bishop2knight

How come there are so few posts throughout the day here at the book talk forum? I mean, you'd think more of us read. Sure, it's a DVD forum and all, but c'mon, I figured there'd be more lively discussions.

Any ideas?

benedict

<small>Hmmmm.... isn't this more of a Feedback type of thread??</small>

People come to the site for a variety of reasons and perhaps, so far, discussing literary matters isn't high enough on the agenda of a sufficient volume of visitors for a "critical mass" to be reached.... or perhaps DVDTalk.com members that read a lot are not natural threadstarters.... or.... perhaps there are many more books than films so fewer points of common interest (apart from King, Rowling, Tolkien and the like who all have filmic spin-offs now anyway).... or....

Seriously, though, it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. I've been meaning to give more thought to this for a while and should have more time this weekend.

In the meantime, what do you want to talk about (that doesn't already have several threads)?

AgtFox

I had hoped to spark more debate in my DK issue #2 thread, but I guess it was not to be. I feel disucssions in this forum just live and die by the amount of people that wish to discuss them. This is probably the least visited forum in DVDTalk (I could be wrong though).

The Lusty Nun

More than likely, it's because no one really reads books anymore.

They're aren't many people who sit down and enjoy reading a good book nowadays. All the people I know at work just read magazines. It's sad.


____________________________________
"This is my happening, and it freaks me out!"

The Antipodean

I've got probably a thousand books at home, everything from Paul Auster to Kurt Vonnegut to Paul Theroux to Bukowski (would have more but we frequently swap stuff out), and several 7-foot tall bookcases dominating the living room, and too often when someone comes over the first thing they see is the books and they say, "have you actually READ all those?" (Answer: yes, for the most part.)

I never know what to say to that. I usually read 2-3 books a week unless work/life get too crazy. But I know I'm in a sad minority. Given up lamenting the state of the world and just doing my own little part to keep literacy alive...

littlefuzzy

I am the only big reader in my circle of friends. I have thousands of books, and my mother also has quite a few. I have one brother who used to read quite a bit, but he has been raising a family, working, going to school, golfing, etc., etc., etc., and doesn't read as much anymore. My other brother likes to read, although he usually watches TV in his leisure time. He is dyslexic, so it is a bit harder for him to sit down with a book.

I started reading at a young age, thanks to my mother and grandmother (who was a reading tutor.) I was taking children's books to kindergarten and reading them to the class. My mother would read to me as a child, including C.S. Lewis's Narnia series, and I would always come out of the library with a stack of books as tall as I was.

bishop2knight

I recently purchased a condo and I opted not to get cable or an antenae. So I've been TV free for over three months. I don't miss it. Instead of wasting time flipping through commercials, I watch a DVD or two, read, and sometimes write. I feel much better about my evenings this way. Much more relaxing, translating to easier sleep and wakeful mornings.

Since I've moved, I've paid attention to conversations around the office. I'm amazed at how many people talk about television shows. SURVIVOR, FRIENDS, JAG...you name it. And everyone talks about it like the characters on the shows are their friends. And if they miss an episode, it's devastating. And they talk like this as if they see nothing wrong with it.

However, if someone were to say, "I just finished a great book," people are like, "You read?" They're flabbergasted. In shock. Many say they'd like to read more, but they don't have time. Well, not if you spend 4 hours a night in front of the boob tube.

But I digress. I'm not trying to judge, and I'm not saying this lifestyle is wrong or less-than. I just don't understand it. Perhaps TV is just more instantly gratifying, but I love sitting down to a good book. I love using my imagination for the images. I'm a slow reader so I can only get through maybe 2-3 a month (that's slow when you consider I try to read 1-2 hours every night).

I have no idea what I'm trying to say now. I guess I just hope the next generation doesn't completely forget about the written word. I hope parents out there are realizing too much TV and video games isn't the way to go, and that reading opens up a lot more doors.

Jason Bovberg

I'll go so far as to judge. I believe that a lifestyle choked with television IS wrong and "less-than." When I take walks in the evening, I notice that the vast majority of homes have that tell-tale glow emanating from at least one room. It makes me shake my head a bit in sadness, feeling this vague sense of wasted potential or dashed opportunity. When I imagine a family sacked out in front of a sitcom, glazed eyes barely moving, no one talking, I feel a great sense of loss, in many ways.

