It's not you, it's your books

Here's the problem. You are considered ignorant if you don't know anything about Pushkin. But it's perfectly normal or accepted to ignore who Enrico Fermi, Alan Turing or Paul Erdős were. We're all ignorant about something but, in society, literary ignorance is frowned upon much more than scientific ignorance.

I feel vaguely guilty when I read fiction, as if I'm wasting my time playing videogames or watching TV. It's gotten to the point where I can't really enjoy novels anymore. I still occasionally read trashy non-fiction though; today I've been reading To Cork Or Not To Cork by George Taber. I wonder what this says about my future relationship prospects.

Heh, I actually an "Atlas Shrugged" experience - I knew a pretty girl and after adding her on facebook I noticed the book was at the top of her favourites. That really did change the way I thought of her.<p>But more generally, I can't make my mind up one way or another about this. I've seen the kind of relationship the last part of the article talks about - very long term, very stable with interests like books, movies, music etc being completely irrelevant - so that makes me think its quite right. At the same time, there's gotta be some baseline - how can a music lover go out with someone that thinks highly of (say) Paris Hilton's music? Or a normal person with a objectivist? ;)

I'm always suspicious of adults who list Harry Potter as their favourite book.

I admit it. I read the Character of Physical Law just to pick up chicks.

Reminds of me Joel Spolsky's quote, to which I agree with to some degree.<p><i>"You can learn a lot about somebody by the books they've read. And I've always thought that if you read all the same books I read, you'll come to think like me, too."</i><p><a href="http://www.joelonsoftware.com/navLinks/fog0000000262.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.joelonsoftware.com/navLinks/fog0000000262.html</a>

My girlfriend loved Harry Potter when we first met but I've since turned her on to much higher quality stuff (fantasy and otherwise) and she seems to be responding well. At least she doesn't have any literary pretensions like some girl who prides herself on having read pushkin probably does.<p>If you pride yourself on having rad certain authors you're reading them for the wrong reasons. You don't read great literature because it's "Great Literature". You read it because it is good.<p>I suppose it's to be expected. Even in the intellectual world Sturgeon's Law applies. 90% of everything is crap.<p>(Btw, if you havn't you should read Theodore Sturgeon's More Than Human)

I once dated a girl who said to me: "Barnes and Noble? What's that?" and "I've only read two books in my life."<p>But she was the one that broke it off.<p>Now I'm marrying someone that I worked with in a bookstore.

I've learnt this lesson the hard way. Now my favorite book in social networks is "Why Most Things Fail" by Paul Omerod.<p>I'll recommend it to everyone, but specially to those with some interest, and little knowledge, in Economics.

I read Hacker News. Does that mean I can only date geek chicks? What if there aren't any?

Music is considerably more important than books, since it's typically hard to avoid the other person's taste, good or bad. "Urban contemporary", "country" music, and anything involving death grunts can cause problems.

submarine alarm