Thais And Books

[meemiathai]

I have never read a book in my life. I simply can't. My eyes get tired very quickly. But I like learning things from tv.

[OldAsiaHand]

I have never read a book in my life.  I simply can't.  My eyes get tired very quickly.  But I like learning things from tv.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And you're PROUD of this?

[h90]

I think he's just trolling.

I have never read a book in my life.  I simply can't.  My eyes get tired very quickly.  But I like learning things from tv.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And you're PROUD of this?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[remmy]

nothing wrong with reading comics, at least it proves that you are literate

[Spit the Dog]

I was on the subway yesterday and it surprised me to see a number of Thais actually reading.

They've probably started reading on the subway because they can't get a signal on their mobile phone and have nothing else to do.

[greenwanderer108]

Of course being literate has no correlation to reading books. Most Thais I know read few books and most Americans I know read just as few few books, especially the younger generations who have become, what Todd Oppenheimer describes in his aptly titled book, The Flickering Minds. So to those who might castigate the Thais for not being enthusiastic book readers, y’all better look in the mirror at your own folks first.  And besides, look at the trash “best seller” books one sees dominating the used English bookstores in Thailand.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Have to agree. While, us westerners who are visitors in a foreign land can have selective observations, we tend to forget about our own cultures...remember only the good, forget the reality.

Western kids/youth are just as infatuated with video games, tv, comic books, and card games as the Thais. So, it isn't the majority of the youth that have a love for reading in the states...

Speaking of trash in book stores, I used to work at Borders book store four years ago (in Denver). One thing I used to be so annoyed with was organizing 'Oparah's book club' special shelf. She'd have a new book with her stamp every week. I doubt she ever read them, just simply endorsed it if had to do with feminism, weight loss, or child abuse...

[otherstuff1957]

I always had a public library card when I was growing up. When I was very young, my mother would turn off the TV and read me a story at bedtime. I grew up on A.A. Milne, Robert L. Stevenson, etc... When I was a little older I always had a book to read, either one I had bought, one that was borrowed from a friend or one that was checked out from either the public or a school library. On my sister's bookshelves back in California there are books that are over one hundred years old, which belonged to my Grandparents. Few Thai's have are lucky enough to have that sort of bibliophile background. After all, how many books were there in Thailand three or four generations ago?

Many of the lower class Thais have gone straight from being barely literate to the TV age almost overnight. Middle class traditions of reading for pleasure just haven't had the chance to develop here as they have in the west.

Another factor is the availablity of library books. Public libraries are pretty thin on the ground here. My wife says that there was a school library when she was growing up out in the country, but no public library. There is one now, but it is less than 10 years old.

[meemiathai]

I think he's just trolling.

I have never read a book in my life.  I simply can't.  My eyes get tired very quickly.  But I like learning things from tv.

And you're PROUD of this?

No, I wasn't trolling.

I am not proud of nor am I ashamed of it. I simply don't like reading. What's wrong with that? Is reading the only way one can learn?

[chownah]

I think he's just trolling.

I have never read a book in my life.  I simply can't.  My eyes get tired very quickly.  But I like learning things from tv.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And you're PROUD of this?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No, I wasn't trolling.

I am not proud of nor am I ashamed of it. I simply don't like reading. What's wrong with that? Is reading the only way one can learn?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Wait just one minute there Mr. I'm Not Trolling...before you said you couldn't read and just as a reminder I'll copy and paste your statement here: "I simply can't."....and now you say you merely don't like to read and just as a reminder I'll copy and paste your statement here: "I simply don't like reading."....seems to me that your name should be changed from "Mr. I'm Not Trolling" to "Mr. Big Troll Big Time"!!! And remember that denial is not just a river in Africa so don't try to pull a fast one on the likes of me Mr. BTBT!!!!! But how stupid of me, you can't read this anyway!!!! hahahahahahhaha

Edited December 11, 2005 by chownah

[jonik]

I'm not thai and i don't read so much books either , use to read alot of comics magz thou. Some of it i bet is much better than shakespeare and stuff like that.My favorite creator is Franquin from France ,his comics is just hillarious.

[meadish_sweetball]

I think he's just trolling.

