The population that “don’t get it” is huge. I know many people with no interest in even the big-name stuff, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Suggest lesser-known things like Dune is a waste of time. I don’t see it as a fault because many in the “don’t get it” camp are very intelligent, some even philosophical on many matters. They just don’t appreciate stories and definitely not philosophy in an invented setting.
Have you ever heard of aphantasia?
I’ve heard of it, yeah. I can’t comprehend how people could get through their days with something like that. The no imagery and no inner monologue. I mean, how do you overstress about every word you intend to say to someone before it even happens?!
No inner monologue - that’s a new one. Not what I understood aphantasia to be.
But then maybe I’ve missed something else that’s unfamiliar to my experience. Curious if there’s more to it than I knew, or a similar condition that applies to language rather than imagery…
Oh, there is more, but not quite what I inferred from “monologue”…
This fellow Blake can’t visualize a beach in his mind, as we expect from aphantasia.
but ALSO: he can’t imagine hearing text in Morgan Freeman’s voice, or the taste of a pizza, or a tarantula walking up his arm.
I just stumbled upon this posting . . . and offer the following:
- Project Gutenberg is a favorite book site of mine. Welcome to Project Gutenberg - Project Gutenberg is a library of over 60,000 free eBooks at: https://www.gutenberg.org/
“The Journals of the Lewis & Clark Expedition” is a favorite of mine, among other historical books.
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I remember my father reading that book when I was a kid. He was not an avid reader, but he must’ve read that book one page at a time for years because I recall seeing him on the couch with it quite a bit back in the 90’s. That and some of the Master and Commander series.
You bet, there is a lot of good stuff there. I’ve enjoyed some discoveries like these:
- Sherlock Holmes and his French counterpart, Arsene Lupin
- Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, and Virgil’s Aeneid
- Workshop handbooks on woodworking and metalworking
- Galileo’s Starry Messenger and Dialogues on the New Sciences
- Albert Einstein’s Principle of Relativity
…just to name a few
Agree!
In handling my fathers possessions, i gathered his old books by:
- “Here is Your War” Ernie Pyle (1943),
- “Guadalcanal Diary” Richard Tregaskis (1943),
- Jules Verne’s “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”,
- L. Frank Baum, The Wizard of Oz" (a distant cousin), and
- Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.
One day I may see if these books have any value.
I prefer the historical books in the Gutenberg site. Books regarding the Civil War interest me (Chamberlin & Sheridan), along with historical books regarding the mountain states. I guess I’m partial to authors of that time period or sooner; easier to read.
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If you like civil war, my only real experience with civil war books is “The Killer Angels” by Michael Shaara and “Gods and Generals” by Michael’s son, Jeffrey Shaara. I’ve read them both several times and absolutely love them. They are meant to be historically accurate dramas of real life officers and soldiers and they are very well written, in my opinion.
I’m fairly certain there is more to that collection, but for some reason those two books fell into my possession at some point for reasons I can’t recall and I’ve never really looked for any more.
There are many translations. Some are better than others. When I decided that I wanted to read the Iliad, I found 3 different translations at the bookstore. They were substantially different.
SuperSalad,
“The Killers Angels” is an outstanding book - i throughly enjoyed & it is well-written. The movie “Gettysburg” was adapted from his book. Fyi, Joshua Chamberlain wrote a book and it is available at the Gutenberg site. P.H. Sheridan wrote a book too and it is available at the Gutenberg site.
“Gods & Generals” is one i will need to find and read.
SparWeb,
I will need to dig out those books and take a look. They are in storage somewhere at the moment.
compositpro,
Thanks for the link.
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“Miss One Thousand Spring Blossoms” by John Ball is one I re-read every few years; the protagonist is an electrical engineer . . .
“The Plague Dogs” by Richard Adams.
Seeing as “Watership Down” is one of my favorite books of all time, my wife was kind enough to get me a copy of “The Plague Dogs” for my birthday this past spring (Along with the “My Side of the Mountain” trilogy…I read “My Side of the Mountain” about a dozen times as a kid and never knew there were sequels).
This Richard Adams book was certainly no Watership Down. I can’t say I disliked it. It was riveting at times, but it also felt very allegorical for long stretches where I simply couldn’t follow what was happening. This was purposeful, as the symbolism was meant to tell some level of the story itself, but it was kind of difficult. Each time I sat down to read it, I felt like I had to brace myself for the interpretation of events. Not all of the book was that way, but it would switch back and forth from literal to symbolic speech quite often.
