Types and reading

[Beautiful sky]

Please let us know which types are likely to read what kind/genre/types of books.

[HandiAce]

As an Ne-ego, I read non-fiction, factual, how-to, scientific works. It feds my imagination since I don't need anyone to tell me what to imagine.

[strangeling]

I read journals, excerpts, documentaries, technical manuals, forums, news websites, about physics experiments, and about philosophy, haphazardly. The only fiction books I've ever truly finished were The Stranger and Knee Deep in the Dead.

I don't have the patience for reading long books when all I want to know is the implications and the point of the story or idea or happening. Some of the time, the books don't give you that information anyway, so it's more enjoyable for me to read about books and then read sections that might appeal to me.

[krieger]

i read blogs and reference materials voraciously.

non-fiction books i skim. fiction books i avoid almost completely.

i like summarized, structured information. anything presented in the form of a flowing narrative is torturous to me.

[FDG]

i read blogs and reference materials voraciously.

non-fiction books i skim. fiction books i avoid almost completely.

i like summarized, structured information. anything presented in the form of a flowing narrative is torturous to me.

Yeah, more or less my preferences aswell, although I do read some fiction books sometimes, usually from authors with a peculiar style.

[Scapegrace]

I'm IEI (lolz).

And I like to read philosophy and non-fiction mostly. I tend to be fairly random. I used to be anyway. I felt like I would have a broader knowledge base. So I would read soil text books etc. I think it was also because I was poor and I just read what I could get.

I read a lot of fiction for school. I don't like modern writing much. I prefer my fiction authors to be 100 years dead. I read for the writing not the story. Modern language is terrible.

I also spend an hour or so a day reading the news.

[munenori2]

When I was younger I loved fantasy (Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, etc). Sci fi was hit or miss, usually the ones I like were really comedic (Red Dwarf) or more psychological (Armor). I never got why anyone would read non fiction books at all as they made me want to headdesk. Still I liked history in general and military history specifically. As I've grown older I've enjoyed more abstract studies of feminism (Virginia Woolf), sociology and philosophy in select limited tidbits, and military strategy, particularly where they echo a more Aristotelian approach like Sound Military Decision by the Naval War College. I don't really read that much these days though. I also like to read treatises on the martial arts like The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi and The Life Giving Sword by the guy that gives me my username, Yagyu Munenori, or just picture books about sword or spear techniques. In the fantasy days I'd read a book or two a week but now I'm more on par for two or three a year.

[krieger]

philosophy is less exciting to me than psychology, economics/finance and engineering (software or otherwise), although not quite as boring as physics (apart from basic practical newtonian stuff that has bearing on everyday life). math is useful to the extent it helps me properly do other things but not worthwhile in it's own right. history is interesting only in as far as it illustrates principles in social sciences. one field i feel is worth mentioning in particular is neuroscience although i tend to suffice with the stylized, truncated version of the facts rather than the arbitrary details as to how each individual part of the nervous system is named.

[ashlesha]

For fiction: mostly suspense/thriller or horror for the page turner feeling and being on the edge of my seat about who done it or what will happen next. Sometimes drama if it's well done and can prompt me to reevaluate how I feel and where I stand on things that are relevant to me. Sometimes old classics even though I often find them difficult to get into for sort of an anthropological purpose. I want to be clued in to the stuff that has had an influence on culture and the collective mindset. Sometimes I end up loving them.

For non-fiction, it's been mostly pop psychology or typology but these days I'm pretty burnt out on that stuff. Topics that are relevant to my everyday life like cookbooks or kids card games or how to save money. The occasional auto/biography. I feel like I'm forgetting something. Edit: all the random articles I read via apps on my phone.

[Beautiful sky]

I cant read fiction. It feels like prison to me.

Neither can I.

[Cyrano]

ISTp /SLI Like to read...Cliff notes.

[Pa3s]

I read mostly non-fiction about politics, society and history. If I read fiction, then it's almost exclusively science-fiction. I don't follow any blogs but I'll read interesting articles in the net if I stumble upon them.

[Korpsy Knievel]

As an ESE-EII 279so/sp Ophiuchus I love reading Garfield every day.

[Nowisthetime]

fiction books i avoid almost completely.

i like summarized, structured information. anything presented in the form of a flowing narrative is torturous to me.

Please try "The Brooklyn Follies" by Paul Auster. My LII friend likes the book, he recommended it to me. He seems alot like you, serious and scientific, but he likes light emotions and funny stories for relaxation. Then tell me what you thought of the book.

[ClownsandEntropy]

I have recently enjoyed reading:
To Kill a Mockingbird
Catcher in the Rye
The Hunger Games
White Noise

Maybe someone categorise them for me?

[Pa3s]

I have recently enjoyed reading:
To Kill a Mockingbird
Catcher in the Rye
The Hunger Games
White Noise

Maybe someone categorise them for me?

Mainstream? Just kidding, some books become popular for a reason (some don't, though).

[leckysupport]

philosophy is less exciting to me than psychology

In terms of philosophy you should try Maxims by La Rochefoucauld it is closer to what we would call psychology, it's also short and pretty easy to read (mostly consisting of aphorisms).

