to become well-read? Are you well-read? Do you know anyone who is? If so, then how?

Anyways..discuss!

when i get the time to read all the goddamn books in my bedroom i will be well-read. i don't know when that will be though. uhm basically i think being well-read entails reading a lot of stuff, not necessarily fiction or books, but articles and non-fiction stuff as well. i mean if you read a lot of autobiographies/biographies you can become experienced by osmosis lol.

to get my love to you-oooh.

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joey. babby. don't get. crabby.

wait. i don't think that's how it goes.

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joey. babby. don't get. crabby.

I did a 4 year degree in English Lit and I till don't think I'm that well-read, depends who you compare yoursel to I suppose. I usedto think being well read meant having read all the "classics" but not so much now. There are some annoying people out there who seem to have read EVERYTHING.

It's pretty subjective. I don't consider myself anything like well read, but compared to most people my age i'm pretty well read.

I don't really think that I am.
Most of the time I can hardly get people to understand what I'm saying, so I doubt many of you can get what I've typed.

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hmm. I've studied english and creative writing at uni and read a lot of books but i agree with hellish with rellish, i still dont consider myself to be well read. I read a lot and have three big bookshelves in my apartment filled with books, all of which i've read, some i've read numerous times, but not all of them are 'literary'.

I used to think that well read meant having read all the classics and all the poetry and award winning books, but i dont anymore. i've read a lot of those, but i still have discussions wih friends where i have to make a note of the books they're talking about so i can read them.

I suppose in comparison to a lot of people, i'm well read, but in comparison to more people, i'm not. I dont really care. i read because i enjoy it, not to be well read.

Well said! I couldn't agree more..

There are a lot of different jargon or words to go with whatever it is you're interested in being 'well read' in. I don't really know what you mean by 'well read' but I'm thinking it's to do with some particular subject though it also means to have more than a general knowledge of things. Of course it could also mean that you could converse about things to a persons impression that you're knowledgeable.

Having knowledge is suggested to give one power: "Knowledge is power".

I have met erudites who are interested in how a carpenter like myself could know so much about life without being well read. I believe it is because experience and imagination may be more valuable than knowledge itself. Having knowledge from books is a good base, but life must be experienced for it to really have a deeper meaning. Understanding comes from knowing something beyond just the capacities of the intellect; love, music, poetry, esoteric knowledge, etc. are examples. Personally, no one taught me how to design and build furtniture, or write poems; they just come to me and I put them on paper. I hadn't read the classics, or poetry books; I developed an intuitive sense over the years and observe the world around me.

I'm respectful of those who are well read, like my friend who has read over 50,000 books, yet I have been one of his favorites for which to discuss life and philosophical concepts. He said one must not overlook the reality that the simple gardener(carpenter) may know more truth about a subject than he does in any given experience. Once after a stroke he had, he told me that he now sees people through the eye of heart, which he attributes his understanding from what he observed about how I see people. He used to see people from a more rational, intellectual means.

Books help us to see from different perspectives; the important thing is knowing that we live in a world of many perspectives besides our own. I guess one must ask what or who has developed one's perspective; and one must not miss the real experience and the value of the imagination for gaining greater perception of the world around them.



"Great women and great men give great and eloquent speeches; the wildflower has greater power to render the soul speechless"
~~carefulcarpenter

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Marerophilia:
A depth of love that youth can seldom appreciate or communicate;
A love that never can die for it is a wild seed living inside us, and it is what it is;
Love: that which bonds the reality of one's being to the mystery of the unknown;
Wildflowers: evidence revealed."
~~carefulcarpenter

I don't see how any human could read anywhere near 50,000 books in a lifetime. Even if you read 5 books a week for 50 years you'd only have read 13,000.

He must simply own 50,000 books, then. I read about one every two weeks, now. How about you?

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Marerophilia:
A depth of love that youth can seldom appreciate or communicate;
A love that never can die for it is a wild seed living inside us, and it is what it is;
Love: that which bonds the reality of one's being to the mystery of the unknown;
Wildflowers: evidence revealed."
~~carefulcarpenter

How good are you at absorbing information in your dreams? Play audio books while you sleep. It sort of counts. If you have a long commute, then definitely do the audio book thing. It's not cheating.

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Time is the distance that you can't return by miles.

I escaped somehow. Let's go

actualy [sic] I have quite a blessed life if I'm honest. I have many people to love, hate few and have few money problem's [sic].... What more does a person need? Oh yeah and I have some kind of humbleness unlike you of course ^_^ ~ CarefulCarpenter