Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

All possible plots by major authors (2020)

the-fence.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 143 posts

Re: All possible plots by major authors (2020)

#73

Post by troupe »

crtified wrote: post #60
russellbeattie wrote: post #44

What does it say about me that I've only actually read 14 of the 56 authors in the second list [1] as an adult (i.e. by choice)? I know of quite a few, but haven't read most of them. Here's my list (++ indicates more than 1): Fitzgerald Hemingway ++ Shakespeare ++ Christie ++ Brown ++ Dickens McCarthy ++ Wodehouse ++ Steinbeck ++ Stoppard Kafka Conan Doyle ++ Seuss (of course) ++ Lee A missing classic author is Rober…

Humanity would be a pretty bland experience if everybody universally read the same toplist of influences. Some may aspire to study The Classics at Oxford, but to me that sounds like a nightmare of deprivation. Accordingly I see your balanced, partial foray into those classics as a positive. It shows you're an individual bespoke personality with broader influences. We won't know which of the modern works we read are f…

I would argue that a shared corpus that everyone has read is a key foundation to a society with rich and nuanced social intercourse. That doesn't mean everyone has read the same books, but there would be significant benefits in kids coming out of high school or college having all read 50 or 100 of the same great books (plus anything else they wanted to read).

I've had the pleasure of listening in on some discussions from high-school students that study classics meeting each other for the first time. Their discussions tend to be very different from what you'd hear from a typical high-school student. While other students might share the language, the ones who have read the same 50 or so great books tend to have a shared vocabulary of ideas at their disposal that doesn't seem to be there without the shared books.

Re: All possible plots by major authors (2020)

#74

Post by dzink »

Every social network: you make something for your friends and end up with viral growth immediately or after years of nothing. You spend the rest of your days policing trolls, spammers, and scammers trying to abuse or hijack the network. You or someone in marketing send out too many spammy notifications abusing user trust and users block your notifications. Nobody shows up anymore and network dies.

Every rom-com: Boy meets girl and they have good times. Somebody messes up. They have a fight. The get back together again.

Every Hallmark movie: Big city girl ends up in small town by coincidence. While decorating for Christmas she falls for the small town guy and decides to stay. (The productions get cheaper by the year, so where they had scenery you now see people talking in front of a blurry background for 90% of the plot. )

Re: All possible plots by major authors (2020)

#76

Post by caseyy »

NBJack wrote: post #70
jl6 wrote: post #8

Hacker News: Apple launches data center on a stick, and boy does Elon Musk have an opinion about that (14879 comments)

HN comments, N levels deep: The subtle mention of a largely tangential but controversial topic is important to me. Here is an eight-paragraph thinly-veiled diatribe on why you are wrong.

A condemning argument against your diatribe, based largely on my personal definition of a loaded term your diatribe used.

Re: All possible plots by major authors (2020)

#77

Post by NBJack »

caseyy wrote: post #76
NBJack wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN comments, N levels deep: The subtle mention of a largely tangential but controversial topic is important to me. Here is an eight-paragraph thinly-veiled diatribe on why you are wrong.

A condemning argument against your diatribe, based largely on my personal definition of a loaded term your diatribe used.

A snippy comeback that isn't remotely as clever as I thought it was. I am now quoting every other sentence of your reply as I try to both double down on my point and furiously back-pedal my use of the term.

Re: All possible plots by major authors (2020)

#78

Post by anthk »

Cervantes: hipster idealistic old fart with vintage books tries to roam around the world with a pragmatic and grounded singleton as if they lived in 'the good old times from the books' kicking the asses of bad guys. Instead of a militia, they look like funny hobos disguised as comedy soldiers in a TV sketch. 'Modern', real life events hit the hipster back. Literally, up to the point seeing the singleton lecturing him over and over after several clashes with the world. Everyone laughs.

Re: All possible plots by major authors (2020)

#79

Post by bombcar »

vharuck wrote: post #19

Terry Pratchett: A visionary on the Discworld invents something vaguely like a modern object or industry. That invention enslaves the visionary and must be stopped by a crotchety old person who hates change.

He had a few variations on that where the invention is adapted and adopted by the crotchety olds.
Post reply on HN