I think even books we called textbooks were essentially case books.
Tom Send a noteboard - 03/01/2010 05:42:45 PM
Textbooks of any sort wouldn't be covered in my estimation, but a theoretical book on science, like Feynman's Six Easy Pieces and Six Not-So-Easy Pieces, which I bought and read back in 2000, would count. On the other hand, my old Calculus textbook wouldn't count, even if I did every exercise in the book.
Ultimately, though, I think the reason that I don't count books dealing with law is because the 50-book challenge was designed to get people to read for pleasure as well as to broaden their intellectual horizons. The 50-book challenge was a response to the growing specialisation of knowledge and falling numbers of readers. As a result, anything I read in connection with work would not count (though I did count Bleak House back in 2008 ). I extrapolate that to any reading of a professional nature, so a law student reading a case book or textbook, or a business student reading Warren Buffet's favourite, The Intelligent Investor, wouldn't count.
Of course, ultimately the 50-book challenge counts however the reader taking it decides it should. I agree that the Illuminatus trilogy is three books, not one, even though virtually everyone in the world owns them in all one book, because they were published separately. That's how I split the Cairo trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz into three books, even though my Everyman Library version is all in one very thick volume.
On your last point, Greek is truly fun to read in. The depth of nuances is something that I miss in most contemporary languages (other than Russian).
Ultimately, though, I think the reason that I don't count books dealing with law is because the 50-book challenge was designed to get people to read for pleasure as well as to broaden their intellectual horizons. The 50-book challenge was a response to the growing specialisation of knowledge and falling numbers of readers. As a result, anything I read in connection with work would not count (though I did count Bleak House back in 2008 ). I extrapolate that to any reading of a professional nature, so a law student reading a case book or textbook, or a business student reading Warren Buffet's favourite, The Intelligent Investor, wouldn't count.
Of course, ultimately the 50-book challenge counts however the reader taking it decides it should. I agree that the Illuminatus trilogy is three books, not one, even though virtually everyone in the world owns them in all one book, because they were published separately. That's how I split the Cairo trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz into three books, even though my Everyman Library version is all in one very thick volume.
On your last point, Greek is truly fun to read in. The depth of nuances is something that I miss in most contemporary languages (other than Russian).
Political correctness is the pettiest form of casuistry.
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
50-book challenge complete!
31/12/2009 10:02:42 PM
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What did you think of Three Men on a Boat? One of the more underrated comedies out there, IMO. *NM*
01/01/2010 12:02:36 AM
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I think Jerome K Jerome was brilliant, and wish there were more like him.
01/01/2010 11:21:07 AM
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Good job, Tim!
01/01/2010 01:09:20 AM
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Not only that: my current read is Matter, the last Culture novel.
01/01/2010 11:16:34 AM
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Me too.
01/01/2010 11:53:57 AM
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You counted a book about contract law???
01/01/2010 04:16:53 PM
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fnords!!!!!
01/01/2010 07:29:09 PM
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by the way
01/01/2010 07:30:04 PM
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Three. If they were originally published separately, the fact that someone collected them into...
01/01/2010 11:55:22 PM
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The Night Watch series just got progressively worse. I liked all of them, though. *NM*
01/01/2010 10:18:15 PM
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Of course. It's the 50-book challenge, not the 50-SciFi-or-Fantasy-book challenge.
02/01/2010 12:14:59 AM
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I would never have considered case books "books" for purposes of the 50-book challenge.
02/01/2010 05:41:02 PM
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It's a textbook, not a case book.
02/01/2010 08:43:42 PM
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I think even books we called textbooks were essentially case books.
03/01/2010 05:42:45 PM
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Re: You counted a book about contract law???
04/01/2010 10:30:24 AM
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We both speak Spanish already.
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Do you really figure...
05/01/2010 01:57:54 AM
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I don't think it would take less time than for Portuguese or French, but...
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I think you should teach her Koine before French
05/01/2010 04:01:44 AM
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If I could convince my wife, I would
05/01/2010 04:57:05 AM
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There's always Amharic, I suppose
05/01/2010 07:32:50 AM
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For some reason I always want to read that word as though it were in Gaelic
05/01/2010 01:49:44 PM
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Well, at least it's not Klingon!
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I have a cursory knowledge of Old Persian and a smattering of Gatha Avestan...why do you ask?
07/01/2010 06:09:20 AM
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Oh, come on. Finnish is all kinds of awesome.
05/01/2010 05:01:16 PM
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I know the word "omenapiraaka" means "apple pie" - I went to the Helsinki McDonald's.
07/01/2010 06:10:49 AM
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Since 50 and a half seems to be quite a popular number this year, here are mine.
01/01/2010 04:38:09 PM
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I think I managed, too. However, after that, my reading just... ceased.
01/01/2010 06:02:16 PM
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What did you think of Foucault's Pendulum?
02/01/2010 08:42:02 PM
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Because I'm not American.
03/01/2010 05:50:36 AM
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Yes, but you lot have lost so much more...
03/01/2010 06:03:38 AM
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Is the subjunctive any more alive in America than in Britain?
03/01/2010 06:23:09 AM
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Not in any meaningful sense. I suppose there are some irregularities which could be subjunctive...
03/01/2010 09:54:46 AM
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Would y'all ( ) say it's the same situation as with French (and I think Spanish)?
05/01/2010 02:05:59 AM
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Not exactly
05/01/2010 04:00:04 AM
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06/01/2010 08:20:53 AM
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Aaah.
03/01/2010 09:04:45 AM
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I should have mentioned...
03/01/2010 11:39:27 PM
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Illuminatus! is so great. I finished the trilogy last year, I think.
05/01/2010 06:58:14 AM
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If this will be your first Eco, I definitely recommend The Name of the Rose rather than FP. *NM*
05/01/2010 11:13:07 AM
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I finished with 90 books.
09/01/2010 09:45:29 PM
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