Do you negatively judge people who don't read books for pleasure?

I’m not going near this one with a 10 foot pole.

@pdworkin She already knows how I feel about it! LOL!
NO, I do not, Sam I Am. That would be ignorant, IMO.

Since I’m one of those people, nope.

I actually feel really nerdy when people find out I’m a bookworm. I do judge people with horrible dime-novel taste, though.

@efritz It’s fascinating to me how so many super intelligent, nerdy people get into comic books!

@Val123 – totally. Although comic books are fashionable right now, haven’t you heard? ;)

@Val123 My dad learned to read in 3rd grade reading comic books. He is by most measures a nerd. Do you watch Big Bang Theory? They meet up in the comic book store on that show.

Up until I read the synopsis behind your question I probably would have been a little judgmental. Being an avid writer of all kinds of genres (can’t go to sleep without reading a few pages of some book) I probably would have judged you as I have others you say they don’t read. However thanks for enlightening me I guess I never thought about people who are more mathematical. Yet I still can’t help but wonder what do you do for escapism.

Unless you have an insanely time-consuming job, I will probably judge you for not reading. It’s as much a commentary on my values, I suppose, as it is on yours.

@Mamradpivo Some people are better in math than others and it’s the same thing with reading. It just comes easier for some people than it does for others. It wouldn’t make any sense to look down on someone because they weren’t a whiz in math or music, or anything else. Are you super good at everything?

@mponochie To escape I do watch quite a bit of tv I admit, another thing that is sometimes judged, but a large variety of programming from sit-coms, talk shows, cspan (I do watch the book review show on there, where they have authors talking about their books, just to confuse you more), PBS, Discovery, History channel, etc. I also love to travel lately, I think during the summer I was gone almost every other week. Moreover, I communicate with people a lot. I discuss issues, ask people about their professions, interests, hobbies. I am an auditory learner more than anything. If I sit in a lecture I will absorb almost everything.

I wonder what assumption people are making about people who don’t read, besides just judging or not? I have a Marketing degree from Michigan State University, I test in the 97th percentile for IQ, I am fairly fluent in Spanish, I was a Buyer for a major retailer. My husband also does not read books generally, unless related to work, but he doesn’t really enjoy it, more like an assignment for himself. He is VP of Compensations and Benefits at a medium sized company, has a Masters degree, and is fully bilingual.

No, that would be my boyfriend you’re talking about. Different strokes for different folks.

There may be a higher instance of lower intelligence among those who do not read, but that doesn’t mean I judge a person for not reading. Each person should be treated as an individual and not lumped in with something else that they might not be.

Yeah, I negatively judge you.

Then I get to know you and see it was stupid to judge you.

Or, as the case has occasionally been, I see that it was not so stupid.

But usually it’s stupid.

@DominicX I think you are probably right, there might be a higher instance of lower intelligence or education maybe? Like all stereotypes, the assumption is probably there for a reason, but simply does not apply to everyone in the group.

i can’t imagine a day without some reading unless it’s a great day of talking! have trouble going to sleep without reading fiction, books in my bathroom so i don’t have to be bored while peeing, ebooks, etc no harlequin romances- that i would just assume a lessr intelligence[lol] how do you slow your mind down without reading?

I just feel sorry for those who don’t love books as much as I do. I get such a huge amount of pleasure out of reading both fiction and nonfiction, and I feel that it broadens my horizons and knowledge-base without having to actually go all those places and talk to all of those people.

I can understand folks who only read one book at a time, but I am puzzled by folks who do not own any books at all. My husband’s sister runs one of those households. There are no books or magazines at all anywhere in the house. Otherwise they seem to be normal people, but they don’t seem to have a lot of curiosity about the world or how other people think.

@Darwin I find houses that have NO books to be strange myself. I got ‘em all over the freaking place! In cabinets, in my buffet, on shelves, in closets, in the bathroom, in boxes lying about. I don’t have room for any more! I’ve finally started cycling all but the very best ones out. (I still have yours, Matt!)

