Quote:
Originally Posted by poohbear_nc
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To flaunt such a grandiose title as "changed the world" .... shouldn't the criteria for inclusion include a 'yes' answer to "If this book had never been written/published/read, would this substantially have changed either the history or present state of the world?"?
Would this make the list worthwhile/important/honest?
Or is this just the Guardian filling in empty space at the end of summer, where there is no real news to publish?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AnotherCat
Have had a chance to check out some of the so called "authors" that chose the books, and what found is probably not surprising considering the rag The Guardian is.
Turns out that many have political agendas and just chose books that suited their feminist, communist, or environmental activist view of the world.
Explains some of the choices, the obscurity of some, and the omission of perhaps better suited choices based on broad knowledge of literature, science, economics, etc. rather than on ideology.
EDIT: @pwalker8: I certainly agree, at least among the most very important.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by issybird
Generally, I find the Grauniad's book lists interesting and thought-provoking, but this one is just silly. They overreached themselves. Still, it occasioned a discussion here, so not a total loss.
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"Ten books that changed the world"
That's a near impossible burden to place on any book to begin with. Add to that the fact that this list made definite choices about what changes to the world were important enough to warrant making the list. Then highly questionable selections for the most influential book in that. So I always just looked at the list as a start of a discussion. It would seem that here at least it informed people of some books and/or authors that they may not have known of.
The only truly bad book in my opinion is a book the reader finds boring and does not expand knowledge and/or point of view.
Oh and there is nothing wrong with filling some empty space with something other than more coverage of politics and conflicts.
