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No Spanish reading crisis?

commonreader.co.uk

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Re: No Spanish reading crisis?

#41

Post by esseph »

paulryanrogers wrote: post #31
world2vec wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How could fiction books become outdated? That is an absolutely alien opinion for me! -edit- I said "non-fiction" when I meant "fiction". Of course non-fiction books become obsolete quite fast sometimes.

I was mostly speaking of nonfiction. Though I find most fiction doesn't age well in any medium. Appreciating it often requires social context I don't really have time to learn. And many fictional works from the past are chock full of racism, sexism, irrational social phobias, etc. For those who put in the work, there isn't even a cultural bond to enjoy since most of the people who originally consumed those works are…

> Though I find most fiction doesn't age well in any medium.

What a crazy take!

> Appreciating it often requires social context I don't really have time to learn.

????

> And many fictional works from the past are chock full of racism, sexism, irrational social phobias, etc

I have some news for you. That stuff has lasted for as long as humans have existed, and will continue to exist as long as humans do. It is intrinsic to humans, unfortunately.

Re: No Spanish reading crisis?

#42

Post by world2vec »

rupertdev wrote: post #23
world2vec wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMHO screens and audio don't count as reading books.

I personally think that though the medium is different, audiobooks are at least _similar_ to reading a book. Screens however, are you including something like an eReader as _not_ reading books?

I think screens, in this context, means stuff like reading blog posts and whatnot on your phone or laptop.

Re: No Spanish reading crisis?

#43

Post by paulryanrogers »

ddoolin wrote: post #32
paulryanrogers wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article doesn't distinguish reading books from reading anything else. Though it's pretty short and light on details. The article it cites strongly implies the reading is only books. All that said, [I find] reading books is overrated. They're often outdated, low effort slop, and even more so in this AI era.

"Reading books is overrated" -- what an HN take. You've gotta be kidding me.

Perhaps you can make some counter points and change my mind?

Re: No Spanish reading crisis?

#44

Post by dust-jacket »

nicbou wrote: post #21
world2vec wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMHO screens and audio don't count as reading books.

I disagree. I read books, but I also read essays, newsletters, blogs, Wikipedia articles, discussions and so on. These also contain important and useful information. It's not a dichotomy between books and slop. Hell, a lot of books should have been blog posts. Audiobooks are also valid, as are podcasts. Sure, they might not engage you like text does, but they still impart knowledge. To me, this is like ranting agains…

I don't think anyone's saying audiobooks aren't "valid" or worthwhile.

Just that if someone asks you if you were reading this morning, you should probably say "no" if you were listening to a podcast. It's not a value judgement, just a category.

Re: No Spanish reading crisis?

#45

Post by schnitzelstoat »

It's not uncommon to see people (and young people) reading on public transport here in Spain. The odd thing is how popular actual paper books are vs. e-readers. Since I got my Kindle in 2015 I haven't read a paper book since.

That said, I find it odd that people assume that reading a book is always higher quality than reading the internet etc. - many books are pretty low quality.

And if we look at stuff like the PISA scores, it doesn't seem like this supposed higher rate of reading is paying many dividends.

Re: No Spanish reading crisis?

#46

Post by Muromec »

otherme123 wrote: post #35
toolslive wrote: post #14

> Democracy is safe in Spain! iirc, The Prince from Machiavelli is required reading during secondary education. That will surely awaken their political awareness.

> The Prince from Machiavelli is required In Spain? Never heard of that, and would not make sense. An italian author writting about politics in Florence?

Why would it not? Divine Comedy and Jack London were both required reading in my Ukrainian school (in translation of course). So was tolstoevsky unfortunately.

Re: No Spanish reading crisis?

#47

Post by actionfromafar »

some_random wrote: post #9
outime wrote: post #4

>Democracy is safe in Spain! Honestly, this sounds like a shitpost and I'd remove the line if I was the author. That aside, I really don't understand the glorification of reading. I love reading (also I'm Spanish) and I do it every day, but reading can also just mean reading romance novels and living in a parallel unrealistic world, and that doesn't make you or "democracy" better than a non-reader that may be a movie…

Every entertainment medium has some level of prestige associated with it mostly based on how old it is, which is the primary reason book reading is venerated. As for the democracy comment, I think the logic there smart people read books and smart people support democracy therefore the more people reading books the more democracy support there is. This is obviously nonsense but it's really popular especially among peo…

Reading a book is also a decent proxy for being able to hold your attention for more than 5 seconds.

Re: No Spanish reading crisis?

#48

Post by malloryerik »

world2vec wrote: post #18
KaiserPro wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you expand on the audiobook part? Im assuming that screens dont count because its not novels/literature but audio books are the same content but delivered by a different medium, I am genuinely curious as to your opinion on is not counting

I just think listening to a book is not the same as actually reading it. Just my personal preference, really, and I'm not knocking down on audiobooks. Listening to audiobooks, IMHO, is a more passive and less focused way of consuming literature.

I must say this truly depends. I can sometimes be more focused with an audiobook. An extreme example? Heidegger's Being and Time, Macquarie and Robinson translation. The audiobook version read by Martyn Swain is a godsend for helping one try to grapple with this monster. Though his only commentary is in timbre, rhythm, speed, it absolutely enriches the reading. The audiobook is something like 24 hours long, but there's just no way you finish in that time (if you ever do finish); if you're like me you've gotta rewind rewind rewind, baby.

A talented reader can work magic. Ukemi and Naxos have great titles.

Re: No Spanish reading crisis?

#49

Post by toolslive »

otherme123 wrote: post #35
toolslive wrote: post #14

> Democracy is safe in Spain! iirc, The Prince from Machiavelli is required reading during secondary education. That will surely awaken their political awareness.

> The Prince from Machiavelli is required In Spain? Never heard of that, and would not make sense. An italian author writting about politics in Florence?

I have some Spanish ex-co-workers. I just verified it. They both had it on their required reading list in high-school. (one of them is in his 30s, the other in his 40s)

Re: No Spanish reading crisis?

#50

Post by Muromec »

paulryanrogers wrote: post #26
n4r9 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> that doesn't make you or "democracy" better than a non-reader that may be a movie watcher addict I dunno. There's something to be said for having the focus to sit down and read through a book. It suggests someone is a little more comfortable with their own thoughts and doesn't succumb to constant tech distractions. Which in turn suggests an ability to think more clearly and less emotively about politics.

> It suggests someone is a little more comfortable with their own thoughts and doesn't succumb to constant tech distractions. Could just as likely suggest they're affluent enough to have time to sit down and read vs listen to an audio book or just skim news in a magazine or on a screen between jobs.

In other news communist propaganda can't get you don't if don't experience or fear poverty and racist takes aren't appealing if you don't suffer from either the same or ed
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