Neil Gaiman lecture on books, reading, etc

[BDBoop]

Neil Gaiman: Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming | Books | theguardian.com

Well-meaning adults can easily destroy a child's love of reading: stop them reading what they enjoy, or give them worthy-but-dull books that you like, the 21st-century equivalents of Victorian "improving" literature. You'll wind up with a generation convinced that reading is uncool and worse, unpleasant.

We need our children to get onto the reading ladder: anything that they enjoy reading will move them up, rung by rung, into literacy. (Also, do not do what this author did when his 11-year-old daughter was into RL Stine, which is to go and get a copy of Stephen King's Carrie, saying if you liked those you'll love this! Holly read nothing but safe stories of settlers on prairies for the rest of her teenage years, and still glares at me when Stephen King's name is mentioned.)

And the second thing fiction does is to build empathy. When you watch TV or see a film, you are looking at things happening to other people. Prose fiction is something you build up from 26 letters and a handful of punctuation marks, and you, and you alone, using your imagination, create a world and people it and look out through other eyes. You get to feel things, visit places and worlds you would never otherwise know. You learn that everyone else out there is a me, as well. You're being someone else, and when you return to your own world, you're going to be slightly changed.

Empathy is a tool for building people into groups, for allowing us to function as more than self-obsessed individuals.

You're also finding out something as you read vitally important for making your way in the world. And it's this:

The world doesn't have to be like this. Things can be different.

Like my mother before me and my daughter as well - I love to read. I love getting lost in words, in someone else's world. Said world may not even exist. Generally, I prefer it that way.

I prefer urban fantasy fiction primarily, followed by biographies and autobiographies.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Neil Gaiman: Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming | Books | theguardian.com

Well-meaning adults can easily destroy a child's love of reading: stop them reading what they enjoy, or give them worthy-but-dull books that you like, the 21st-century equivalents of Victorian "improving" literature. You'll wind up with a generation convinced that reading is uncool and worse, unpleasant.

We need our children to get onto the reading ladder: anything that they enjoy reading will move them up, rung by rung, into literacy. (Also, do not do what this author did when his 11-year-old daughter was into RL Stine, which is to go and get a copy of Stephen King's Carrie, saying if you liked those you'll love this! Holly read nothing but safe stories of settlers on prairies for the rest of her teenage years, and still glares at me when Stephen King's name is mentioned.)

And the second thing fiction does is to build empathy. When you watch TV or see a film, you are looking at things happening to other people. Prose fiction is something you build up from 26 letters and a handful of punctuation marks, and you, and you alone, using your imagination, create a world and people it and look out through other eyes. You get to feel things, visit places and worlds you would never otherwise know. You learn that everyone else out there is a me, as well. You're being someone else, and when you return to your own world, you're going to be slightly changed.

Empathy is a tool for building people into groups, for allowing us to function as more than self-obsessed individuals.

You're also finding out something as you read vitally important for making your way in the world. And it's this:

The world doesn't have to be like this. Things can be different.

Like my mother before me and my daughter as well - I love to read. I love getting lost in words, in someone else's world. Said world may not even exist. Generally, I prefer it that way.

I prefer urban fantasy fiction primarily, followed by biographies and autobiographies.

I don't really like urban fantasy, other than the Dresden and Rachel Morgan novels, but I have read a few different series. The one that I thought had potential that turned really sucky was Anita Blake.

I prefer Science Fiction, but not most of the newer stuff, even though I still read it. I will read anything though, including instruction manuals. I highly recommend instruction manuals to everyone, it gives me a headache when somebody asks me a question that they can get the answer to by reading the fucking manual.

I have no idea who said it, but the one quote everyone should know is "People who don't read are no better off than people who can't read." If everyone read every day the world would be a much better place.

 

[BDBoop]

Neil Gaiman: Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming | Books | theguardian.com

Well-meaning adults can easily destroy a child's love of reading: stop them reading what they enjoy, or give them worthy-but-dull books that you like, the 21st-century equivalents of Victorian "improving" literature. You'll wind up with a generation convinced that reading is uncool and worse, unpleasant.

We need our children to get onto the reading ladder: anything that they enjoy reading will move them up, rung by rung, into literacy. (Also, do not do what this author did when his 11-year-old daughter was into RL Stine, which is to go and get a copy of Stephen King's Carrie, saying if you liked those you'll love this! Holly read nothing but safe stories of settlers on prairies for the rest of her teenage years, and still glares at me when Stephen King's name is mentioned.)

