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No one buys books

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Re: No one buys books

#711

Post by vik0 »

hollywood_court wrote: post #692
ddingus wrote: post #681

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Show him some alternatives. I grew up in a backward place too. The single most valuable thing I learned is what is really possible to do. I got to see that because I ended up helping people of means who took me aside and showed me a look outside the place I was living. For many, and this is true of my peer group, just knowing what is possible really mattered. Of course I left town, found work and married someone I th…

I plan on showing him alternatives so he doesn't have to learn about them they way that I did. I moved out of my mother's home when I was 16 and I managed to graduate high school. But I left town two days after graduation and I've only been back three times in 24 years. Had I not left Alabama, and the US, I would have likely ended up just as bigoted and close minded as most of my family. The ten years I spent outside…

Mind sharing where you moved and how that prevented you from going to the road, from as you say: "just as bigoted and close minded as most of my family.", to whatever you became afterward? Do you think had you moved to another place in the US, a similar change would not have occurred, or did it have to be outside the US?

Re: No one buys books

#712

Post by Cthulhu_ »

vik0 wrote: post #483
atoav wrote: post #455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well a library is a place where a population can spend the day getting smarter while not spending money. If you're rich, powerful and an unethical asshole those are two things you definitely do not want. Sadly many people seem to think they are really showing the folks up there by retreating from any form of self-education once they are out of school. The opposite couldn't be more true.

>If you're rich, powerful and an unethical asshole those are two things you definitely do not want. This smells like a half-baked conspiracy theory. It's not like the overwhelming majority of people want to get smarter in their free time. I'm not sure how it is in the rest of the world, but in American and all (individual) European cultures, most people don't pursue self-education. I would not be surprised if this ap…

> I'm willing to wager most people come on here just to be entertained

To add to the conspiracy, endless entertainment is another way that the rich and powerful want to keep the population complacent. Add some unsubtle propaganda about how great and diverse the US is, too.

That said, the propaganda isn't as straightforward as it used to be, and foreign propaganda is sprinkled in as well with e.g. China funding and adding their section to big blockbuster films.

Re: No one buys books

#713

Post by Cthulhu_ »

vik0 wrote: post #710
dfxm12 wrote: post #576

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

>It's not surprising that this push comes amid the understanding that the less educated one is, the more likely they are to vote R [2]. I saw the article, and it does indeed show this, however, I'm not sold that education is the only criterion when it comes to how someone votes... or does anything else, for that matter It's far too simple of a cause-and-effect type of deal for this to be the only factor, or even, for…

> however, I'm not sold that education is the only criterion when it comes to how someone votes... or does anything else, for that matter

It isn't, however if your education or world view is superficial, you're more susceptible to right-wing talking points, like a broad spectrum "fear of ones that are different to you". But when you're more educated, more worldly, less blinkered you won't be as afraid of the other and less susceptible to a politician that They are after your jobs and benefits, and more aware that the politicians and rich people are trying to keep you down for their own gains.

Re: No one buys books

#714

Post by ineedaj0b »

muyuu wrote: post #624
rfarley04 wrote: post #521

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea $100 bucks a year for a small historical library with a very limited selection of English books (that's 45 minutes away from me) doesn't really compare to a free library that's in every city in the US (or many libraries in bigger cities)

it's odd to me that you'd expect a large stock of English books in any regular Thai library even in Japan, with perhaps the very strongest reading culture in the world, you're going to find a relatively limited selection of books in library outside of their own language you'll likely have less success finding a varied stock of Thai books in Oregon, to the surprise of nobody

What are the 3 best Japanese books to read in your opinion?

Like for English a good 3 would be Infinite Jest (trendy, pretentious), Moby Dick (classic), and Lord of The Rings (meme worthy).

Re: No one buys books

#715

Post by kennyadam »

Karellen wrote: post #499
nox101 wrote: post #423

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what logic leads to this conclusion? I tend to lean to the rising tide lifts all boats. who benefits from illiteracy?

The number of vastly unequal societies throughout history who have banned the lower classes from learning how to read, or from any kind of education at all - beyond whatever narrow training will make them better perform their specific duties for those on top. ...and not just historically. Some societies where significant minority groups are banned from getting an education, in order to further perpetuate their margin…

Just look at women in afghanistan, for example.