@Darwin Otherwise they seem to be normal people I gave you a GA for that. It’s not that I am not curious about the world, and all sorts of different things. I love learning. You have taught me things. If I go to the library or a book store I read through things I am interested in. I am just a pick and choose the chapter person.

I grew up in a house full of books. My siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins all have houses full of books. I assumed that everyone had at least one book shelf somewhere full of books.

However, I remember when I first realized that most people don’t have houses full of books. I was in the courtyard of the apartment building I lived in and it was after dark so everyone had their lights on. As I looked around I saw that my apartment was the only one with a big bookshelf full of books. It was quite a shock.

And as I think about people who are my friends, they too all have lots of books.

My gut reaction is to judge, but not to dismiss. If a person proves to be intelligent without being a reader, good for them.

@Darwin A grew up in house full, overfull, of books too. My dad loves his books like he loves people. The basement had 15 large bookcases probably when I was young, and three bookcases in the living room. Now double it with his business.

@JLeslie – I sell used books online, too. My theory was that it would help me reduce the number of books in the house. However, I was sadly mistaken. If anything, books in close proximity seem to breed, plus when I look for sales stock I far too often find books I want to keep, not sell.

I tell people that I am using the books for insulation, to lower the cost of air conditioning the house, and I am also using them to weight the house down so a hurricane can’t blow it away.

Your dad had only 18 book cases? I have 30 in the house, and many more in the “warehouse” (three climate-controlled storage units). I have promised my kids that before I die I will get the number of books I own down to only a few thousand.

@Darwin Now it is over 30, like I said above, now it is double from my growing up years, and frequently some piles on the floor or dining room table. The same thing happened to him, funny, he hoped selling them would help him get rid of books, but he is a little OCD/hoarder about the whole thing in my opinion, AND he makes good money from the business, so he has accumulated more books in total in the process of selling.

Oh, and many of the book cases have deep shelves, and are in the middle of the room, so books face out on both sides, if you know what I mean.

@JLeslie – Consider this: I have 5000 books listed online for sale. I have bought out several fellow booksellers and have listed their books online for sale, too, for a total of 10,000 books. I also have about 10,000 yet to be listed, and I have my own personal books numbering about 5,000.

I don’t live in a house, I live in a library.

would people judge me for loving harry potter books? and being sorry that thy’re over?

@Darwin That’s how it feels in my parents house, they live in a small townhouse. I just went on amazon to see if I could search by his user name how many books he has online currently, but I did not see how I to do it?

I know because 1) I maintain my own database locally, and 2) Alibris and ABE tell me how many I have on their sites. However, I have to log in as me to get that information.

@Darwin That is amazing. I either sell my books or give them away (I don’t buy many, actually – more on that in a sec), but a large, personal library would be awesome. I quite often think to myself, “wow, I wish I had Book X around still.”

To answer the question, I actually don’t read many books. For the past few years, I’ve been more interested in reports, lectures and such. If I do pick up a book, it’s usually a non-fiction title. Does that count?

That said, it’s disheartening when people choose to not read at all, save for a Best Buy flier, their friend’s Facebook updates or other such things immediately relevant to their social bubble. I don’t judge negatively in their favor, I only wish they had some sort of interest in something more… please excuse me as I whip out my elitist persona – academic. But again, I don’t judge them because of this.

I do not judge non-readers negatively. I didn’t always enjoy reading books myself, but that changed as I got older. However, you may say that I prefer the company of readers because they are more like myself. Unless you read Twilight or Dan Brown novels. do not want.

SPARKLES

TEH ILLUMINATI

When I think about how much random useful knowledge that I’ve gained from reading, I rather think I do judge people who don’t read. I do associate that with a lack of random useful knowledge, knowing at least a little something about just about anything which makes you sound smart, so I don’t think its completely unreasonable to consider those who don’t read less knowledgeable. Not necessarily less intelligent, but less knowledgeable.