And the second thing fiction does is to build empathy. When you watch TV or see a film, you are looking at things happening to other people. Prose fiction is something you build up from 26 letters and a handful of punctuation marks, and you, and you alone, using your imagination, create a world and people it and look out through other eyes. You get to feel things, visit places and worlds you would never otherwise know. You learn that everyone else out there is a me, as well. You're being someone else, and when you return to your own world, you're going to be slightly changed.

Empathy is a tool for building people into groups, for allowing us to function as more than self-obsessed individuals.

You're also finding out something as you read vitally important for making your way in the world. And it's this:

The world doesn't have to be like this. Things can be different.

Like my mother before me and my daughter as well - I love to read. I love getting lost in words, in someone else's world. Said world may not even exist. Generally, I prefer it that way.

I prefer urban fantasy fiction primarily, followed by biographies and autobiographies.

I don't really like urban fantasy, other than the Dresden and Rachel Morgan novels, but I have read a few different series. The one that I thought had potential that turned really sucky was Anita Blake.

I prefer Science Fiction, but not most of the newer stuff, even though I still read it. I will read anything though, including instruction manuals. I highly recommend instruction manuals to everyone, it gives me a headache when somebody asks me a question that they can get the answer to by reading the fucking manual.

I have no idea who said it, but the one quote everyone should know is "People who don't read are no better off than people who can't read." If everyone read every day the world would be a much better place.

Oh, my word. You are so right about LKH. She totally lost me when her books became 400-page orgies. She could barely be bothered to summon a story line to hold the thing together.

Have you read Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles? That's a series I dove right through.

I remember being mocked for being a bookworm - I can't complain. The habit has certainly done right by me.

Did you read the article?

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Neil Gaiman: Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming | Books | theguardian.com

Like my mother before me and my daughter as well - I love to read. I love getting lost in words, in someone else's world. Said world may not even exist. Generally, I prefer it that way.

I prefer urban fantasy fiction primarily, followed by biographies and autobiographies.

I don't really like urban fantasy, other than the Dresden and Rachel Morgan novels, but I have read a few different series. The one that I thought had potential that turned really sucky was Anita Blake.

I prefer Science Fiction, but not most of the newer stuff, even though I still read it. I will read anything though, including instruction manuals. I highly recommend instruction manuals to everyone, it gives me a headache when somebody asks me a question that they can get the answer to by reading the fucking manual.

I have no idea who said it, but the one quote everyone should know is "People who don't read are no better off than people who can't read." If everyone read every day the world would be a much better place.

Oh, my word. You are so right about LKH. She totally lost me when her books became 400-page orgies. She could barely be bothered to summon a story line to hold the thing together.

Have you read Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles? That's a series I dove right through.

I remember being mocked for being a bookworm - I can't complain. The habit has certainly done right by me.

Did you read the article?

Sent it to my Kindle so I can read it later.

 

[BDBoop]

We really should have a book folder. I always have the devil's own time trying to find out where to fit book-related threads.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

We really should have a book folder. I always have the devil's own time trying to find out where to fit book-related threads.

I was thinking the same thing yesterday.

At least a reading one so we can talk about books and good magazines.

 

[Montrovant]

Neil Gaiman: Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming | Books | theguardian.com

Like my mother before me and my daughter as well - I love to read. I love getting lost in words, in someone else's world. Said world may not even exist. Generally, I prefer it that way.

I prefer urban fantasy fiction primarily, followed by biographies and autobiographies.

I don't really like urban fantasy, other than the Dresden and Rachel Morgan novels, but I have read a few different series. The one that I thought had potential that turned really sucky was Anita Blake.

I prefer Science Fiction, but not most of the newer stuff, even though I still read it. I will read anything though, including instruction manuals. I highly recommend instruction manuals to everyone, it gives me a headache when somebody asks me a question that they can get the answer to by reading the fucking manual.

I have no idea who said it, but the one quote everyone should know is "People who don't read are no better off than people who can't read." If everyone read every day the world would be a much better place.

Oh, my word. You are so right about LKH. She totally lost me when her books became 400-page orgies. She could barely be bothered to summon a story line to hold the thing together.

Have you read Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles? That's a series I dove right through.

I remember being mocked for being a bookworm - I can't complain. The habit has certainly done right by me.

Did you read the article?

I actually just started the second Iron Druid book. It was recommended to me not long ago, and I decided to take a break from my attempt to read a bunch of Star Wars novels in order.

 

[BDBoop]

I love the dog.

 

[Montrovant]

I love the dog.

So far it's a fairly fun, light series. An easy read.