Seperating the Wheat from the Chaff

[wgrimm]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Since this has been round this loop three times already, I will not comment further on it. If you'd like to get back to the topic of the thread -- books and book reviews -- I'm all ears.

Which takes us back to the starting point- is there any sense discussing books/literature if there is no aesthetics beyond one's "I like it or not" personal opinion?

[tompe]

Originally Posted by wgrimm

Which takes us back to the starting point- is there any sense discussing books/literature if there is no aesthetics beyond one's "I like it or not" personal opinion?

Of course it is because you discus the components and things in the book that makes you like or dislike it.

And I do not see how this discussion depends on whether there is an objective standard or not.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by wgrimm

Which takes us back to the starting point- is there any sense discussing books/literature if there is no aesthetics beyond one's "I like it or not" personal opinion?

Of course there is. Remember way back to that shared consensus thing?

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by wgrimm

Which takes us back to the starting point- is there any sense discussing books/literature if there is no aesthetics beyond one's "I like it or not" personal opinion?

Sure. There's "is someone else's like/dislike useful for me to figure out what I like/dislike?" You don't need universal standards of good literature to find some book reviews useful, nor to discuss which ones are not useful and why.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

It's all about figuring out who else shares your approximate tastes and opinions, and interacting with them.