Are books still valuable?

[green_machine]

I'm just floored by how many people in my college classes don't read anything other than gossip columns in their spare time (if anything at all). Or the only book series they've picked up in the last decade is Harry Potter. Are people still reading? Am I just weird? Perhaps I'm asking too many Q's here? :confused:

[jonhomeowner]

Harry Potter IS the best series of the last decade.

[green_machine]

Yeah but have you read anything else since then?

[jonhomeowner]

Yeah but have you read anything else since then?
I didn't even really read the Harry Potter series. I read the seventh book.

[Nips]

i assume youre being being pedantic about series, joe? ie, theyre rarely good, so it wasnt hard for harry potter to top the bill.

anyway, i read plenty. constantly have something next to my bed. normally a 'modern classic'. im picking my way through as much of the recommended reading list as i can.

[jonhomeowner]

Yeah, Harry Potter was good by default. That isn't to say the writing wasn't good. There is some really good writing in that seventh book, and I am to understand it's like that throughout the rest of them as well. I'm just so tired of stupid "best-sellers" that are full of craptastic writing (coughcoughDANBROWNcoughcough). It's not hard to be good with stuff like that having dominated for so long.

[Danny Montez]

i do read. dont normally get through books that quick cos i just read on my lunch break at work.

[thebigother]

For the past couple of monthes I've been picking my way through a few books. It's kind of hard to just sit down and read these days though.

[Mitch-a-palooza]

my ADD usually means i'll read like 3 books in 2 weeks time then slow down to a crawl.. then i'll find another writer that catches my interest etc.. so far noah levine, chuck palahniuk, irvine welsh, and jack kerouac to name a few

[sarisucks]

I've been reading Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond and its awesome. I read Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies last year for a geography class and loved it so much I looked for other things he has written.

[Tits_McKay]

I love to read books. Only thing is, it is hard to come across a great book these days. i have been reading books that were written some time ago, A.K.A. Paradise Lost, Faust, 1984, I am Legend. Those books got me thinking, which I love when I am reading. So if you know of any extremely well written, amazing books, let me know.

[VIXXEN]

the older I get the more I want to read about history and philosophy and less fiction. I read about 60/40% Russian/English. I'm blessed to be fluent in two such different languages and have access to more great literature and most of all, thanks to my better half, blessed with the luxury of almost unlimited time to read. Thanks baby, if you read this