Thursday, March 20, 2014

This Is Why I Could Never Be A Public Intellectual: I've Actually Read These Books

The Top Ten Books People Lie About Reading

Rand is a dull writer, as is Smith.  There are whole portions of Melville's classic that one could skip, unless one is planning a career in whale processing.  I actually liked Joyce.

Then there's this quotation that made my day:

"Take Neil DeGrasse Tyson as one example, whom the internet loves with an unrestrained passion usually reserved for fluffy cat videos. He was asked a few years ago on reddit to share his recommended reading list. Given his brief commentary on the eight books he recommends, he seems largely unfamiliar with the actual content of the works by Adam Smith, Thomas Paine, Niccolo Machiavelli, and particularly Sun Tzu, who views the avoidance of killing as the best form of warfare."