Forum members who'd never opened a book in their whole lives

[Insuperable]

A nation's literature - as well as their film industry - reflects the values and issues of the day it was published (and that of subcultures). You see how people thought, felt, etc. in a particular time in the history of your nation or that of another nation. You learn about the culture of the period. It's more personal than reading a history book about events.

It's a great loss of time.

There was a graph I saw years ago about the knowledge mankind accumulated from the classical era until now. All the knowledge from the classical era until the 16th century encompasses about 0.04% of our current knowledge. From the 16th century until the WW2 an aditional I think it was written that it was 2%. And from the second WW2 until now the rest. But let's rather give kids to read 600 pages of Ana Karenina instead and hundreds and hundreds of useless literature to keep them in the past. It's the 21st century.

[Colonel Frank Grimes]

Paulo Coelho is a trash, Stephen King is a trash, Jane Austen is a trash.... (my opinion)
William Shakespeare, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Ernest Hemingway, Gabriel García Márquez, Franz Kafka etc.....genius writers!!!
Also history books, philosophers books...very important!
For fun, there are some great sci-fi books also
Worst trash are self-help book and cheap romance books

I've tried to understand why Stephen King's books are so popular. I like his short stories but his novels need an editor to chop off 30% of what I see as unnecessary clutter. I made it halfway through his book It before I couldn't take it anymore. The only King book I've read from start to finish is The Shining. I thought it was okay at best.

What's interesting to note is he published five books under a pseudonym between 1977 and 1984 to see if his success was a fluke. From what I understand as a whole those books didn't do well commercially. However, only one of those books was a horror novel (Thinner). Once it became known the author was Stephen King the books began to sell well. That the books didn't do well commercially doesn't prove one way or another that his success was a fluke: except for one, they were books outside of the horror genre which someone might argue he has mastered. He's certainly the most commercially successful horror writer ever. However, I think it was interesting to note.

[Insuperable]

I read somewhere that in Asian countries like China and Japan they don't give their kids long novels to read. Smart people. And they have certainly retained their culture pretty well.

[Scarface F]

I read somewhere that in Asian countries like China and Japan they don't give their kids long novels to read. Smart people. And they have certainly retained their culture pretty well.

Explains why they lack creativity so much.

[Colonel Frank Grimes]

That's nice. I like reading philosophy and religious literature too.

So what you're saying is you enjoy fiction

[Insuperable]

Explains why they lack creativity so much.

And why they are taking over the world so fast and how someone like Japan is able to rise so quickly. They don't lack creativity, maybe in the minds of self proclaimed European readers of books they lack creativity.

[Scarface F]

And why they are taking over the world so fast and how someone like Japan is able to rise so quickly. They don't lack creativity, maybe in the minds of self proclaimed European readers of books they lack creativity.

They lack creativity and genius of Europeans. Just their average is higher than among whites.

Europe is sinking and that has nothing to do with them. And it is sinking because education is made more and more primitive and simplistic each day plus traditional values that made Europeans European are getting eradicated.

[axel.aleman]

Atahualpa Raptor pero ya no participa

[Insuperable]

They lack creativity and genius of Europeans. Just their average is higher than among whites.

Europe is sinking and that has nothing to do with them. And it is sinkong because education is made more and more primotive and simplistic each day.

Eduation is okay. It's just that people are dumber every year. Confirmed reverse Flynn effect. Unlike in the Far East.

[Colonel Frank Grimes]

And why they are taking over the world so fast and how someone like Japan is able to rise so quickly. They don't lack creativity, maybe in the minds of self proclaimed European readers of books they lack creativity.

The Chinese aren't taking over the world, and there is a great deal of problems in that society. If Western Europe's future is bleak, China's future is ever bleaker.

The Japanese have a strong work ethic but their culture looks down on initiative. New ideas need to come from people already at the top instead of people rising to the top because of their ideas. Most of Japanese success is on building on what already exists instead of coming up with something new.