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Originally Posted by astrangerhere
He used to get a great deal of glee from getting 18 and 19-year-old freshman to question their lifetimes of belief. That always bothered me when I was a professor.
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For me, that questioning of beliefs was one of the best parts of university. The professor I remember most for that was very fond of quoting Socrates's "The unexamined life is not worth living". He did not insist that your beliefs were wrong but he did want you to look at why you held those beliefs. Some of my beliefs survived the test, others were discarded. In the decades since, I have rechecked my beliefs and again discarded some that no longer fitted with whom I think I am.
Quote:
Originally Posted by astrangerhere
So I may not be well read in the sense that I read broadly enough to encompass everything (you'll never catch me with YA or romance), but if I am learning from or loving what I am reading, I am content.
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I must admit to willing to at least start reading almost anything including some YA and romance thanks to my children and wife for their recommendations. Some of the recommendations ended in the DNF pile while others I found myself enjoying. Does this keep me from being "well-read"? I'm not sure since I haven't finished reading yet.
There were other diversions such as when I was reading H. Beam Piper's Junkyard Planet and got diverted into reading a good chunk of James Branch Cabell's works. At times, I found myself agreeing with the judge in the obscenity trial for
Jurgen that "
it is doubtful if the book could be read or understood at all by more than a very limited number of readers."