I LOVE to read. I read maybe a book a week, plus the books I read to my daughter. I became a father a year and a half ago. A few months before that, we booted commercial TV out of our house and installed a home theater in the basement for film viewing. My daughter (Harper) has never watched a minute of commercial TV, and she's only watched maybe an hour of DVD material. The truth is, she's not interested. She'd rather sit down with me or her mom and read a book, point happily at pictures, show us that she knows who a certain character is, even relate images in one book to images in another.

For Harper's first year of life, I read Homer's THE ODYSSEY to her at bed time. Every night, she drifted to sleep with those words seeping into her brain. Now we're reading more interactive books with pictures that she can latch onto, such as illustrated versions of Milne's POOH and Carroll's ALICE.

Words are intensely important in our household, and I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest that words--not TV--should be equally important in all households.

When you get right down to it, TV is dumbing down the world, especially America, and it's turning our communities into soulless, mindless masses of zombies. The effect of TV on our collective consciousness is much more pernicious than even I'm making it out to be right now. It's like the worst drug you can imagine, killing off your brain and threatening to turn you--an otherwise spiritual being full of vibrant life and thought and meaning--into a pointless blob of matter.

Books are the antithesis of TV. They encourage creativity, imagination, and active thought. Get rid of the TV in your living room and replace it with a bookcase.

Any guesses about the origin of my daughter's name?

bishop2knight

Now, c'mon Jason, don't hold back. Tell us how you really feel.

I think we're in total concordance. Personally, I just think TV is taking away from proper human interaction, while books can help improve it. TV forces us images and tells us how to think. Books help us open our minds and use our imagination. This imagination helps us form our own thoughts, thus helping us with communication with others.

However, I don't want to rip on TV. I want to know why few of us here at this forum discuss books we're reading. Bovberg, you've eloquently displayed your thoughts on TV vs. books, but what do you think is keeping them from posting here?

Jason Bovberg

Too busy reading and sharing ideas with people close to them? That's part of it, and admittedly the primary reason is this is a fairly obscure book-discussion forum, buried beneath various levels of movie and DVD talk. I'm actually surprised there's a Book Forum here. When I go to DVD Talk, it's not to talk about books. I usually end up in Book Talk by accident, when I catch a glimpse of the link and think, Hmmm, I wonder what they're talking about in there? Then I click on maybe a few threads, and leave after a few minutes because I'm just not in "book-discussion mode."

AgtFox

Wow, such strong opinions here. How about a person like myself? I read, watch TV, watch movies, play video/computer games, etc. You wonder where I find the time with a full-time job...heh. Anyway, I come into TV and movies (especially) from a different angle. I concentrate on the writing and the stories in them and as you can see a lot of my reviews have to do with the story and not so much the visual treat.

The writing/stories is why I enjoy shows like The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, X-Files, Simpsons, etc. Sometimes I feel that taking a piece (such as TV) out of your life is bad for you but on the reverse side having too much of one thing is bad as well. You should be attuned to all things (TV, books, movies, talk radio, music radio, music, etc.), but that is just me.

AgtFox

To go further into this...you should go check out the TV forum and see the intelligent conversations going on in there. There are people who are exploring their imagination of what will happen next. Instead of reading a book you are basically watching a book. And much like reading a book you let your imagination run wild.

Just showing that there are a lot of parallels between books and television (and obviously movies). Yes, there is the zombie nation out there watching drivel but there are also intelligent people who are watching truly great series and initiating conversation about them.

Xytraguptorh

I remember reading a couple of books by Harlan Ellison called "The Glass Teat". It's been a long time, but I think the books were collections of his newspaper editorials or something, and most of the articles were really anti-television. Pretty hilarious stuff.

I really think the reason that Book Talk gets so few visitors is because this is a DVD forum first and foremost. I know TV can be bad for you, but I'm not sure I agree with some of the cynical opinions here regarding the "dumbing down" of America. I think that The Glass Teat books were published about thirty years ago, and Ellison would rant and rave about how noone reads anymore, so this type of thinking is nothing new.

