Or Dorothy Parker's version, with a conclusion that might be all too true in this case.
Jonathan
Or Dorothy Parker's version, with a conclusion that might be all too true in this case.
I am not 'boasting' but rather stating a fact!I see little point in wasting my valuable time on a book I learned at school that learning has nowt to do with books neither has broadening the mind
It seems that something written on social media can rapidly become truth without any checks or balances,not unlike captitalism it would seem.simonineaston wrote: ↑4 Sep 2021, 10:03am I can't comment on this partic. case, as I don't know enough about the characters concerned, but I do wonder if the judge may have misunderstood the nature of modern extremism. I completely get the idea that we all can benefit from reading - and reading those books that are regarded by most as important. Of course, all will have their own idea of which books are on their list, hence all those list books - see here .
We're all familiar too with the idea that political activists will have spent a lot of time forming their ideas by reading - Karl Max had his own chair at the British Library. Let's hope the individual condemned to reform-by-reading enjoys his 'set books'... !
However, I wonder if the judge has taken into account the effect of social media on the development of ideas in the individual's mind. We read of the addictive nature of social media and also of the echo-chamber nature of posting on forums where readers focus on posts that amplify and reverberate the ideas expressed in their own posts. There seems to be little scope for careful and considered criticism online. The nature of the online environment is a million miles away from the quiet calm and slow learning to be gained from sitting alone and reading a book in the old fashioned way. I'm going to bet that the miscreant we have heard about will simply lack the patience to plough through those oldies and find a new enlightned way... Hope I'm wrong, mind.
Well said!simonineaston wrote: ↑4 Sep 2021, 11:22am While I completely defend an indvidual's right to spend their short time alive persuing whatever floats the boat, the claim never to have read a book is both sad and depressing... I wonder where such indiviuals get their ideas & thoughts from. Presumably not The Highway Code !
Did you know that there were authors other than both Dickens and Shakespeare? My observation of your writing is that you have almost certainly have read things over the last however many years.
By Hodding Carter? It's good.
Yes that's the one
Of course I've read things!I just don't read books or rather novels or plays.Shakespeare and the modern equivalents just don't hold any appeal.I see little point in fiction,biographys/autobiographies etc etc.I have a box under the stairs full of photography,walking and bird identification books from my childhood/youth that I haven't looked at in probably 25+years.Oldjohnw wrote: ↑4 Sep 2021, 11:41amDid you know that there were authors other than both Dickens and Shakespeare? My observation of your writing is that you have almost certainly have read things over the last however many years.
Could it be such a nice and pleasant place because Shakespeare was born and lived there and as a result was put on map which brought in the tourists and consequentially the money?