I have never read a book in my life.  I simply can't.  My eyes get tired very quickly.  But I like learning things from tv.

And you're PROUD of this?

No, I wasn't trolling.

I am not proud of nor am I ashamed of it. I simply don't like reading. What's wrong with that? Is reading the only way one can learn?

I'm with you. While I think reading is generally good for people, as it has the ability to expand some parts of your brain that other activities can't, there is too much looking down on people who do not like reading.

In school we were given a subject to write an essay about 'Books that have made an impression on me' - and one of my friends, mildly dyslexic but a highly intelligent man, now a successful general manager a large hotel and generally very clear-thinking and sociable, tried to write honestly about his view on reading - he wrote a very good, to-the-point essay on why he did not like reading, and proceeded to instead write about movies that had made an impression on him.

It was a really well written little essay, but the teacher failed him - from which you cannot but draw the conclusion that he should have attempted to lie instead...

In the West, reading the 'right' literature has become so important that people buy books perceived as classics and put on display in their shelves simply to appear more sophisticated. Is this better?

I love reading myself, and I have been reading a lot ever since I learned how - including lots of comics, quite a few classics, history, science, science fiction/fantasy and other novels in both Swedish, English and Thai.

As for the Thais, I think many of the reasons why Thais in general do not read as much have already been stated above - books are relatively expensive, there is no tradition of reading, Thai prose is rather difficult to penetrate for many people, the novel is not a native Thai invention and novel writing did not begin in Thailand until relatively late (literature is instead found in theatrical pieces, mythology and poetry) and has never really taken off, Thais are generally not too fond of doing something alone, and many Thais does not see any value in reading for pleasure.

There are of course exceptions, just like buadhai, BambinA, sbk and Saothai pointed out - but I still think the generalization holds. If anybody has seen the movie Thaweepop, there is actually a pretty funny scene in it which discusses the reading habits of the average Thai (not a bad movie all in all, so rent it if you havent already seen it).

[Kathe]

Seen the movie *Thawipoop* and really like that joke about reading.

New generation might love to read per E-reading. Sitting and reading a book is such a precious of time nowaday. Since I am addicted with the new technical of Computer World, I spent most of the time reading so many hours through Websites, instead of sitting and sipping Coffee Boran with a good book.

[Richard W]

Isaan is basically like Wales was in the first half of 20th century, when Welsh language was banned from being taught in schools.

All the evidence I can find indicates a 19th century phenomenon in some schools. Certainly my grandfather (b. 1900) learnt to read Welsh at primary school, and it was his preferred language, though you had to look at his books to realise that. He believed that it was an aid to the survival of Welsh that Elizabeth I ordered the Bible to be translated into Welsh.

However, there are already some University courses teaching Lao and there is a strong resurgence in regional awareness, so I can see in a decade or two Lao being taught in secondary schools as an option and way in the future being taught in primary schools for the first time, just like has happened in Wales. But whether one will ever be able to withdraw money from an ATM in Lao, I am not so sure.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And there's a project to translate the Bible into Isaan - using Thai spelling conventions - Mekong Bible Translation Project for North East Thailand.

[thaibebop]

Of course being literate has no correlation to reading books. Most Thais I know read few books and most Americans I know read just as few few books, especially the younger generations who have become, what Todd Oppenheimer describes in his aptly titled book, The Flickering Minds. So to those who might castigate the Thais for not being enthusiastic book readers, y’all better look in the mirror at your own folks first.  And besides, look at the trash “best seller” books one sees dominating the used English bookstores in Thailand.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Have to agree. While, us westerners who are visitors in a foreign land can have selective observations, we tend to forget about our own cultures...remember only the good, forget the reality.

Western kids/youth are just as infatuated with video games, tv, comic books, and card games as the Thais. So, it isn't the majority of the youth that have a love for reading in the states...

Speaking of trash in book stores, I used to work at Borders book store four years ago (in Denver). One thing I used to be so annoyed with was organizing 'Oparah's book club' special shelf. She'd have a new book with her stamp every week. I doubt she ever read them, just simply endorsed it if had to do with feminism, weight loss, or child abuse...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

HA! I had the same job in Kansas City. People who I know never read would walk up to the info desk with the book club display two feet from them and ask me where it was. I was always torn between making fun of them and being greatful that someone got them to pick any book.

