I’ve never seen a Thai person reading a book

[bbko]

In our digital world paperback books are going the way of CD music, movie theaters, and the horse and buggy. Google Thai ebooks and you'll see plenty of websites selling ebooks.

[Chomper Higgot]

I would say in all honesty, reading literature is not a defining trait of Thai society.

 

However, many Thai people are, like ‘readers’ elsewhere avid readers.

…..

 

As an aside, I chuckled to myself last night while watching an episode of ‘Shetland’ in which the detective remarks the suspect had a copy of Finigan’s Wake on his book case, to which the observation is made ‘nobody reads Finigans Wake’.

 

It reminded me of an Italian I worked with who used decorate his house with books  ‘casually’ scattered for visitors to admire the titles.

 

Oh and I have read Finigan’s Wake.

…..

 

As another aside.

 

I have a relatively extensive library of books which I had arranged by subject matter and author.

 

Returning from an extended overseas trip I entered my study to find my cleaner had taken all the books off the shelves and replaced them in arrangement by color and size.

 

Through the mist of rage I managed to find some solace in recalling Tom Sharpe’s account of ‘The Dundridge Decimal’ in ‘Blott on the Landscape’.

 

[FritsSikkink]

20 hours ago, TropicalGuy said:

 Not about me. Subject is that Thais don’t read. You have said nothing about that. Just a silly emotional personal attack. Nothing in real response to my case that Thais are simply not on any intellectual plane…..

You attack Thais in general but it seems you haven't got any qualifications to speak of yourself. Typically most people who speak bad of others are dumber than the people they accuse.

[TropicalGuy]

1 hour ago, FritsSikkink said:

You attack Thais in general but it seems you haven't got any qualifications to speak of yourself. Typically most people who speak bad of others are dumber than the people they accuse.

You continue to embarrass yourself with irrational personal attacks.

No quals required to comment on thais, just observation, which practice started this Topic.
Speak to my ARGUMENTS not my person.Hard I know but you might try.

 
Last sentence is your own original homespun philosophy I suppose. 

Empty & Childish with no intellectual content…… 

Are people dumb to criticize Tyranny for example? Are Tyrants Cleverer than their Critics or just Insane or both ?  An irrelevant emotional unhelpful argument, which can’t be measured or analyzed, so easily dismissed. 
 

 

 

[khunpa]

Many pictures of Thai women sitting in some fancy cafe reading books on Tinder.

 

Not so sure if they are actually reading the books they hold on the pictures, but guess it makes them look smart.

 

In real life I have never seen any… 

[phetphet]

On 1/3/2022 at 8:52 PM, Paulaew said:

I think the OP's observation is generally sound.  Reading books is an unusual leisure activity in Thailand.

 

My wife is a high school English teacher, but I've never seen her read a book except in preparing lesson plans. Her leisure activities seem to be Netflix and TikTok.

 

I've had to make a special effort to put my 12 year old son on a reading plan. He is focused mainly on video games and making videos for his YouTube channel. His spoken English is excellent, but his written English is not, because he hasn't developed the feel for sentence structure that comes from reading quality literature.

 

So I bought him a Kindle and loaded it up with high school level books. I included some "gamer" books as an inducement. His first assignment was reading Orwell's 1984. (Yes, he understands that reading it in public could lead to his arrest).

 

I've asked him to read a minimum of 30 minutes a day, and I assign him an essay every 2 weeks so I can monitor his progress in written English. (I discovered he had never been assigned an English essay in school, though he studies in an English program).

 

Reading was (and continues to be) one of the joys of my life. I don't want my son to miss out on it.

 

Paul Laew

 

Exactly this. 

 

Online media is much more instant and interactive for today's generation.

 

Myself. Give me a book and a quiet room to read. I can't even get on with audio books.

[FritsSikkink]

41 minutes ago, TropicalGuy said:

No quals required to comment on thais, just observation, which practice started this Topic.
Speak to my ARGUMENTS not my person.Hard I know but you might try.

 

I actually work with a lot of Thai professionals who are very intelligent on a daily basis. I got Thai lawyers, doctors, a pilot in my family and friends. where do you get your observations from? A bar stool?  

[Liverpool Lou]

On 1/3/2022 at 8:27 PM, JustAnotherHun said:

The OP did not realise after four years that there are book shops in Thailand. And, guess what, they sell books in Thai language. How can?

...and libraries.

[Liverpool Lou]

On 1/3/2022 at 8:02 PM, Dave Dave said:

It’s just an observation I thought I’d make after living here for 4 years

I bet you don't seen that many people reading books in your own country theses days, either.   Why pick on Thailand and suggest that they may be dullards?   

