class about why and how to read books
so there was this recording of a class at armenian academy of art, and the teacher was discussing books, why to read them.
he said let's take this book, about robinson crusoe. what do you think it is about?
and students were saying: it is a book about will to live, about how a single human can overcome terrible difficulties.
then the teacher suggested to ask ai. someone asked and have read loudly, about the same but with some inaccuracies about the plot.
then someone said about a movie. what's in the movie, the teacher asked.
then the teacher said that first part of the book actually is pretty long and it tells about the robinson's family, that he was studying in such a school, not the best, but what parents could afford, that father wanted him to become a lawyer and was trying to convince robinson to go to study instead of going to the sea.
and even managed to convince but later robinson changes his mind and goes to the sea.
ok, then teacher suggests: let's read what this contemporary to daniel defoe person writes.
and apparently the book was not at all an adventure book, as we perceive it today. and not about will and ovecoming difficulties. but it was a book parents wanted, the book that would teach kids to not dream about adventures but listen and obey their parents.
then the teacher reads what about that book was written here and there, etc.
and the lesson was: you still need to read books(ai and films won't replace the experience), but you also need to understand the context of the time the book was written, research and read about the book, by digging deeper and deeper.
2025-12-03 · 5 months ago · 👍 leoperbo, RubyMaelstrom, curry, Pinolo
6 Comments ↓
Hello! Would it be okay if I upload this post somewhere like gist.github.com and share it on social media? (I will include the source.)
🐙 norayr [OP] · Dec 03 at 23:25:
heh, sure. (:
☕️ tenno-seremel · Dec 04 at 07:16:
Context is nice and all, but what you thought you were writing and what you wrote might be completely different things. Might even be different to every person who reads it.
🐦 wasolili [...] · Dec 06 at 05:39:
The first time I read Candide, it was an annotated version that had plenty of footnotes explaining things like "the earthquake was a real event that killed tens of thousands of people a few years before Candide was published" and "character x is a parody of real world person y" and other such things that an 18th century Frenchman would have been aware of.
It made it much more enjoyable and since then I try to find annotated copies of any older books I read
🛞 MaAkThRsYoOySrHtKaAm · Dec 06 at 06:46:
Now that I've read the OP, I don't really feel the need to read the book though.
🐙 norayr [OP] · Dec 07 at 23:55:
i think it is a children book today. i don't think i would enjoy reading it now.
but the book was chosen as an example that shows how little our perception of the well known book can have in common with the intended perceptiot an the time of its creation.