[thaibebop]

Isaan is basically like Wales was in the first half of 20th century, when Welsh language was banned from being taught in schools.

All the evidence I can find indicates a 19th century phenomenon in some schools. Certainly my grandfather (b. 1900) learnt to read Welsh at primary school, and it was his preferred language, though you had to look at his books to realise that. He believed that it was an aid to the survival of Welsh that Elizabeth I ordered the Bible to be translated into Welsh.

However, there are already some University courses teaching Lao and there is a strong resurgence in regional awareness, so I can see in a decade or two Lao being taught in secondary schools as an option and way in the future being taught in primary schools for the first time, just like has happened in Wales. But whether one will ever be able to withdraw money from an ATM in Lao, I am not so sure.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And there's a project to translate the Bible into Isaan - using Thai spelling conventions - Mekong Bible Translation Project for North East Thailand.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Let's hope they never complete it.

[h90]

OK not trolling, just natural born stupid.....

As you may know or obiously not know, 99.5 % of the human knowlege is available in written form, and just the rest 0.5 % are available as TV show.

I think he's just trolling.

I have never read a book in my life.  I simply can't.  My eyes get tired very quickly.  But I like learning things from tv.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And you're PROUD of this?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No, I wasn't trolling.

I am not proud of nor am I ashamed of it. I simply don't like reading. What's wrong with that? Is reading the only way one can learn?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Glauka]

I

I'm with you. While I think reading is generally good for people, as it has the ability to expand some parts of your brain that other activities can't, there is too much looking down on people who do not like reading.

In school we were given a subject to write an essay about 'Books that have made an impression on me' - and one of my friends, mildly dyslexic but a highly intelligent man, now a successful general manager a large hotel and generally very clear-thinking and sociable, tried to write honestly about his view on reading - he wrote a very good, to-the-point essay on why he did not like reading, and proceeded to instead write about movies that had made an impression on him.

It was a really well written little essay, but the teacher failed him - from which you cannot but draw the conclusion that he should have attempted to lie instead...

In the West, reading the 'right' literature has become so important that people buy books perceived as classics and put on display in their shelves simply to appear more sophisticated. Is this better?

I love reading myself, and I have been reading a lot ever since I learned how - including lots of comics, quite a few classics, history, science, science fiction/fantasy and other novels in both Swedish, English and Thai.

As for the Thais, I think many of the reasons why Thais in general do not read as much have already been stated above - books are relatively expensive, there is no tradition of reading, Thai prose is rather difficult to penetrate for many people, the novel is not a native Thai invention and novel writing did not begin in Thailand until relatively late (literature is instead found in theatrical pieces, mythology and poetry) and has never really taken off, Thais are generally not too fond of doing something alone, and many Thais does not see any value in reading for pleasure.

There are of course exceptions, just like buadhai, BambinA, sbk and Saothai pointed out - but I still think the generalization holds. If anybody has seen the movie Thaweepop, there is actually a pretty funny scene in it which discusses the reading habits of the average Thai (not a bad movie all in all, so rent it if you havent already seen it).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree with you meadish...

In my opinion in the west we give too much importance to reading books.

Yes I think is important to read because you learn different point of views, learn things from different countries, culture...

However some people give too much importance to reading the RIGHT literature...that´s get on my nerves (there is the same concern with movies...you have to watch the RIGHT movies).

My father tought how to read with Tarzan...since then I have read novels, religion, science, history, philosophy, poetry, theatre...still my favourite style is adventure novels/ classics.

I have had many discussion with people about Why are you reading that book/author that´s cr*p (e.g Bukowski)? Why? Because I want to.

However I had an experience that really hurt my feelings...

6 years ago...I meet this guy...we became good friends in shortime. Some time after he told me his feelings for me...so can imagine what came after that...well it did not last very long because even though he though I was funny, nice...I didn´t read the right literature ( i was a "RIGHT ILLITERATE), you may think that nobody could be so silly...infact he was...Sometime later he found the perfect girl, pretty, thin, intelligent and of course she read lots about right literature...

but there was something missing...she didn´t know the smell of his garden flowers,

how to enjoy a night bath on the sea,she didn´t know that there was a bird nest in his garden trees...

there are things that books cannot give.