Overall I’d say it was good. I don’t know if I’ll read it again, but I may at some point to see if I get anything more out of it from an additional reading.
I liked “Watership Down”, read it at a young age around when it was first published, but could not pierce the turgid writing in the next book he wrote, “Shardik”…and have not even seen “The Plague Dogs”.
I downloaded, read and enjoyed a good sci-fi book by Neal Asher, titled “Jack Four”. Have since been reading a couple others by him, some ok, some not. He does a lot with expanding on the possibilities of genetic engineering and cybernetic humans…amongst other stuff. Currently reading “Zero Point”…
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I did it. I finally finished the Wheel of Time series. I read the last of book 13 about an hour ago.
It was a slog at times. I think I liked the books Brandon Sanderson authored much better than Robert Jordan’s. Sanderson just seemed to have better pacing, more succinctly built settings, easier to follow action sequences, and far less droning on about how large, small, slender, or ample the women’s breasts and waists were in every scene.
The series was good though. I did enjoy it. I felt that it maybe got too a point that Jordan had simply put too much content, side plots, and potential storylines into that that he simply abandoned some of them to save the main story. To the point that they got a mention toward the end so you weren’t left hanging, but it would’ve taken too much focus away from the main story if he kept going down those side paths to get to the end.
I’m glad I read them. But now I am off to my next great adventure. I am reading “My Side of the Mountain”. I already started today and I am quickly remembering why I loved this book so much as a kid. I’m going to just pre-write my review now.
“My Side of the Mountain” 13/10 Stars 
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So I’ve finished all three of the “Mountain” books:
- “My Side of the Mountain”
- “On the Far Side of the Mountain”
- “Frightful’s Mountain”.
It definitely brought back good memories of reading the first one as a child. I still envy the main character, Sam, as I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of disappearing into the wild and living off the land (One of my favorite Youtube channels is “Primitive Technology”). I loved the idea as a kid, and I still daydream about it today.
The two sequels, which I had never read before now, were both fun and very quick reads. “On the Far Side of the Mountain” harked back to the first book, for sure. Very similar feel, just progressing somewhat into Sam’s life on his land. Adding a few characters and losing the loneliness aspect that really dominates the first book.
“Frightful’s Mountain” was a very different book though. It is centered not around Sam, but on the peregrine falcon, Frightful, and her experiences starting partly during the timeline of the second book. It was interesting, but not as totally engrossing as the first two were for me.
The only thing that struck me as odd was that the first one was published in 1959. So in my head, that is the period these books take place. However, the 2 sequels were published in 1990 and 1999, and there are references to things like cell-phones to say that these take place in the 1990’s. But the storyline only spans a few years at most, maybe 4-6 years. Sam is still under 18 years old at the end of the last book. This detail doesn’t really detract from the story, it just sort of made a question mark pop up over my head while I was reading.
I love these books though. I am praying that my kids like them as much as I did and still do. My oldest is at just the right age I think, 8, to try reading the first one, and I think he’s going to love it. Here’s hoping 
Short book to follow-up the ‘mountain’ series. My wife suggested I read “Hatchet” by Gary Paulsen, as it is somewhat similar survival type story.
It is really short. It only took a day and a half to read (3 sit-downs in total). It was compelling in that I wanted to finish it and know what happened, but I don’t think it was all that great of a book. The fact that it is so short and not much of an investment, makes me more inclined to suggest it if you’re interested in survival stories.
Wow it’s been a long time since I posted in here. I can’t even really recall much of what I’ve been reading since Hatchet.
I think I re-read the Harry Potter series at some point during the winter (great as always).
We joined the “Year of Sanderson” subscription service, so I’ve been reading those projects as they get released each month. Pretty good so far.
I recently attempted for the umpteenth time to read Don Quixote. I can confidently say I’ve given it my best and final attempt. I completed Part 1, and I began Part 2. I finally just stopped though shortly into Part 2. I hate that book so much. It brings me to a similar experience as when I read Dante’s Divine Comedy (which is my all-time most hated piece of literature).
I just completed “True Grit” by Charles Portis this afternoon. Wonderful book. Reminded me of Lonesome Dove. I think I’m going to look into more from the Lonesome Dove series next. I’m in a ‘western’ mood.