How can you stand to read Fiction Book?

[pidgeon92]

This thread can compete with the "tablets are stupid" thread for most inane thread of the year.

[MrDoug]

Originally Posted by Synamon

I usually sit.

You need to sit or you may fall down.

[MrDoug]

Just today a customer I talked with said he read a book just recently similar to the tragedy that just occurred, so maybe fiction turns into reality.

[MrDoug]

I like non fiction real deal stuff. But I do believe in Santa!

[DianNC]

Originally Posted by MrDoug

Lets get real and maybe we wouldn't have so many deadly real life shootings!!

Perhaps an emotional reaction to an unspeakable tragedy and understandable. Once you've had more time to absorb it, I think you'll realize that books weren't the source or cause of the young man's actions.

[david_e]

Originally Posted by MrDoug

...Lets get real and maybe we wouldn't have so many deadly real life shootings!!

Yes, lets... Let's discuss the kind of ugly, empty existence someone, no one specific, mind you, must lead in order to leech themselves onto a tragedy, someone willing to exploit the murdering of children, in order to get a little attention.

[JoHunt]

Originally Posted by MrDoug

I like non fiction real deal stuff.

Such as books in the true crime genre?

[ucfgrad93]

Originally Posted by MrDoug

I like non fiction real deal stuff.

Then I would recommend A Higher Call.

[BelleZora]

Coincidentally, I recently heard the OP's view that fiction is a danger to society espoused by a gentleman who suspected his ability to purchase assault weapons is about to be challenged. He was suggesting the banning of books as a preferable alternative.

All of which reminds me that the mental health of the populace is a condition greatly to be desired.

[Katel]

Originally Posted by david_e

Yes, lets... Let's discuss the kind of ugly, empty existence someone, no one specific, mind you, must lead in order to leech themselves onto a tragedy, someone willing to exploit the murdering of children, in order to get a little attention.

Nods. Well said, particularly the bit about getting a little attention.
It's really sad.

[owly]

Why Fiction? For many of us the fact that someone would ask it is mind-boggling but it is a valid question. "Frivolous" literature has often been seen as harmful through history. On the other hand story-telling and myth is something that humans have been creating since time began but why? I think the word "why" lies at the core.That lightning strike that lit a fire somewhere in Africa that started it all. The first one to see it who felt that sense of wonder and curiosity, why did it hit? Why does it have different colors? It moves, what if it is alive? If it's is alive, does it feel as I do, think as I do? Can I communicate with it? Maybe make it work for me? And from that long thread back in time you can can connect to an Urban Fantasy book about raging fire Djin. Fiction can broaden the mind, give you new why's and what if's as well as entertain. Sitting in a cave, learning about the inside of that cave will teach you lots about caves but it won't make you want to go outside.

[WT Sharpe]

In the Scientific American Mind article "In the Minds of Others", Keith Oatley reports:

Recent research shows that far from being a means to escape the social world, reading stories can actually improve your social skills by helping you better understand other human beings. The process of entering imagined worlds of fiction builds empathy and improves your ability to take another person's point of view.

Some "Fast Facts" from the print edition:

• Reading stories can fine-tune your social skills by helping you better understand other human beings.
• Entering imagined worlds builds empathy and improves your ability to take another person's point of view.
• A love affair with narrative may gradually alter your personality—in some cases, making you more open to new experiences and more socially aware.

Far from being an enticement to real world violence, fiction can foster understanding and insight into the thoughts and feelings of others. Of course, not all fiction is created equal, and there's probably much to be said for the old adage, "garbage in, garbage out". But to deny the benefits of good or just plain enjoyable works of fiction seems to me to be rather—what's that word?—naïve.

[din155]

it seems people create more provocative threads towards year end.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by BelleZora

Coincidentally, I recently heard the OP's view that fiction is a danger to society espoused by a gentleman who suspected his ability to purchase assault weapons is about to be challenged. He was suggesting the banning of books as a preferable alternative.

All of which reminds me that the mental health of the populace is a condition greatly to be desired.

I remember when some in Congress wished to ban The Three Stooges. They were afraid that children would get hurt or killed trying imitate the Stooges.
I watched them as a child and always knew you could not do what they did in real life. Children tend to be smarter than some adults.
My wife thinks that those elected to Congress should have to take a stupid test.
Apache

[DrNefario]

Whew, for a minute there I thought videogames were going to take the blame again.