Last summer I stayed most of the time in Khao Sok national park. One of my friends was tourist guide. Sometimes we used to walk together in the jungle. He knew as many things as plants & animal behaviour as myself ( I have studied ecology) however he has never gone to university or read boks about animal and plants behaviour or physiology.

I read because I like it. I just enjoy very much. I can be anything...a pirate, bussiness man, a selfish woman, a muse, a old man...I can be anywhere Egypt, south Africa, Russia, France, middle earth, Fantasia...

I READ BECAUSE I LIKE IT.

Maybe there are many people in Thailand that doesn´t read but everytime I came to Thailand I have come across to people who can speak english, play music, talk about interesting things and they don´t read too much(if they do at all)

I think reading books open you mind but can also narrowed, everything depends on the books you read and how critic you are with the information you recieve.

Edited December 12, 2005 by Glauka

[meemiathai]

[Glauka]

just to add...

I LOVE COMICS... ( i haven´t read many but I love them...)

[sadman]

I can't get enough of books: to savour the written page, go back over it if I like it, make my own pictures rather than have a film/TV director decide them for me - oh yes, I love it.

However......

I like films and TV too. There has in recent years (in the UK, anyway) been a growth in book snobbery, so that even the type of book one reads is a status symbol. This, IMHO, is cobblers. If you can be 'well-read', can you not be 'well-watched'?

If we shunned TV and films, we would be missing out in a big way. Same with books. My parents taught me to read and write before I was of school age; I gave the same gift to my children, and my daughter is doing the same with my small grandson.

[sierra01]

I’m an avid reader as well; I prefer high tech thrillers but not exclusively. I don’t care one iota about reading ‘status’ books, I read what I like. I feel it’s expanded my knowledge on many different subjects, improved my grammar, and my spelling. My Son loved books when he was little but only reads occasionally now, though I still encourage him to read.

[astral]

Ms. Buadhai (age 31 with a Bachelor's degree) is an avid reader. A few weeks back she completed the new Harry Potter book and the latest "Unfortunate Events", both in English. She also recently read a Thai translation of "Little House on the Prairie" and is translating parts of it back into English so I can check her word usage and grammar. She is also reading a couple of books translated into Thai by the Princess.

Her daughter, the evil pre-teenager "Pim" (age 11) is also an avid reader. While she prefers comics and anime right now, she also reads real books and recently came home with three new ones.

The bookshelf in our living room has about three meters of books; half in Thai and half in English including most of the Harry Potter series in both English and Thai, some Shakespeare (in English) and several volumes of the "Best in the World" series which is translations of world literary works into Thai.

Both Ms. B and I read the Bangkok Post daily. There's not a fashion or entertainment magazine anywhere in the house.

Careful how you generalize! Or, should I say that sometimes the exception proves the rule?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sorry.

If you think these people are usual, then you are generalising as well.

I used to do interviews for new graduate hires for a Farang/Thai company.

When reading through cv's I always look for something "different" to find the people

worth hiring.

One young man listed "Reading" as a hobby.

When I asked about this he told me he read comics.............

If that was all I read I would keep quiet about it.

[Glauka]

Ms. Buadhai (age 31 with a Bachelor's degree) is an avid reader. A few weeks back she completed the new Harry Potter book and the latest "Unfortunate Events", both in English. She also recently read a Thai translation of "Little House on the Prairie" and is translating parts of it back into English so I can check her word usage and grammar. She is also reading a couple of books translated into Thai by the Princess.

Her daughter, the evil pre-teenager "Pim" (age 11) is also an avid reader. While she prefers comics and anime right now, she also reads real books and recently came home with three new ones.

The bookshelf in our living room has about three meters of books; half in Thai and half in English including most of the Harry Potter series in both English and Thai, some Shakespeare (in English) and several volumes of the "Best in the World" series which is translations of world literary works into Thai.

Both Ms. B and I read the Bangkok Post daily. There's not a fashion or entertainment magazine anywhere in the house.

Careful how you generalize! Or, should I say that sometimes the exception proves the rule?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sorry.

If you think these people are usual, then you are generalising as well.

