Pretty cool how you jump right away to “story books.” When I see recommendations from those guys, there ain’t a lot of “Twilight” on there. Much more likely to see a recent book by Eugenia Chen, I’d say. And Gates for one seems very much like the sort to find/make daily reading time in a 60-70 hour work week.
Even on “story books”: Maybe we could wonder if Abraham Lincoln was foolish enough to read story books while laboring under the demands of a wartime presidency.
Lincoln famously was a lifelong reader of Shakespeare, with numerous accounts of him reading a great deal at times during the Civil War. Yes, it was a different time with different circumstances, but Lincoln’s case is instructive. One well-known account is of him spending a great deal of time early in his law career poring over Euclid’s Elements as a way to improve his reasoning. But throughout his life, he read broadly and deeply, and biographers will point to a very strong influence of Shakespeare on developing his attitudes toward various issues as well has his temperament, his general cast of mind, and his understanding of humanity — all of which lent themselves to his leadership style (and sure, biographers — themselves bookish sorts — might be prone to overstating this influence, but it’s wildly unlikely that they’re seeing something that isn’t there). And that reading, of course, paired with his powers of observation of all things in his daily life.
Is that kind of reading the only or even the best way to cultivate such capacities? I wouldn’t suggest so. But it seems equally foolish to dismiss such reading as nonsense when you have such a striking example in Lincoln (and numerous others, but I’m not going to spend hours going point by point).
Lincoln is one of my favorite biography subjects. He read voraciously and widely, even while president during the Civil War.
The mean IQ of people who read books is much higher than the average IQ of people who don't. But there are a few brainy people who don't read and plenty of book readers who have read the equivalent of fast food and aren't particularly bright. I always find it interesting to read threads of book recommendations. There are an awful lot of "adult" books out there written at a middle school or even elementary school level in terms of sentence structure and vocabulary complexity.
Can't say my sample size is very big, but pretty much every person I've ever known who was someone who never read (or listened to) books was pretty dumb and/or ignorant. Kind of blows me away when grown adults never read anything. The worst offenders were people I knew who drove a lot for work but always listened to straight music, no audiobooks or podcasts or anything like that. They have all been total airheads without exception.
Generally I'd agree, although my dad who never reads books is a smart successful person.
If you tried to say people who are read books are intelligent I would disagree. A lot of stupid people read very stupid books.
I agree. There are many people who read books who are still dumb and ignorant. However, in my observation, there are very few people who do not read books who are neither dumb nor ignorant. When someone never reads books, it's a very good indication there is not much going on inside their heads.
The mean IQ of people who read books is much higher than the average IQ of people who don't. But there are a few brainy people who don't read and plenty of book readers who have read the equivalent of fast food and aren't particularly bright. I always find it interesting to read threads of book recommendations. There are an awful lot of "adult" books out there written at a middle school or even elementary school level in terms of sentence structure and vocabulary complexity.
Can you link research on this? I don't doubt you at all. I'm just interested in the research. Thanks.
Can't say my sample size is very big, but pretty much every person I've ever known who was someone who never read (or listened to) books was pretty dumb and/or ignorant. Kind of blows me away when grown adults never read anything. The worst offenders were people I knew who drove a lot for work but always listened to straight music, no audiobooks or podcasts or anything like that. They have all been total airheads without exception.
I rarely read a book and I feel pretty dumb these days. So I guess you're right. You got suggestions for a good book to read. My readin's not so good.
Depends what you read or listen to. Plenty of dumb adults read young adult novels or complete trash. Pretty sure those who listen to Joe Rogaine's podcast aren't being asked to join Mensa any time soon.
The book industry is a conceited cash grab. We don't need to know every thought about why someone decided to do something and you certainly don't need to be making bank to do it.
You can do whatever you want for entertainment but do books make people smarter? Hell no.
Do they make certain people richer? Hell yes.
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The book industry is a conceited cash grab. We don't need to know every thought about why someone decided to do something and you certainly don't need to be making bank to do it.
You can do whatever you want for entertainment but do books make people smarter? Hell no.
Do they make certain people richer? Hell yes.
That's "the book industry." I'll still take what was written by a skilled, respected physicist on questions that interest me, an accomplished economist on financial/economic matters, and so on.
Will I default into trusting "Old Shoe" just because profit motives aren't part of the equation? I'd say you're smart enough to guess the answer, but how on earth would I know?
I guess the root of the question really is how do you define intelligence? Are only those who have letters after their names “intelligent”? It’s a fact that to get a BA, MA, PhD or MD you have to read a massive amount and know the material.
But, will reading a massive amount of material improve your art? Your music? Your creativity? Will you become a more empathic and loving person if you read a lot? In short, will you be a better human being if you read a lot?
Basically, is only the logical half of the brain worthwhile and the artistic side worthless? Hum?
Here is my personal experience working in IT and dealing with doctors, engineers, artists, and scientists. It was a heck of a lot more enjoyable to work with the art department than the engineering department.
They were both were dumb as rocks on the basic common sense of how their computer works, but when I had to ask the inevitable question of “IS IT PLUGGED IN”, the art folks just laughed and the engineers were infuriated…. but….their computers were still, “somehow” unplugged just as frequently as the artists.
After 20 years of IT support, I realized the letters after people’s names have a ZERO correlation to their intelligence and common sense.
You don't have to read books, but people that don't read anything challenging at all often lack the depth of thought/perspective or analytical thinking to make for interesting conversations. Reading is often essential to understand different perspectives on the world and to stimulate your imagination.
Reading intelligent books helps. Reading superficial books helps less. Not reading any books is perhaps not the best, but I think many intelligent people make up for it by reading news, current events and shorter articles on important subjects.
Keeping your brain closed off to all those things perhaps isn't the best.
But on the other hand, are such people are better off with a clear, tranquil and meditative brain, uncluttered with what others are consuming?
But, will reading a massive amount of material improve your art? Your music? Your creativity? Will you become a more empathic and loving person if you read a lot?
I don't know, but this author (Cressida Cowell) says it does.
We’re reading more than ever before – but much of it is on screens rather than physical books. Is it changing the way our brains work? Reading books has so m...
But, will reading a massive amount of material improve your art? Your music? Your creativity? Will you become a more empathic and loving person if you read a lot?
I don't know, but this author (Cressida Cowell) says it does.
I'll have to agree on this. I guess we've strayed from the OP's question: Are you dumber for not reading? Maybe not "dumb" per se, but as others have said, you miss out.
The mean IQ of people who read books is much higher than the average IQ of people who don't. But there are a few brainy people who don't read and plenty of book readers who have read the equivalent of fast food and aren't particularly bright. I always find it interesting to read threads of book recommendations. There are an awful lot of "adult" books out there written at a middle school or even elementary school level in terms of sentence structure and vocabulary complexity.
Book suggestions need to be tailored, so aren't necessarily indicative of what the poster reads. If you need suggestions to begin with, you're probably pretty new to the genre or reading for pleasure in general even. For instance, I might post in a thread for fantasy recommendations, but I'd prob recommend something like Mistborn, not the Malazan Book of the Fallen to posters on this site.
I consider myself pretty smart, trained electrical engineer turned software engineer with a mathematics degree as well. I don't read books, I read articles online like from national geographic, or science articles from various publishers. I go deep down wikipedia rabbit holes and then search for articles based on the interesting things I just read on wikedia to go to a better source. Personally I think books take up too much time on one subject, especially fiction books that you don't learn anything. I might as well watch a two hour movie if I simply want to see a story play out. Reading to-the-point articles on things is more enjoyable to me than dilly-dallying through a novel.
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