Read a fucking book

[tigermilk]

"1984" and "Animal Farm" by George Orwell. Great reads by a great author.

My first thought was 1984, but then I tohught about the times I have bought it up in a thread and people have either only understood it on the most basic level and appear unable to critically engage with ideas. Great book though (as is Animal Farm).

I also hate people who say "well my lecturer said" as if this means there statement is infalliable.

I also feel a lot of people would do well to delve in to literature form the schools of thought of "the personal is political" and "memory work" as rationalism tends to be treated as "the truth" as is if they have dound a way to remove all subjectivity and irrationalty from their beliefs and they and they alone can see through the darkness achieving absolute objectivity.

 

[Hosker]

Just make sure you know shit about grammar, which reading most books can help with. It will really make you sound more articulate.

I can count on one hand the number of books I've read in the last 6 months, but can still hold fairly intelligent conversation just because I'm articulate and think about what I say (well, mostly, heh).

Mu cousin reads quite a bit and his spelling and grammar is still pretty bad. It only really helps if the reader is making an effort to improve their grammar, but, alas, most people don't care. The way I improved my grammar was by looking up different punctuation marks on Wikipedia; it helped a lot.

 

[subfield]

I gave up arguing over everything when I came to the realization that for the discussion to have substance there has to be a common truth.

It should go without saying that this is not the case, by simple construction. Unfortunately for human beings we have imagination, and that pretty much ruins the whole bit for us.

 

[Redingold]

Whenever someone quotes wikipedia or says they went to school for a specific subject i just ignore them. Because if i am arguing something i am only doing it because i know i am right. Not that i think i am. I know i am. My ego has no place in it. Just the knowledge. Which oddly enough has gotten me called egotistical recently because of an argument at a party and while they were all wrong i said one thing and proved everyone there wrong. Not a part of ego. Just being smarter lol.

So you refuse to accept that you could possibly be incorrect?

 

[Blue_vision]

Not so much a book thing but I wish people took a Criminology course at university (English criminology, not American).

It's some amazing eye opening stuff, theories as to crime and criminals, societal conditioning etc.

It kind of makes me wince when people condemn criminals in such a way, their idea of 'justice' is to beat them to a bloody pulp or kill them.

Also, my lecturer said something quite funny.

"As a criminology graduate, in every conversation you bring up your qualification as a sign of knowledge in that area, prepare for the onslaught of people who think they know more about crime than you because 'their bike was stolen'."

Funny stuff.

Oh my god, tell me about it. The internet tough guy statements against crime and such are just pathetic, and I haven't even taken a criminology course! (I've taken a sociology course but it's still pretty pathetic.)

It'd be nice if people could read up on some literature about real economics and sustainability. All the unfounded arguments about globalization, free market capitalism, and sustainability/the future of the world really bug me, whether it's the extreme of "globalization/extreme resource consumption is the only way to have a good society" or "we all need to start living in caves," there are some arguments I just don't understand given a presentation of real facts, research, and reasoning.

Also, people need to understand the difference between basic human freedoms, and the idea that people should be allowed to do whatever the fuck they want (such as incite hatred, commit dangerous acts, or deceive others) with no consequence.

 

[Jonluw]

Spoiler: The list of common misconceptions

I am so tired of people saying glass is a liquid.

 

[Xojins]

I wish everyone knew what the true impact of media is on peoples thoughts, behaviors, and opinions.

 

[megamanenm]

Those grammar books we had in elementary school (that's erm... age 5ish-11ish for you non-Americans) that taught you how to write sentences with correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

Speaking about people bitching about "correct grammar" I'd love it if people read some books about linguistics...

 

[omega 616]

Those grammar books we had in elementary school (that's erm... age 5ish-11ish for you non-Americans) that taught you how to write sentences with correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

I need a few all of them ...

I think people should take at "The general book of ignorance", it just corrects some things we take for granted. The first thing in the book is Henry the 8th had only 2 or 4 wives (depending on if your catholic).

If you go on the QI web site they do admit that some things in the show are corrected by new finds and stuff, so it is possible that some info in the book is out of date as well.

I don't read books much, they kill my neck ... so do DS/PSP's.

 

[Woodsey]

Whenever someone quotes wikipedia or says they went to school for a specific subject i just ignore them. Because if i am arguing something i am only doing it because i know i am right. Not that i think i am. I know i am. My ego has no place in it. Just the knowledge. Which oddly enough has gotten me called egotistical recently because of an argument at a party and while they were all wrong i said one thing and proved everyone there wrong. Not a part of ego. Just being smarter lol.

This is a joke comment, right?

 

[LostTimeLady]

It would be nice if there was more general geology and physics knowledge around. So we can reasoned and enlightened debates about volcanoes and supernovas without people being worried that we're all going to die.
It's just so less people get concerned mainly. And this comment isn't just limited to this forum, it would be so nice if it was taught more generally in schools. I consider it important stuff to know.

On a more humourous note: Everyone who makes references to the answer being 42 must have read/listened to/seen or experianced in some way shape or form the briliance that is Hitch-hikers guide to the galaxy, otherwise we're getting back into the relms of cakes being lies.

 

[Communist partisan]

The Zombie handbook thingy.

I hate Zombie threads.

Yeah, I dunno why peapole keep asking shit about zombies.


OP: Read about Communism, we are not fucking evil and Stalin wasn't Communist he was Stalinist and it a really big fucking difference!

 

[moonlantern]

The Discworld series by Terry Pratchet.

 

[Sarah Kerrigan]

I think everyone needs to read the Zombie survival guide. That book is friggin amazing and awesome in every single way.

 

[Redingold]

Whenever someone quotes wikipedia or says they went to school for a specific subject i just ignore them. Because if i am arguing something i am only doing it because i know i am right. Not that i think i am. I know i am. My ego has no place in it. Just the knowledge. Which oddly enough has gotten me called egotistical recently because of an argument at a party and while they were all wrong i said one thing and proved everyone there wrong. Not a part of ego. Just being smarter lol.

So you refuse to accept that you could possibly be incorrect?

No. I will accept that. But i hate wikipedia because of a few things that my buddy told me. And it's not like he hates it to. He loves it so it was most likely not a lie.

Whenever someone quotes wikipedia or says they went to school for a specific subject i just ignore them. Because if i am arguing something i am only doing it because i know i am right. Not that i think i am. I know i am. My ego has no place in it. Just the knowledge. Which oddly enough has gotten me called egotistical recently because of an argument at a party and while they were all wrong i said one thing and proved everyone there wrong. Not a part of ego. Just being smarter lol.

This is a joke comment, right?

Nope. I hate wikipedia. Also the School part was more for online. Like some guy arguing something about law and he was wrong so he said he was going to school for it and wouldn't listen to me. After it all someone else posted and asked what i meant and i explained it and the third person agreed 100% with me.

So what about your comments about going to school for a specific subject? Do you really think that you always know more about something than someone who has dedicated a part of their life to learning about it?

Most articles on Wikipedia now come with a large list of sources, and inaccuracies are rare.