[krieger]

is there a summary somewhere...

[leckysupport]

is there a summary somewhere...

I could find a proper summary online (it isn't easy to summarise) but hopefully this review is enough:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...d-1807177.html

[Absurd]

Hmm, I read anything I could and into some things I got deeper, ad in some not at all losing interest/dropping what I have been doing day by day as years progressed and getting into things not known to me before, again, to drop it, but some things from past I have been into stayed with till this day.

[Darkworker]

Please let us know which types are likely to read what kind/genre/types of books.

I belive Logical types read more non-fiction and Ethical types fiction.

This has to do with the goals of the types. For example, LSE is probably interested in books that have some kind of practical value, "how to build..."
The types that have motivation to experience more emotions are going to be interested in reading fiction books... Ethical types.

As ILI, my motivation is to increase inner power and develop myself. So I seek the information that helps me accomplish this. When I read fiction book I feel like i am wasting time and energy. No benefit in it. But if I convince myself that reading fiction book is going to open up my creativity, I might read it.

[Absurd]

This has to do with the goals of the types. For example, LSE is probably interested in books that have some kind of practical value, "how to build..."

Never read such nor am interested in such. How to build what, though, a dungeon to keep people in, the more nutty ones? I can do that without referencing to a book.

It's called skills...

[Korpsy Knievel]

Never read such nor am interested in such. How to build what, though, a dungeon to keep people in, the more nutty ones? I can do that without referencing to a book.

It's called skills...

Louis Theroux: [voiceover] Although I'd gone to bed, Will stayed up late with Jimmy. He began talking about his work as a dancehall manager in the Fifties.

Jimmy Savile: In the dancehalls I invented zero tolerance, I wouldn't stand for any nonsense whatever - ever. Ever ever ever. I was always in trouble with the law for being heavy-handed. Always. But I couldn't care less about that.

Will Yapp: [off-camera] Ejecting people who were mucking about?

Jimmy Savile: No, I never threw anybody out. Tied 'em up, and put them down in the bloody boilerhouse until I was ready for them, at 2 o'clock in the fucking morning. They'd plead to get out! Nobody ever got slung out of my place.

Will Yapp: Tied them up and put them in the back?

Jimmy Savile: Oh aye, yeah. Oh aye, bollocks to them, yeah. We'd tie 'em up and everybody would come back and I was the judge, jury and executioner.

[the picture fades to a different point in the conversation]

Jimmy Savile: You know, if a copper came and said "You was a bit heavy with them, that kid or those two guys, whatever", I'd say "Your daughter comes in here, she's 16, she's not supposed to come into town but she does and she comes here. Presumably you'd like me to look after her, if you don't want me to look after her, tell me, and I'll let them dirty slags do what they want to her" "All right, Jim, all right, all right, all right" "All right, then. Don't give me a fucking hard time, then" "Yeah, you're right, you're right, you didn't give the bastard half enough, I'll tell you, Jim. Thank you, goodbye" And I never got nicked.

[he chuckles]

Jimmy Savile: And I've never altered. I've got zero tolerance, me.

[he lights another cigar]

[Darkworker]

Never read such nor am interested in such. How to build what, though, a dungeon to keep people in, the more nutty ones? I can do that without referencing to a book.

It's called skills...

My father is LSE and my opinion was based on my understanding of him.

If you are not interested in reading books that have practical value, what kind of books are you interested in?

[Korpsy Knievel]

Reading of different LSEs I know:

- Film theory and reviews.

- Military history and fiction, spy novels, and hunting magazines.

- Nothing much at all.

[Absurd]

My father is LSE and my opinion was based on my understanding of him.

If you are not interested in reading books that have practical value, what kind of books are you interested in?

Great, I'm not your father and books/magazines and such do not have practical value, those are theories and ideas, I can agree though that the only practical value they have is when you burn them to get warm, wipe your arse off, that is, use them in a way that actually practical. I'm sure some of them do their job fine when applied, but they do not have to.

Sure, I read like crazy when younger and korpsey got it, although I still do not know how, but I've licked military history actually some time ago amongst many subjects but usually I read those that helped me to keep in touch/up to date with, say, my job, etc. Most things I have learned has been through interaction with environment though, not sitting in chair and reading books on how to do something. Oh, I've read novels as well and didn't die like true LSEs.

[ClownsandEntropy]

Mainstream? Just kidding, some books become popular for a reason (some don't, though).

Actually doesn't sound too far off, now I think about it- perhaps I want to read all of the books which have become classics (Hunger Games excepted, of course ) because it's interesting to see these different characters or the ideas brought up by the author. I probably throw a spanner in the works because I don't have any particular passion for non-fiction despite being (self-typing as) a Logical type.

Separately, what "kinds" of books are there? It might help discussion if we had vague categories with which to reference, i.e.

Non-fiction
How-to books
History/biography books (or should this be separate?)
etc.

Fiction
Escapist
Classics
Ideas-based (I'm thinking Atlas Shrugged or Brave New World kind of books, where you're supposed to go in and analyse it)
etc.
(I didn't put in genres because I'm not sure if genres are a type-thing: it may be more of an interests thing).