Let’s say I have an hour to kill. I can either…

a) Watch an entire Discovery Channel (or similar network) special, or
b) Read like 3 pages out of a book

Which option will result in more enjoyment and knowledge gained?

No. @JLeslie isn’t a reader. She is very knowledgeable and uses language effectively. Why would I make such a judgment on one piece of information. People are busy. If someone would rather spend free time watching movies or knitting, or whatever, it makes no difference to me. There are many ways to learn.

This question made me really think.

It’s not that I think that people who don’t read books are stupid or intellectually challenged. But I often think that my conversations with non-readers are very different.

For example, my brother has two children. He never read, neither did his wife. She is a brilliant chemist. They don’t have books in their house. The children did not grow up reading and yet, they are “A” students. So, they are intellingent. What I see missing…is the intellectual curiosity that reading books opens up. I find that my conversations with them are simply on one level. The children (teens actually) are not curious about things that are not in their textbooks. The “why” questions that I used to ask as a child and that my child asked from a young age having been exposed to books also at a young age. “Why does it take so long for light from stars to reach us?” “Do you suppose there is life on other planets?” “Why can’t we see God?” These are questions that are a bit deeper and that provoke deeper answers.

I don’t see that in Western students that don’t read. And often, I don’t see that depth in Western people that don’t read. I realize that this is a generalization, and I don’t mean to offend. There is also spiritual depth and that doesn’t come from books necessarily. It comes from life.

I have a handful of friends that I consider family…my closest “peeps”. Two of them do not read at all. One of them reads some. Two read a lot. We are bonded through different experiences….but I do find myself discussing relationships and/or family issues with those that do not read. I have deeper discussions on the mysteries of life and the metaphoric meaning of a novel with those that do read.

I can’t remember living without books. We always had books in our house. I started reading books at a young age. My grandfather was a writer/poet and I spent a lot of time with my grandparents and I saw him reading. My mother read a great deal. As her life became more stressful she stopped reading good lit and buried herself in boxes upon boxes of “Harlequin Romances” to escape. But even those (pulp novels) were still books and she was never seen without a book.

When I was a child, my mother would give me money to buy clothing and I would go spend my money on books. I am fascinated by books——not just the contents, the way they feel, the way they look, old books….books in series….old children’s books. On my wish list is a set of Arthur Ransome’s children’s novels and all the books in the Persephone imprint (London) which are obscure women’s novels….there are 83 available now and you can buy them all in one fell swoop. (My dream.)

Basically…..I don’t know if I stereotype people by whether they read or not. I do notice differences. But some of the greatest knowledge has come to me from Native elders, shamans, and spiritual people who did not read at all. They studied nature, they saw with clear vision and they taught lessons through years of observing the human condition.

So…..books are a passion of mine….but true wisdom doesn’t just come from books and this I have learned first hand.

I always have a couple on the go plus one or two on the iPod, I have loved books since I was a little kid too.

But I know a lot of illiterate people from whom I can learn astounding lessons, so no, I don’t judge by that standard.

@DarlingRhadamanthus

GA. That probably is true in large part as a general statement.

I just wanted to say that though my boyfriend doesn’t read books for pleasure, he is very creative, and he does ask “why” questions and comes up with interesting ideas and thoughts all the time. He must just be an anomaly. Of course, I’ve always thought he was an anomaly.

@Ivan – It takes you an hour to read three pages!? Are you only reading Quantum Physics? I can read most of a typical paperback novel in an hour, but it takes me a bit longer to work through some heavy-duty scientific literature.

And actually, I find I can watch an hour of Discovery and read most of a paperback novel.

@DarlingRhadamanthus – I, too, wish I could find all of Arthur Ransome’s children’s novels. I just picked up a nice hard-bound copy of Swallows and Amazons for 50 cents, but there are so many others I would like to have at hand.

@Darwin

Cool story bro.

The only time I negatively judge anybody is when I am negatively judging them.