I spend quite a bit of time reading, but I'd like to know this: how in the hell do you(Sierra Disc) manage to read 2 to 3 books each week? I feel like a total moron in comparison. I'm lucky to complete an average-size novel (around 400 pages) in a week, and I can only read one that quickly if I make an effort to keep the TV turned off.

Jason, are you a big fan of To Kill a Mockingbird?

littlefuzzy

Heck, I can read two to three books a day... Of course, I am out of work right now, but even when I am working, I can probably read a book a day. I don't read every day, though.

bishop2knight

Are they picture books?


It usually takes me 3-5 days to read a good book. I have too many other things that need to be included in my day, like working out, watching DVDs, work, and sleeping. If it weren't for these trivial things, I'd probably read a book a day.

Thanks for listening,
PoJo the Powajemes

Deke Rivers

it seems reading is lost art-peple dont want to work for a story-they would rather watch it on a tv or theater screen..

Jason Bovberg

Right on!

I read Ellison's book too--a humorous collection of rants on the subject. You might also check out EVOLUTION'S END by Joseph Chilton Pearce. It talks about how television actually changes the way the brain works, particularly in infants.

Folks, I'll admit I'm coming from the perspective of a fairly new parent, but I really believe we're underestimating--or worse, not even considering--the negative impact of TV on our culture and our minds.

I'll also admit that TV boasts occasional art. "The Simpsons" and "The Twilight Zone" come to mind. It's also occasionally a good forum for educational programming. (How often do people use it for *that*, though?) But art on TV is astoundingly rare.

The vast majority of the drek that flows out of the tube is excrement that's staining your soul, tainting the collective consciousness, and (as the great Bill Hicks would say) making us pay a higher psychic price than we imagine.

I guess my rant comes down to this: If you plan to parent a child, please get rid of the TV and bring that kid up with words. In my opinion, plopping a kid down in front of a TV for hours at a time is a form of neglect and abuse.

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I think a discussion of TV's evil influence is vital to any discussion about the diminishing importance of books in our country.

mikehunt

most of my reading is done via the library, and my school's library doesn't have as good of a selection of sci-fi as my hometown's.
my hometown's library got new sci-fi almost as soon as it came out.

travis_bickle

No one knows how to read.

Seeker

I actually read more than I watch DVDs... but very few people respond to posts I make, so I tend not to post much in the book forum... (take Miles Vorkosigan and Ender as examples)

AgtFox

Maybe we need a "DVDTalk Book of the Month Club" . Of course this would be dependant on finding a book that no one in the club has read yet. And I am sure many of us are well-read. Or maybe we could go back and read old novels again and talk about them. The reason I bring this up is because when I read "Of Mice and Men" in high school and then read it in college I got two totally different perspectives each time for example. Many other books I re-read also changed my interpretation.

This is just an idea though and it gives people 1 month to read the book. I know Geoff had talked about this when this forum first opened up...maybe we should follow through?

twikoff

I have lots of books

and some of them havent even been colored in yet

benedict

<small></small> Nothing to stop people from trying that idea again.

I think anyone keen on organising it might be advised to look through the first attempt to check out the pitfalls. (The threads are still there for viewing).

Blade

There's also a thread in here that asked what genre's people read. Might help to pick a book from a more popularly read genre to increase the chance of participation.

I think Alyoshka was in charge of the first attempt. You might try emailing him to see if he had any advice.

-David

xmiyux

BTW i agree with everything you have said so far in this entire thread and you have become my new hero.

Actually i've been sans television for about 6 years now and have very rarely missed it - sometimes i just get a craving for Animal Planet or some other nature show. But everything you said in your earlier post encapsulates a conversation my wife and i were having the other day about having children and how we were absolutely not having cable in the house. Some of the reasons were the ones you mentioned above and one thing you didn't mention is the horrific advertising targeting children etc. Talk about consumerist brainwashing starting early - it really does disgust me.

That and community building has been another topic i've been dwelling on a lot lately. No one talks to anyone anymore unless it is discussion of something seen on television the night before. Kind of sad really that we aren't going out and connecting with other people in our community and taking advantage of community resources like public libraries and other public spaces.

Then again - now i'm ranting so i'll shut up now