[SyrupDeGem]

I read all sorts, i leave books in every room so i can pick one up whever i feel like it...plus i like variety.

Lots of different types of reading material... next to me i have several .... most i have been reading for some time but not completed

Cervantes -Don Quixote
The Romanovs -Lindsey Hughes
The Tibetan Book Of The Dead -Evans-Wentz
The Story Of Physics -Anna Rooney
Skeletons On The Zahara -Dean King
Wordswoth-New Oxford English Series
Against A Dark Background -Iain Banks


I also have a long mental reading list.


Oh i forgot one...

The Time Travellers Wife - Audry Niffeneggar

[Korpsy Knievel]

Sure, I read like crazy when younger and korpsey got it, although I still do not know how, but I've licked military history actually some time ago amongst many subjects

That was my old man with the military and espionage books.

[Suz]

As an Ne-ego, I read non-fiction, factual, how-to, scientific works. It feds my imagination since I don't need anyone to tell me what to imagine.

My preference by far as well. I see reading fiction as a colossal waste of time.

[Kim]

I almost exclusively read fiction (and academic criticism thereof, which can include areas of Philosophy, Sociology, Anthropology...), mostly by non-Western/"minority" authors (which double as research and teaching material). Some of my favorites are
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Adichie
Death and the King's Horseman by Wole Soyinka
Where We Once Belonged by Sia Figiel
The Bone People by Keri Hulme
Once were Warriors by Alan Duff
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

I also enjoy reading Edgar Allan Poe, William Faulkner, Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, Tolkien, Goethe, Toni Morrison, Sherman Alexie, Upton Sinclair,...

When I travel I read those page-turners you can buy at the airport and I have read every Stephen King book out there (except for the Dark Tower series).

Reading is the next-best thing to traveling when it comes to escaping for a little while. I always carry a novel with me. Good thing I read for a living.

I also read the news on the internet and how-tos when I need them (the latest about adding power steering fluid...).

[Kim]

My preference by far as well. I see reading fiction as a colossal waste of time.

[Suz]

sorries Kim!!! Maybe it's because i have so much non-fiction reading to do for work, i'd rather not be reading in whats left of my spare time ...unless i need to for some practical reason. I also get a little dyslexic when i'm sleep deprived... which doesn't help.


when i was a kid i loved fiction. Realistic fiction, though, is my preference, in particular that which can teach me about another culture/way of life. The only setting in which i read fiction nowadays though is, as you alluded to, while traveling.

[Korpsy Knievel]

I enjoy fiction any time someone explains their experience via IEs or type.

[jet city woman]

The only books I enjoy reading are manuals. Some manuals then become trusted resources.

[Absurd]

That was my old man with the military and espionage books.

Alright, I said I licked it and it was passing, do not read espionage books at all, never had, but I read novels in my free time when younger, not to mention those I had to, do not go hunting at all, nor am interested in it as well. Serious thread is serious.

I read mostly everything that was there to read when younger, not so much now, it got narrower and more sporadic.

[Korpsy Knievel]

I will read a toothpaste tube if no other text is handy to occupy my brain at any point when I'm sitting down without doing so before a steering wheel.

[Absurd]

Oh I see, korpsey. Anyway, someday we'll look back on this, laugh nervously and change the subject.

[Korpsy Knievel]

That was my old man with the military and espionage books.

[Aquagraph]

I just got a reminder of how I follow the case of how "A classic is a book which people praise and don't read." (Mark Twain) as I read Nineteen Eighty-Four. Almost every Westerner who has had any interest in politics knows how it all goes down. And like those, I have been using the book as a political concept. Now that I read the book I don't feel any more wiser. I have already been able to imagine those scenarios, mostly due to the dystopian discourse culture the book had during the last few decades, most of them under the Cold War. It wasn't touching.

Lately I've been reading psycho-anarchist books like the Dice Manand ..... ..... Terry Pratchett's Discworld comic fantasy is fun, but I don't like fantasy much. I tried to read Lord of The Rings saga before the movies but I got bored since Legolas had to remember out an ancient elven song everytime something happened in the boring wilds they went through.

I think I like some sorta narrative minimalism.

Bukowski just states how the factotum Henry Chinaski rolls down the stairs at work and notices a bar across. The next chapter begins Henry being unemployed and hungover.

I hate elaborate visual descriptions. I'm not going to keep up with them and I'd rather use my imagination or watch the movie.

Then there are Eastern classics like Tao Te Ching and Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings. I have only read some excerpts from Sun-Tzu's Art of War, but I'm sure I'd like it.

Some ancient stories are fun to read just for the sake of their reasoning like the Bible, veda texts, Quran, greek philosophers, mythologies (Greek, shaman and Kalevala mostly).

When I was a child I used to skim encyclopedias and now I sometimes love to get lost in Wikipedia. "List of Common Misconceptions" was fairly entertaining.

I don't read mainstream media news much nowadays but otherwise I'm into local, European, American politics and my own dimly green-ish pirate agenda politics. War news bores me since I'm not interested in hearing fatality counts over and over again.