I am not critical of those who do not like to read. You have to develope that appetite early in life. I was in a slow reading group when I was in elementary school. Since I wasn’t a good reader, I wasn’t interrested in it. I read my first book (cover to cover) when I was in High school.

I like to read now, but I am still a bit slow. In college, I was an English major, History minor [what was I thinking]...talk about reading!

My problem today? Too many books – so little time.

Tip: for those of you who like books, but have no time to read, try audio books. The nice thing about audio books – I will listen to something that I would never attempt to read. In the past five years I have listened to over 100 books.

I might. Just a little, and only at first. Then I kick myself, and remind myself that we do not all need to be alike.
Each person should be viewed on an individual basis, and I form my final opinion on much more than whether or not someone is a reader. All that said, I don’t really get it. If it makes you feel any better, I have definitely been negatively judged for being an avid reader. I don’t think non-readers get us, either. ;-)

Well, I’m going to say it outright: I do negatively judge people who don’t read books. I value intelligence and intellectual curiosity more than anything else and books are the best way to acquire the first, feed the latter and inspire both.

Even with the great resources like the internet and educational networks like TLC and Discovery, you’d be hard-pressed to find any resource that will go into the type of depth about a subject the way a book is capable of. Yes, even Wikipedia (which shouldn’t be considered as anything more than a starting point for information on a subject). For example, I’ve seen several documentaries about Hitler and the Third Reich, yet all of them combined didn’t tell me as much as the book The Life and Death of Nazi Germany by Robert Goldston. Another example is the movie Supersize Me and the book Fast Food Nation. They have essentially the same message, but the book tells you so much more about the fast food industry, the unhealthiness of the food, the exploitation of workers, etc. Simply put, the book format just allows a depth of detail that could only be matched in another format over the course of an almost unwieldy amount of time. Guns, Germs and Steel, for example, is around 16 hours long in audiobook form. How many documentaries or Discovery Channel programs spend that much time (and detail) on a single subject? Not many (only Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah comes to mind at the moment).

The above is mostly an argument for non-fiction, but the same principle applies to fiction. It’s a rare movie or television show that will have the same depth of characterization and plot as a book (though I have to admit, TV shows are having a bit of renaissance right now on that point). For me, fiction is about really getting into the heads of characters and being entertained by intricate plots; books seem to be better equipped for this, especially in regards to the former.

To illustrate it differently, I think of intelligence like fresh water. Yeah, you could go around collecting drops from a bunch of leaves or stand in the rain with your mouth open to quench your thirst, but why not just drink straight from the river of knowledge?

In real life, I hardly know anyone who reads. Besides my brothers and one friend, I can’t think of anyone else. Yes, I am aware that my world is quite small. And there is a distinct difference in the conversations I have with the readers from the non-readers, the most obvious one being the depth of conversation. My best friend, who is not a reader, is a clever, funny guy, but there are certain subjects that just can’t be discussed between us. His interests revolve around the little things that happen in his life: family, work, social relationships, etc. There’s no questioning of the origins of life, the meaning of the universe, the basis of morals, etc., with him. Since I do think about these things, I tend to rattle on about them and he listens attentively, but doesn’t add much to the discussion.

Don’t misunderstand me: I don’t think all non-readers are unintelligent (though I feel you’ll find a much higher concentration of intelligent people amongst readers). What I have observed from the non-readers in my life is that their intelligence extends to a certain level but doesn’t reach beyond it. Some are smarter than others, but it’s as if it only reaches to a point and ends there. For some of them, it almost feels like they have a solid grasp of the practical side of a matter, but not the conceptual side (and no desire to know it either). Kind of like the kids in class who do exactly what is required to get that “A” grade but don’t care to learn further. This doesn’t mean they are bad people. I am quite fond of many non-readers. But the depth of my relationship with them can only extend so far if certain discussions are stillborn.

