as if our generation has trumped Einstein’s. We deserve no such kudos — unless animals at the zoo that find delight in their rote enjoyment of their hoops and bars can be credited with the architect’s sophisticated zoological design. > We don’t need more technocrats who fool us that their Ivy League law degrees are synonymous with wisdom. They can be, but now are more likely not much more than tickets that allow an Eric Holder or Timothy Geithner into the first-class seating. I am not calling for us to be academics or scholastics with our noses in books or our heads up our posteriors; but to match physicality and pragmatism with occasional abstraction and reflection from the voices of the past — just a little, now and then, to remind us that Twitter or Facebook speed up communication, but can slow down thought. ---
**Author:** ![Carnut](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/carnut/32/7590_2.png) [@Carnut](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Carnut)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 7:21am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/why-read-anymore/219852/2 "2012-01-19T07:21:16Z")
:bigtup: ( my use of slang.) ---
**Author:** ![Motocrossx23](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/motocrossx23/32/5120_2.png) [@Motocrossx23](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Motocrossx23)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 7:48am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/why-read-anymore/219852/3 "2012-01-19T07:48:50Z")
Siqqqqqq. But really, I’ve always found this to be true. ---
**Author:** ![Fry](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/fry/32/7284_2.png) [@Fry](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Fry)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 7:57am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/why-read-anymore/219852/4 "2012-01-19T07:57:56Z")
I’ve tried and stalled several times, but I this has inspired me to chew my way through Dante’s Inferno again. Right after I finish the Hunger Games. :roflpicard: ---
**Author:** ![FadetoBlack](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/fadetoblack/32/6118_2.png) [@FadetoBlack](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/FadetoBlack)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 8:00am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/why-read-anymore/219852/5 "2012-01-19T08:00:06Z")
Posted on a site where most members probably don’t understand words like, “rote” or “pragmatism.” This is also funny because most of the members on this site exemplify what this guy is talking about. ---
**Author:** ![LUKE\_L](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/luke_l/32/7462_2.png) [@LUKE\_L](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/LUKE_L)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 8:38am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/why-read-anymore/219852/6 "2012-01-19T08:38:05Z")
The more “executives” I meet the “more smart” I feel. Yes, more smart. As in; “This is the ‘more smart’ idea…” ---
**Author:** ![ProgRocker](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/progrocker/32/5434_2.png) [@ProgRocker](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ProgRocker)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 8:49am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/why-read-anymore/219852/7 "2012-01-19T08:49:22Z")
I would just like people to use the built-in spell checker in **they’re** browser. Also one of my favorite features of google is the define function. I usually use it to verify meanings of words I know. ---
**Author:** ![Joe](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/joe/32/7219_2.png) [@Joe](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Joe)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 8:53am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/why-read-anymore/219852/8 "2012-01-19T08:53:28Z")
I don’t know, he makes some valid points but this seems mostly like the ramblings of an out-of-touch classics professor. I had a few of the type in the liberal arts classes we were forced to take. I very rarely start a book and don’t finish it, being a fast reader helps; but nothing will cause me to lose interest faster than a meandering, overly wordy writing style. These guys are like the Allentown music snobs of books. “What do you like to read?” “Classics YOUR KIND has never even heard of, MAN! Not that mainstream garbage on the best-sellers list.” ---
**Author:** ![Minglor](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/minglor/32/7373_2.png) [@Minglor](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Minglor)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 9:22am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/why-read-anymore/219852/9 "2012-01-19T09:22:06Z")
Meh. I’m a moron and I read at least a book a month. ---
**Author:** ![Jon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3bc359/32.png) [@Jon](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Jon)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 9:37am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/why-read-anymore/219852/10 "2012-01-19T09:37:47Z")
I’m guilty,I don’t remember the last time I’ve gone cover to cover with a book. I do make a valid attempt though to separate myself from the idiots on facebook. :tup: ---
**Author:** ![Fry](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/fry/32/7284_2.png) [@Fry](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Fry)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 10:41am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/why-read-anymore/219852/11 "2012-01-19T10:41:18Z")
> [@Joe](#): > > I don’t know, he makes some valid points but this seems mostly like the ramblings of an out-of-touch classics professor. I had a few of the type in the liberal arts classes we were forced to take. I very rarely start a book and don’t finish it, being a fast reader helps; but nothing will cause me to lose interest faster than a meandering, overly wordy writing style. > > These guys are like the Allentown music snobs of books. “What do you like to read?” “Classics YOUR KIND has never even heard of, MAN! Not that mainstream garbage on the best-sellers list.” For sure, but even Luda agrees. “Read a book you illiterate son of a bitch and step up your vocab.” ---
**Author:** ![yamba6](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/yamba6/32/5161_2.png) [@yamba6](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/yamba6)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 10:48am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/why-read-anymore/219852/12 "2012-01-19T10:48:55Z")
Juat? ---
**Author:** ![Minglor](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/minglor/32/7373_2.png) [@Minglor](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Minglor)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 12:11pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/why-read-anymore/219852/13 "2012-01-19T12:11:25Z")
> [@Joe](#): > > These guys are like the Allentown music snobs of books. “What do you like to read?” “Classics YOUR KIND has never even heard of, MAN! Not that mainstream garbage on the best-sellers list.” I love mainstream garbage best-sellers. I’m not about to sit down with a copy of War and Peace anytime soon. ---
**Author:** ![somedude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@somedude](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/somedude)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 8:24am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/why-read-anymore/219852/14 "2012-01-20T08:24:31Z")
I am not sure I have ever sat down and read a book all the way through. Even in highschool I never had the attention span to sit and do nothing for any period of time. I get bored very quickly.