I used to do interviews for new graduate hires for a Farang/Thai company.

When reading through cv's I always look for something "different" to find the people

worth hiring.

One young man listed "Reading" as a hobby.

When I asked about this he told me he read comics.............

If that was all I read I would keep quiet about it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Why?

[kat]

I think that MOST Thais really don't have enough dispable income to be able to easily afford books.  When my wife was a small girl they didn't even have electricity at her village and she says that was typical for all the villages around here.  So, do you imagine that her mother or father read for recreation? HA...they were kept busy keeping rice in the bowl and the bamboo construction house upright.  I think that many people who read don't realize what a luxury it is to be able to indulge in this habit.

Buadhai, With all due respect...what is the deal with all of you "be careful how you generalize" vigilantes?  Generalizing about a population of people is what demographers do for a living as well as historians, psychologists, psychiatrists, sociologists, physicians,....the list is almost endless.  Generalizing about populations of people is a wide spread and mostly accepted (and even encouraged) activity in most educated circles.  It is true that many people (even a few on TV....) make inappropriate generalizations...and these people should be cautioned about how wrong they are...but....there seems to be certain individuals who think that the mere act of making a general statement is like an act of pedophilia (thought I'd rile up two groups of people at once).  And....actually if you read the original post carefully you will see that he IS being very careful about how he is doing his generalizing and qualifying it with it being drawn from his experience and in fact he is making this post (I think) to try to see if his generalization is incorrect....I say, "Good job, OP, keep up the good generalizing!!"  I think that it is more outrageous for you to mention a couple four Thais who read as a foil to his generalization!!!!

Respectfully,

Chownah

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree entirely. All research starts with a generalization, that is either accepted or rejected based on observation which either disproves or substantiates a genral research question. People who have a problem with the op's question need to remember that they are the ones generalizing without substantiating or qualifying their comments, because there have been numerous reports by different multilateral organizations that have substantiated the lack of Thai reading, critical thinking, and academic skills.

Denial is not a virtue. When you deny actual societal conditons in Thailand or elsewhere, you widen the gap between existing skills and optimal skills.

Is it just me?....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Geesh, yet another "Is it just me or are all Thais less-intellegent/less-civilized/less-whatever than the folks back home?" thread.

They should create a separate forum for these kinds of posts so that all the people who want to slam on Thailand and its people can comiserate together.

Is it just me or do many farang have a bad habit of making broad generalizations about Thais based on the few dozen people they happen to know?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Enough said.

Is it just me?....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Is it just me or do many farang have a bad habit of making broad generalizations about Thais based on the few dozen people they happen to know?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I dunno....

Is it just me, or do a lot of other farang make FAVORABLE generalizations about Thais based on the few people they happen to know and then try to pass themselves off as more culturally enlightened than the rest of us?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Good one.

[srisatch]

So many of you think 'Thais', whoever they are, don't read 'books' whatever they might be! How many different genres of 'books' or rather 'printed matter' are there? How many different 'Thai' backgrounds, experiences, needs?

Loads of generalisations from limited circumstances. Of course people don't read books if they can't read; of course they don't read books if they are quite outside the cultural norms etc. etc or in a language that is not a daily mother tongue...but there are plenty of 'cultural forms' which many Thais access, play with, enjoy...particularly in the 'oral' and 'graphic' domains...remember Marshall McLuhan??

Seems to me there is a 'shared' Thai culture through music, fashion, design, textiles,handicrafts, style.. even architecture as well as films, comics, even Buddhism that is strongly defined, not farang and particularly not american of which they are rightly proud and that many farang cultures might envy.

That some or even much of it is mediated and shared visually and orally rather than through writing....someone mentioned Wales...well there was simple English hegemony..banning the language for political purposes....while same same has been true with the imposition of standard Thai vis a vis minority languages..but they ave not been able to suppress spoken Lao..too many peple and too strong a culture also... ...but more so Literacy in the fullest sense of the word...not just 'write my name'.. has been a province of the rich and educated...and the majority of Thais are not that.....

Anyway how many of us farangs are reading on a daily basis, and reading what? Are Tom Clancy and John Grisham really so superior to Manga, comic novels and magazines...just peddling western fantasies as opposed to Thai or Japanese ones?

