How many books have you read in your life?

[Tormod]

I read a few fiction books when I was a kid. Other than that... don't really read much. That is why I took particular offence to the library card thread.

 

I think it is with reading as it is with everything else: Different folks, different strokes. I have loved reading since I was a small child. I started reading when I was three, and wrote my own short stories at 7 (no, they were not very good). :Clown:

 

I have a hard time just sitting by myself reading books as my thoughts constantly wander.

 

I have this problem, too. But for me it is a sign that the book I'm reading is not particularly interesting. However, suddenyl I can get grasped by something in the text and wham! I've read 50 pages before I think again. Yet the next 5 pages can take me an hour...

 

This never happens with fiction, which I read as if it were candy, but mostly popular science books or text books for my master studies.

 

For some reason though, put me in a classroom and have a teacher talk about a subject and I can run backwards forwards and upside down with whatever he said, as well as skim a book for a few seconds to find information relevant to some claim by said teach, some debate etc and then use that information to reason the next 4 pages I didn't read on my own, or something that isn't in the book (that book at least)

 

Exactly! "That book at least". You'll have it from other sources, or other books. I would put this down to good analytical skills. I think that you will always gain the most by using many sources. I hope you don't believe that you can do all this excellent deduction without knowing a good amount of stuff beforehand. Innate knowledge about things is not something I believe in, but I do think many people have excellent abilities to learn! :)

 

I didn't even bother to buy many of my books in college.

 

I bought everything and then some, but my problem is I have always been bad at doing homework. As a youngster I read mostly (science) fiction. I also read a lot of history books because history fascinates me. And I read all the books on adventurers and explorers and inventors at the library (yeah, I had a library card).

 

Now I'm studying for an actuarial exam, and finding myself having to go back and learn every such detail.

 

Do you find it harder or easier now, though, to study? Do you feel that you would have been better if you had done differently in school?

 

It sounds to me that you were a little bit like me - pretty good at school but not the nose-in-the-book kind of student. I have never been good at that and I struggle now as an adult to read my master course curriculum...

 

Sitting in a room reading a book by yourself all alone I think you are always going to have less than perfect motivation. Being in a debate (especially when you have lots of practice with deductive reasoning) spurs me in particular to learn much much faster than I ever can reading a book where my mind constantly wanders.

 

I find that sitting alone in a room is *excellent* motivation, but not necessarily when it comes to studying. I prefer to take a day off and go to my college (I'm a part time student which means I only meet there 5 times a year). and sit at the library there. But that is maybe 2-3 days a year. Today, for example, I am staying at home instead, taking the day off to read but can't be bothered to spend an hour each way to the college.

 

It is a wonderful feeling everytime you find out that something you figured out on your own has been written by someone else in a book somewhere. But additionally it allows you to gain a comprehensive understanding of the world around you as well as the people in it that you could never have by being dependent on what someone was able to put into words.

 

It's great to hear this - I think you must be a great learner, Kriminal.

 

(Edit: I mistakenly attributed this to KAC...no offense of course).

[Tormod]

However as much as I like books, I would warn any who would espouse books to the exclusion of other mediums, that to deprive oneself of any media on bais of superiority, real or perceived, is to deprive oneself of the oppertunity to experience, know, and understand from another perspective.

 

I agree with you. But when I was 12, there were no personal computers on the home market yet. But I did get a Sinclair ZX Spectrum in 1983 and that was basically what made me so interested in English (since all the games and apps etc were in English, and I started reading Sinclair User etc).

 

The stunning amount of sources we have today still needs to be used carefully. Books are great for learning and building a good imagination, but some people *hate* reading or simply can't be bothered to. I have no problems with this.

 

But I was a bit disappointed when I read that about 50% of people in Norway (actually I think this was an international survey, but I have forgotten the source so take it with a pinch of salt) can't read more than 4-5 words at a time. In other words they can read headlines and brief messages, but they would not be able to read a book without major effort.

 

Some people, like me, collect every book they have ever read and after the 6th shelf is choke full we start donating to flee markets so we can buy more books. To me, the amount of books is not so interesting as the *collecting* of books...I personally am in love with books. :)

[IMAMONKEY!]

"It's not the number of books nor size of the books; it is merely the value of the book's content to its reader."

 

~Anonymous

 

I love that quote oh so very much because it seems to emboy the very reason that anyone should read. Number isn't important. Hypothetically, if 20 years from now you were captured by mutant space pirate ninjas and imprisoned in a cell that required knowledge of mathematics to escape, would the knowledge obtained by Mr. Popper's Penguins really help you? Is there any real world value in the book? At that moment, no.

 

I judge the books i read based upon how much they mean to me at that exact moment in time. When someone asks me if i enjoyed the book my answers will vary from: "it sucked" to "number one baby". It all depends on what your psychological (?spelling?) needs of the moment are.