Please don’t take this rant as a knock against you, @JLeslie. You appear to be quite rational, skeptical and intelligent (as far a I can tell from your Fluther persona).

exactly, only going one step when there are unlimited steps! i don’t say it’s intelligence, but reading sure shows an interest besides what your family might believe since gggranpa told gg what its all about

I don’t judge negatively at all. My mother-in-law is a reading specialist in our school system and believes firmly that people don’t have to necessarily sit down and read a book to be well-read, well informed, and to exercise his/her reading and language skills. Any reading, whether online, comics, newspapers, magazines, cereal boxes, movie subtitles, etc, is beneficial.

I would love to love reading as much as some people, but I’m a very slow reader and it’s frustrating. I’m so easily distracted that it takes weeks to read even the shortest book. I’ve been reading East of Eden for a month, and I’m not even a ¼ the way through. I’m a much better writer than I am reader.

I guess it’s a hobby and a talent like everything else. I much prefer listening to and playing music.

First, GA’s to everyone. I so appreciate the honesty, especially those of you who admitted to judging; even knowing I, the OP, was not one to read books myself.

@DarlingRhadamanthus I question how things work. I want to know why Pluto does not fit the parameters necessary to be considered a planet, I am interested in governments role in our lives, I want to know everything I can about new discoveries in medicine, and more. I think books and journals are the best place to learn most of these things. I actually prefer print on paper to the internet when I want extensive information on something, even though I might google it for some basics. But, to me, these sorts of things are not reading books, but rather looking up particular subjects. Regarding your nephews I think they are just young, and have a good chance of growing up to be inquistive adults.

@drdoombot and continued for @DarlingRhadamanthus There are some topics that require a lot of reading, I agree, to understand all of the background, or if you need great detail on a subject. Like understanding the middle east, which I find interesting. It is important to understand the long history, so on this topic I have done some reading, and am very interested in conversations about the middle east, in some ways admittedly relying on others who are well read on the topic; I realize I may lack some historical background. I would love to see movies on the subject, because history is very hard for me to read and keep in my brain, even if I am interested. Regarding the middle east I think a lot of people seem very opinionated when they don’t know the history at all, which I think is bad; they have strong opinions based on nothing, they are just going along with what a politician or someone in their church told them to think. I can read medical information and take it all in, which I do a lot, for whatever reason that type of reading is different to me. I guess I have just always been inclined towards math and science. I took Business Calculus in college when it was not required, and AP Anatomy and Physiology in High School, because I was interested. I never looked for the easy class for an easy A. It is not that I do not pursue knowledge, and I assume there are others like me.

But, again, as I stated above, it might be true that people who don’t read books might statistically be more likely to be lower on the bell curve for IQ, but like all generalizations/stereotypes/prejudgements you have to get to know the individual, rather than making assumptions.

Maybe some of it is semantics. It is not that I never read. @Grisaille summed it up pretty well for me when he said to answer the question, I actually don’t read many books. For the past few years, I’ve been more interested in reports, lectures and such. If I do pick up a book, it’s usually a non-fiction title. I guess if I judge anything it is a lack of curiosity, as some have stated above, but not really how you go about learning the information. I know people who read all of the time, and what they read is junk, it’s the same thing over and over again. Many of them know much less than me on topics I think matter in life, it seems like they are just floating through even though they read all of the time. I guess if they find enjoyment from the books it has value. But, in general I equate reading with learning, not as a form of entertainment.

@Ivan
Would I be personalizing this comparison in arguing that one gets more out of books, even if it takes him so many hours to finish one, than out of a lazily-watched program on the Discovery Channel?

Because it takes me a long time to read anything, too. I’ve always been a slow reader. But the satisfaction and knowledge that is gained (and better-retained) through the travails of reading~ are far greater than anything to be gained from watching any kind of television ever.

