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The joy of reading books you don't understand

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Re: The joy of reading books you don't understand

#101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was waiting the whole time I read this to find a /s somewhere. Anywhere. Yikes.

> Yikes. Proof? Citation? Jokes aside, I find that this sentence makes much sense, especially in the context of online forums such as HN or Reddit: In fact, only people with no better use for their time will spend their time teaching you. This means you're being taught only by people whose time is worthless or for whom it is useful for you to believe in something. Why do you think that is inaccurate?

> Why do you think that is inaccurate?

Not only is it inaccurate, it is insulting to the person teaching you. Have you never been on a popular HN thread where a known expert in the field, someone who’s more productive and knowledgeable than you, provides context? But somehow because they did you feel it justified to call their time worthless? Well, certainly I’d regret wasting my time on someone like that and I’d hope the other readers were more appreciative.

What the OP is calling a “better use of time” I’m reading “more selfish use of time”. Maybe, just maybe, the person spending their time teaching others doesn’t consider their time worthless, but they manage it better and thus have some moments to share their knowledge. Or maybe they enjoy doing so. This is not a hard concept for those not affected by such a superiority complex they claim there are others “beneath [them] in understanding”.

Re: The joy of reading books you don't understand

#102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find a similar trend with education in general. Some states have phased out programs for gifted students. Instead, many of them aren’t stimulated enough and end up going down a troubling path (worst case) or they don’t really reach their full potential during those formidable years. Teachers are expected to make the content match the lowest denominator, outside of the occasional exceptional teacher

And so many of those programs were absolutely horrible. I had a lot more homework than my peers and was expected to act more mature. Sorry, but we were all the same age as other kids - we didn't deserve a higher workload (as kids and teens) and we should have been expected to act our age. It was pretty common to make fun of others for not keeping up well enough (struggling not allowed) or for appearing too smart (Not…

Seems geographical/not uniform. In UK some schools just pocket the gifted and talented funds and deliver nothing.

Re: The joy of reading books you don't understand

#103
I know he’s well regarded on this site but I’ll espouse my own experience with Cormac McCarthy books. Blood Meridian is nearly impossible to get through without some kind of version of a “urban dictionary for the old west” at hand, but the lurid language draws you in constantly. The beauty of language, I think, lies in the absolute specificity of a word. One that could only exist at a certain point in time, and his books are filled to the brim with language like that. Is it dense? Yeah absolutely, but it makes your arm hairs tingle, some of the writing he employs.

Re: The joy of reading books you don't understand

#104

I’ve recently moved to Europe and found myself surrounded by hundreds of famous galleries, which are essentially the main entertainment here. I started visiting them and looking at classical paintings, little by little googling what it was and why. It turned out to be so exciting! Now, a year later, I can say for sure which of the women with a severed male head in their hands in the painting is Judith and which is Sa…

As an artist and technologist living in Europe, I am glad to see a comment like this. It's refreshing. An open-minded and incremental approach to culture can be incredibly rewarding.

https://berlinartgalleries.de/

Re: The joy of reading books you don't understand

#105

Related to "I don't entirely understand what I just read, but I loved it" from the article - some time ago (I'd say it's been years now), there was a submission on HN (at least I believe I found it on HN, though I'm not 100% sure) about rules for critiquing art (again, I'm not 100% certain, but this is how I remember it). Unfortunately, I think I didn't finish the whole article, but at the start it said that if you w…

Maybe this? https://salmagundi.skidmore.edu/articles/477-thirteen-ways-o...

Unfortunately no. I think that one I have in mind is more authoritative, almost a guide.

Re: The joy of reading books you don't understand

#106
post #53

This reminds me of something that I heard once from a Chinese teacher. I can't vouch for the accuracy of it, but he was definitely on to something : In the West, it is assumed that it is the speaker's job to make himself understood to his listeners. In the East, it is the other way around. In recent times, it seems like we've gotten even more extreme. The speaker or writer must not only spoon-feed the understanding,…

I find a similar trend with education in general. Some states have phased out programs for gifted students. Instead, many of them aren’t stimulated enough and end up going down a troubling path (worst case) or they don’t really reach their full potential during those formidable years. Teachers are expected to make the content match the lowest denominator, outside of the occasional exceptional teacher

The terror of the masses to join the molasses.

Re: The joy of reading books you don't understand

#107
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yikes. Proof? Citation? Jokes aside, I find that this sentence makes much sense, especially in the context of online forums such as HN or Reddit: In fact, only people with no better use for their time will spend their time teaching you. This means you're being taught only by people whose time is worthless or for whom it is useful for you to believe in something. Why do you think that is inaccurate?

> Why do you think that is inaccurate? Not only is it inaccurate, it is insulting to the person teaching you. Have you never been on a popular HN thread where a known expert in the field, someone who’s more productive and knowledgeable than you, provides context? But somehow because they did you feel it justified to call their time worthless? Well, certainly I’d regret wasting my time on someone like that and I’d hop…

That makes sense, thanks for the perspective. Much better than just "yikes". I hate tweetspeak.

Re: The joy of reading books you don't understand

#109
post #55
post #53

This reminds me of something that I heard once from a Chinese teacher. I can't vouch for the accuracy of it, but he was definitely on to something : In the West, it is assumed that it is the speaker's job to make himself understood to his listeners. In the East, it is the other way around. In recent times, it seems like we've gotten even more extreme. The speaker or writer must not only spoon-feed the understanding,…

I read this comment before the post, and now I feel bad. I watched a spy movie from the 1960s recently with someone. We got 20 minutes in before she was confused about why the movie is just about a depressed drunk who lost his job in a spy agency, before my movie-watching accomplice looked up the plot of the movie on Wikipedia. Spoiler alert, there's a twist, and the movie didn't tell the viewer that. It's interestin…

Well the issue is that people panic, since honestly I think we are very insecure about our media literacy

Re: The joy of reading books you don't understand

#110
post #66
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (GEB) - too much for me.

I found GEB understandable but ridiculously long winded and the passages with achilles were insufferably annoying.

I honestly found even the preface insufferable
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