 

In 7th and 8th grade i read books about discovey and adventure. This was because in 7th and 8th grade i was in a social and societal period of discovery and adventure. Now in high school its more about war, drama (hate that), and love. I like to focus on the war mostly :lol:. I want to join the Air force after all. be a JSF pilot. HECK YES! :hihi:

 

anyways, I must end this now because I'm in school and my teacher might catch me. I bid everyone farewell for now.

 

Regards,

 

IMAMONKEY!:hihi:

[maikeru]

I'm not sure. Like others here, probably past the 1,000 mark. When I was younger, I read at least a few books a month. When I was in junior and high school, sometimes I read a book a day or every few days (depending on its size), especially science fiction and fantasy. I exhausted even the prolific writings of Azimov. Nowadays, probably one book every week or two weeks, as I read more for detail and study. I also re-read favorite books to enjoy and understand them better.

[Kriminal99]

I think it is with reading as it is with everything else: Different folks, different strokes. I have loved reading since I was a small child. I started reading when I was three, and wrote my own short stories at 7 (no, they were not very good). ;)

 

 

 

I have this problem, too. But for me it is a sign that the book I'm reading is not particularly interesting. However, suddenyl I can get grasped by something in the text and wham! I've read 50 pages before I think again. Yet the next 5 pages can take me an hour...

 

This never happens with fiction, which I read as if it were candy, but mostly popular science books or text books for my master studies.

 

 

 

Exactly! "That book at least". You'll have it from other sources, or other books. I would put this down to good analytical skills. I think that you will always gain the most by using many sources. I hope you don't believe that you can do all this excellent deduction without knowing a good amount of stuff beforehand. Innate knowledge about things is not something I believe in, but I do think many people have excellent abilities to learn! :)

 

 

 

I bought everything and then some, but my problem is I have always been bad at doing homework. As a youngster I read mostly (science) fiction. I also read a lot of history books because history fascinates me. And I read all the books on adventurers and explorers and inventors at the library (yeah, I had a library card).

 

 

 

Do you find it harder or easier now, though, to study? Do you feel that you would have been better if you had done differently in school?

 

It sounds to me that you were a little bit like me - pretty good at school but not the nose-in-the-book kind of student. I have never been good at that and I struggle now as an adult to read my master course curriculum...

 

 

 

I find that sitting alone in a room is *excellent* motivation, but not necessarily when it comes to studying. I prefer to take a day off and go to my college (I'm a part time student which means I only meet there 5 times a year). and sit at the library there. But that is maybe 2-3 days a year. Today, for example, I am staying at home instead, taking the day off to read but can't be bothered to spend an hour each way to the college.

 

 

 

It's great to hear this - I think you must be a great learner, Kriminal.

 

(Edit: I mistakenly attributed this to KAC...no offense of course).

 

When I did read as a kid, I did the same 50 pages before I knew it thing.

 

I don't believe in innate knowledge either, but I think some people can generalize from their experiences really well. Maybe some people can apply their life experiences or experiences from other subjects to a new one with less error.

 

I have recently found that I study REALLY well in libraries, but I still do not at home. There it's like I know I have to be quiet and respectful so I don't wander around daydreaming and making noise like I do at home.

[arkain101]

I was going to select 20 or less, but realized there was no such option.

 

When I think back to actual books in the form of paper that I have read entirely front to back I can just about count them on my hand.

 

5 or 6 novels ?

The lord of the rings trilogy

Bible(11books) :D

ummmmm.....I've picked up a lot of material but never go very far.

 

I guess when I think about it, all my reading has been done online, and I didnt really start reading or studying academics untill I was 19 or 20. I kind of faked my way though highschool.. lol

 

Before then I was just working on welding, mechanics, engine perfomance tuning, motocross racing, and a little bit of space and physics. As well as working in general on mineral exploration light weight fly-able diamond bit drills. Spending summers in remote locations on tops of mountains and down beside glaciers.

 

Then I got ill and spent months upon months reading 12 hours a day....and this went on for a few sessions per year in between work and play..

 

Much of my reading in relation to academia is thanks to this place. Thanks hypo staff!

[freeztar]

I don't even know how to begin answering this q...

 

I guess maybe ~300? :D

 

For the past several years, I've read the most that I have in my entire life. But, it wasn't books. I read almost everything online now. I do keep the latest Nat Geo in the bathroom and generally work through them in about 4 sittings. (TMI, I know)

 

I miss books though. They're tangible!

I usually make a big book purchase about twice a year (Amazon). My next purchase already has some yummy stuff in the shopping cart...Evolution, Philosophy in the Flesh, and Evolution is True. (yeah, you can see where my interests lie...)

 

One day I'll make it around to reading all the good Sagan and Hawking books. Heck, I'm still an Asimov virgin. :beer:

[Kriminal99]

The whole book? maybe like 10 - 20 if that.

 

The problem with reading a book is that it's just one person's ideas, and they are usually very unrefined.

 

If you debate a lot after a lot of experience you realize that 90% of your arguments and beliefs are just fluff and bs that result from you not having reduced your arguments to their most general form. When you do reduce it in such a manner, you are left with a really convincing argument that is some tiny fraction of the original size.

 

 

When you read books you are usually reading someone else's fluff.