[MJCM]

My Wife is reading her Bank Book all the time

[Liverpool Lou]

On 1/4/2022 at 12:10 PM, Broken Record said:

I read a few profiles on ThaiFriendly this morning whilst drinking coffee.

Fiction is your main reading interest, then?

[Liverpool Lou]

On 1/4/2022 at 12:16 PM, katatonic said:

My experience too. My wife and both of her sisters read a lot. When we first met my wife had a reading room in her house lined with bookshelves. Mainly in Thai, but lots of foreign authors. She even had everything by Jeffrey Archer! And she had never met a farang.

A reading room?  Pfft.  All the girls I've known in Thailand who'd also "had never met a farang" had libraries in their houses. 

[Liverpool Lou]

On 1/4/2022 at 12:39 PM, Kinnock said:

Found some interesting data on Statista.com about e-readers by country.

 

E-reader useage in Thailand is 6.6% vs over 20% in UK.  Cost of buying an e-reader may be a factor,  but all the metrics look low for Thailand, supporting the hypothesis that Thai people are not, generally, into reading.

 

I don't think this is good or bad, so the sensitive types shouting 'Thai-bashing' should stop making judgements, and I certainly would not use the UK as a beacon of intellectual culture (reverse evolution is the current trend in UK), but it's just an observation.  I think Thai people have better things to do than read a book, or at least more pressing priorities.

 

 

You omitted the "interesting" part that you said you found from your comment!

[Andrew Dwyer]

5 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

I would say in all honesty, reading literature is not a defining trait of Thai society.

 

However, many Thai people are, like ‘readers’ elsewhere avid readers.

…..

 

As an aside, I chuckled to myself last night while watching an episode of ‘Shetland’ in which the detective remarks the suspect had a copy of Finigan’s Wake on his book case, to which the observation is made ‘nobody reads Finigans Wake’.

 

It reminded me of an Italian I worked with who used decorate his house with books  ‘casually’ scattered for visitors to admire the titles.

 

Oh and I have read Finigan’s Wake.

…..

 

As another aside.

 

I have a relatively extensive library of books which I had arranged by subject matter and author.

 

Returning from an extended overseas trip I entered my study to find my cleaner had taken all the books off the shelves and replaced them in arrangement by color and size.

 

Through the mist of rage I managed to find some solace in recalling Tom Sharpe’s account of ‘The Dundridge Decimal’ in ‘Blott on the Landscape’.

 

To me a sign of a good book is when you can recall a quote with only the slightest reminder and suddenly feel the urge to read that book again.

 

“ Now you listen here, if anyone's going to murder my wife, it's going to be me! “

                                        Henry Wilt

[TropicalGuy]

4 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

I actually work with a lot of Thai professionals who are very intelligent on a daily basis. I got Thai lawyers, doctors, a pilot in my family and friends. where do you get your observations from? A bar stool?  

My original subject post made notable exception for elite professionals and top students in this matter.OP alluding to general public behaviour.

 

Detest Bar Stoolers & Lowlife here…my Thai lady is an Architect.

Observe publically mainly from Coffee Shops, Mall & Restaurants, like OP. Bars good for Live Music & Sport though. No Thais there to observe !

[Led Lolly Yellow Lolly]

On 1/3/2022 at 8:21 PM, robblok said:

Not sure why anyone would read a book in a coffee shop, if i go there its to drink something not to occupy a seat while reading a book.

Ditto that. I like to sit and sip my cappuccino in silence while thinking deep thoughts. About the topic, I think I only read 3 or 4 books in my whole life (I'm 50). I have started reading stories for my son, classics like Alice in Wonderland et al. . . Like Thais, I read my phone all the time. The sum of human knowledge is available now, right there in one's pocket.

 

 

 

Edited January 6, 2022 by Led Lolly Yellow Lolly

[robblok]

15 minutes ago, Led Lolly Yellow Lolly said:

Ditto that. I like to sit and sip my cappuccino in silence while thinking deep thoughts. About the topic, I think I only read 3 or 4 books in my whole life (I'm 50). I have started reading stories for my son, classics like Alice in Wonderland et al. . . Like Thais, I read my phone all the time. The sum of human knowledge is available now, right there in one's pocket.

 

 

 

That is for sure so much information available on the internet its unbelievable. You just need to know where to look. Love the info i got from the net. 

[FritsSikkink]

2 hours ago, TropicalGuy said:

my Thai lady is an Architect.

Bars good for Live Music & Sport though. No Thais there to observe !