Maybe you can remember a lot of what you learn on television. That would be pretty cool. But all the information provided by (e.g.) the Discovery Channel just feels so insubstantial and I’m not able to hold onto it. One must also remember the station’s first (and maybe only) goal is to entertain its viewers, not educate them. Unfortunately, a lot of books are like this too…

@nxknxk I read slower than average also, not sure I mentioned that on this thread, that is part of it for me, part of the reason I am not inclined to read a book cover to cover. Darwin is like my father, they can read a book in an hour.

By this scale, I am a slow reader myself. I certainly can’t read a book in an hour. The quickest I’ve read a book was in 2 days. It was a page-turner by Stephen King and it was 304 pages.

@DominicX impossible for me. 304 in two days. My father says it is because I read every word?

@JLeslie

That might actually be true. A lot of readers develop something called “chunking” (what a gross term) which basically means they are reading multiple words at once, similar to the way we read a word by recognition of the whole word rather than reading its individual letters.

But like you I read every word, and have never felt the need or desire to speed-read. The import of words is lost in that.

@JLeslie @nxknxk Chunking or “hopping”, yes. You envelop 3 or 4 words at a time, and handle sentences that way. Instead of focusing on one word, you “hop” through sentences.

What also helps is getting rid of the “internal voice”, that is, when we read, we tend to read each individual word in our heads, silently. Training yourself not to do that speeds things up rather substantially. If you are interested in the basics of speed reading at all, I suggest picking up Breakthrough Rapid Reading by Peter Kump.

@nxknxk

I don’t doubt or deny anything you’ve said, but it’s simply not efficient for me. I am a terribly slow reader. This is most likely due the my lack of reading, so it’s kind of a catch-22. I certainly don’t take anything I see on the Discovery channel as gospel, but it’s still a good way to learn about new interesting topics, even if only superficially. I’ve made an effort to read casually. I’ve bought a handful of books, fiction and nonfiction, relevant to topics I find interesting. While I am usually interested in what I’m reading, it still just becomes a chore more than a pleasure. If I have time to sit down and read, I would be better served to read a textbook, and if I have time to relax, I’d much rather spend it doing something I enjoy.

um…a little bit… but only in reference to whether they would make a suitable friend or partner… I’d need to be able to talk about books to someone that I’m intimate with… I don’t think that it makes them any less of a person than me… just that we wouldn’t have that similar conection

I think it depends on what a person does with that time instead. Maybe a person doesn’t like books, but instead reads informational websites, or does research. Maybe a person doesn’t like any of those things and watches documentaries. Maybe a person doesn’t watch anything at all, but instead does crafts or cooking or body improvements. All that stuff is acceptable to my judgmental mind.

I do, however, tend to feel that those who watch a lot of commercial TV, with no books, and no internet…. well they tend to not be very bright. They tend to know about movies and celebrities, but nothing else.

As for you… well you’re here. You’re on a thinker’s website. So you escape the iron fist of my inner judgment. Not that my judgment really matters at all.

I thought of something over the weekend (yes, fluther questions fluther around me, like, when I’m driving or going to the grocery store and stuff…) There was a question of intelligence regarding people who don’t like to read. I don’t think that you can equate a lack of interest in a particular task with less intelligence. I have no interest in a LOT of things that others are very good at, and very interested in. They may view it as a lack of intelligence on my part and…..that’s hardly fair!

About this fast reading chunking thing. I thought about this. In math you have to read every word of a problem. In science this sometimes applies as well, although certain documents you would read similar to a book. My point is those of us inclined towards math, I wonder if we are more accustomed to, or more in the practice of reading sentence slowly and word for word? I was thinking about a friend of mine’s daughter who recently did poorly on a multiple choice test in math, because every time a question was in the negative or reverse of what was expected she got it wrong; list these numbers greatest to lowest, which number is NOT divisible by 3, etc. She is going too fast and making assumptions about what is being asked.

I don’t. None of my business what people are into, or lack thereof.

I get that sense too. I know some people that are total book snobs who act more superior to everyone else around them. How many books a person reads reflects on weather or not they enjoy the activity not their IQ. I prefer to be physically active rather than read and my IQ is above average, so there.