Re: No one buys books

#716

Post by deadbabe »

keiferski wrote: post #353
deadbabe wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love the idea of owning books you can’t find anywhere else. One of the main reasons I don’t bother going to bookstores is because I know everything there is just gonna be on Amazon anyway, and with reviews. But the idea of coming across a strange book few people have read, and finding unconventional wisdom and writing inside that no publisher would ever put out, sounds exciting! I think more people should write boo…

Pretty much all of the physical books I own are like this: rare and impossible to find online, in digital format or otherwise. People really overestimate how many books have been digitized.

Now I want to know your books

Re: No one buys books

#717

Post by atombender »

NegativeLatency wrote: post #132
paxys wrote: post #101

Can't help but feel for the publishing industry considering how shafted they got by tech. You distribute books all over the country? Amazon can do it better and cheaper. You print books? Well we have e-books now. You have a massive back catalog? Google just scanned all of it. You do marketing? Authors now have their own followings on social media and can reach them directly. You give cash advances? Fans on Kickstarte…

IMO there are still quality publishers, but they are small and tend to focus on specific topics. Two that I'm aware of, although I'm sure there are more out there: - https://lostartpress.com - https://tinhouse.com

New York Review Books [1] is another significant one. It's the publishing divison of the confusingly named The New York Review of Books, which is an amazing magazine (it's not really book reviews).

[1] https://www.nyrb.com/

Re: No one buys books

#718

Post by isleyaardvark »

leonroy wrote: post #699
atoav wrote: post #455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well a library is a place where a population can spend the day getting smarter while not spending money. If you're rich, powerful and an unethical asshole those are two things you definitely do not want. Sadly many people seem to think they are really showing the folks up there by retreating from any form of self-education once they are out of school. The opposite couldn't be more true.

Didn’t Andrew Carnegie, the very definition of rich and difficult to work for spend a huge chunk of his fortune funding 3000+ libraries? See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_library

It's a shame the current robber barons are worse than the old ones.

Re: No one buys books

#719

Post by bumby »

loup-vaillant wrote: post #709
bumby wrote: post #690

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem to imply they are a higher rate of rich assholes, no? The most cited research on this (Piff et al.) is highly flawed IMO and hasn’t been able to be replicated. Or is your point that people are assholes in general? If the latter, I’m failing to see how that gets connected to rich people actively suppressing education, especially when, as you say, they are the most likely to donate money to those causes.

> You seem to imply they are a higher rate of rich assholes, no? It seems likely. But that's a detail, because I believe the more important effect is the contempt higher-class people can have towards lower-class people. Some of it may even come from cognitive dissonance. See, barring a few exceptions, one does not get rich just by working. One also has to exploit other people, to spoil them of a fraction of their add…

You certainly did say those things. They are quoted from your posts, but abbreviated to be less verbose and wandering. I used ellipses to show where words were cut, and I think you understand this so you seem to just be difficult/obtuse out of a desire to argue.

To be generous, you said they are the "largest contributors" which I agree is different than being "most likely." But the research does show they are more likely, possibly because they are in a position to do so. I think that's what connects to your point.

Just as a counterpoint to your late-stage capitalism-esque viewpoint, wealthy are also shown to over index in conscientiousness in some studies. This is a personality trait that relates to persistence which is an alternate explanation for goal-attainment (ie wealth).

Re: No one buys books

#720

Post by keiferski »

deadbabe wrote: post #716
keiferski wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty much all of the physical books I own are like this: rare and impossible to find online, in digital format or otherwise. People really overestimate how many books have been digitized.

Now I want to know your books

Just a few examples:

- Paradigms Lost by John Simon. A lot of these older cultural/writing commentary books don't seem to be digitized, but are absolutely worth reading

- Some older tourism books. For example, I have a little pamphlet book on visiting Yugoslavia, written in Polish.

- Unique/interesting formats. For example, I have a book of "useful words for dealing with capitalists and their markets" that was written in German during the DDR. It has about 2,000 words written side-by-side in 8 languages, including English, German, French, Czech, and some others.

- Older magazines, especially fashion magazines. Very hard to get a hold of or find online.

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