Then you insulted your own wife's intelligence in your earlier post

Need to broaden your horizon, there are way more bars with live music & sport with Thai people then without.

[2009]

On 1/3/2022 at 9:32 PM, moe666 said:

That Thais do not read books is a racist trop that goes along with they are lazy and do not laugh. Thais do the same things that every other person in the universe does. I have read this and and the other two as well over the years I have been here.

Oh, the race card gets played. Didn't take long.

 

It ain't racist to say that book reading for pleasure is less common here.

 

Different cultures do things differently. Can't remember the last time I engaged in cock-fighting. Not everything is universal.

 

Western kids grow up with bedtime stories and books bought for them. It's less common here.

 

[2009]

On 1/3/2022 at 8:18 PM, MrJ2U said:

One book costs more than a days wages.

 

Don't geeze yer pish.

 

Thai books cost 40 baht.

 

Ever been into a Thai bookshop and looked at the price??

 

It's English novels that cost 300.

 

 

[stigar]

My lady dont read books.She like to do other things if she want to relax.She have her own business so she dont have much time for reading.She update her businessite every nigth.Thats relaxing for her and she sing for herself then.I have some books from my country that i read sometimes.

[Berkshire]

9 hours ago, 2009 said:

Oh, the race card gets played. Didn't take long.

 

It ain't racist to say that book reading for pleasure is less common here.

 

Different cultures do things differently. Can't remember the last time I engaged in cock-fighting. Not everything is universal.

 

Western kids grow up with bedtime stories and books bought for them. It's less common here.

 

About your last sentence, how would you know that exactly?  Foreigners tend to make sweeping observations of Thais by viewing a tiny sampling of the population, a sampling that may not even be representative of the broader society.  So yes, when the observations are negative (most of the time), it could be viewed as having racist motivations. 

[TropicalGuy]

1 hour ago, Berkshire said:

About your last sentence, how would you know that exactly?  Foreigners tend to make sweeping observations of Thais by viewing a tiny sampling of the population, a sampling that may not even be representative of the broader society.  So yes, when the observations are negative (most of the time), it could be viewed as having racist motivations. 

Asians ARE Uniform in Culture with Collective Herd Mentality. Westerners Opposite. Such uniform cultures can and will be fairly judged on very small sample sizes. Facts are not Racist. 

[TropicalGuy]

11 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

Then you insulted your own wife's intelligence in your earlier post

Need to broaden your horizon, there are way more bars with live music & sport with Thai people then without.

No. She just prefers Gardening & Radio & Design …….
 

no Thais much in Phuket tourist area bars…. 
 

 

[TropicalGuy]

10 hours ago, 2009 said:

 

Don't geeze yer pish.

 

Thai books cost 40 baht.

 

Ever been into a Thai bookshop and looked at the price??

 

It's English novels that cost 300.

 

 

Kindle Unlimited 350 baht monthly with thousands of books (ten max. until Book Return). 

[TropicalGuy]

13 hours ago, Led Lolly Yellow Lolly said:

Ditto that. I like to sit and sip my cappuccino in silence while thinking deep thoughts. About the topic, I think I only read 3 or 4 books in my whole life (I'm 50). I have started reading stories for my son, classics like Alice in Wonderland et al. . . Like Thais, I read my phone all the time. The sum of human knowledge is available now, right there in one's pocket.

 

 

 

Like to read News, Forums, Books during morning Coffee Shop routine.

Wikipedia my one stop shop for subject information. Internet truly a Human Wonder like Vaccines.

[Berkshire]

14 minutes ago, TropicalGuy said:

Asians ARE Uniform in Culture with Collective Herd Mentality. Westerners Opposite. Such uniform cultures can and will be fairly judged on very small sample sizes. Facts are not Racist. 

What does a society being collectivist or individualistic have to do with reading habits?  The thing is, I doubt many American millennials read books anymore.  Maybe the OP should open a thread about that.  Of course, not reading books doesn't mean not reading.

[FritsSikkink]

21 minutes ago, TropicalGuy said:

no Thais much in Phuket tourist area bars…. 
 

 

So you got a very limited view of the Thai population and therefore your statement about the intelligence of the Thai population isn't worth much.

Edited January 7, 2022 by FritsSikkink

[MrJ2U]

11 hours ago, 2009 said:

 

Don't geeze yer pish.

 

Thai books cost 40 baht.

 

Ever been into a Thai bookshop and looked at the price??

 

It's English novels that cost 300.

 

 

I'm not talking about comic books.

 

You wouldn't know anyways.

Edited January 7, 2022 by MrJ2U

[mudcat]

The only time I see Thai persons reading a book with relish is when it is a menu