I would like to know...are you reading material of a significance that separates you from EDUCATED Thais by a huge, or any distance...since I suppose many Forum members are educated!!? Not that I care if what you write is interesting!

[siamesekitty]

...I think many of the reasons why Thais in general do not read as much have already been stated above - books are relatively expensive, there is no tradition of reading, Thai prose is rather difficult to penetrate for many people, the novel is not a native Thai invention and novel writing did not begin in Thailand until relatively late (literature is instead found in theatrical pieces, mythology and poetry) and has never really taken off, Thais are generally not too fond of doing something alone, and many Thais does not see any value in reading for pleasure.

There are of course exceptions, just like buadhai, BambinA, sbk and Saothai pointed out - but I still think the generalization holds.

My thoughts exactly! (I really should stop this habit of quoting you and nodding my agreement, meadish, but you're always taking the words out of my mouth! )

I think it's a case of priorities. Reading is pretty low on the list of priorities for most Thais I guess, while in the West there's more encouragement to read so people actually feel it's something they should get to doing when they have the chance.

[TokyoT]

My Thai wife reads quite a lot – but she is pretty much the only one in her family that does.

I used to never read anything except text books, newspapers, and magazines before I moved to Asia. Now I go thru a book a week. So while in my experience not that many Thai’s appear to be avid readers the folks where I come from (US) aren’t much better.

I was quite surprised by the low percentage of people reading on the sky train/ subway as compared to my time in Tokyo.

Someone (sbk - I think) mentioned the lack of bookstores in many areas. It would seem to me that this is due to lack of demand. It is a rare case in a market economy where the supply is not there is there is sufficient demand.

[awarrumbungle]

Does anyone know of Thai 2nd hand bookstores (other than comics)?

[thaibebop]

just to add...

I LOVE COMICS...   ( i haven´t read many but I love them...)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ha! You're a cool girl!

[thaibebop]

I

I'm with you. While I think reading is generally good for people, as it has the ability to expand some parts of your brain that other activities can't, there is too much looking down on people who do not like reading.

In school we were given a subject to write an essay about 'Books that have made an impression on me' - and one of my friends, mildly dyslexic but a highly intelligent man, now a successful general manager a large hotel and generally very clear-thinking and sociable, tried to write honestly about his view on reading - he wrote a very good, to-the-point essay on why he did not like reading, and proceeded to instead write about movies that had made an impression on him.

It was a really well written little essay, but the teacher failed him - from which you cannot but draw the conclusion that he should have attempted to lie instead...

In the West, reading the 'right' literature has become so important that people buy books perceived as classics and put on display in their shelves simply to appear more sophisticated. Is this better?

I love reading myself, and I have been reading a lot ever since I learned how - including lots of comics, quite a few classics, history, science, science fiction/fantasy and other novels in both Swedish, English and Thai.

As for the Thais, I think many of the reasons why Thais in general do not read as much have already been stated above - books are relatively expensive, there is no tradition of reading, Thai prose is rather difficult to penetrate for many people, the novel is not a native Thai invention and novel writing did not begin in Thailand until relatively late (literature is instead found in theatrical pieces, mythology and poetry) and has never really taken off, Thais are generally not too fond of doing something alone, and many Thais does not see any value in reading for pleasure.

There are of course exceptions, just like buadhai, BambinA, sbk and Saothai pointed out - but I still think the generalization holds. If anybody has seen the movie Thaweepop, there is actually a pretty funny scene in it which discusses the reading habits of the average Thai (not a bad movie all in all, so rent it if you havent already seen it).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree with you meadish...

In my opinion in the west we give too much importance to reading books.

Yes I think is important to read because you learn different point of views, learn things from different countries, culture...

However some people give too much importance to reading the RIGHT literature...that´s get on my nerves (there is the same concern with movies...you have to watch the RIGHT movies).

My father tought how to read with Tarzan...since then I have read novels, religion, science, history, philosophy, poetry, theatre...still my favourite style is adventure novels/ classics.

I have had many discussion with people about Why are you reading that book/author that´s cr*p (e.g Bukowski)? Why? Because I want to.

However I had an experience that really hurt my feelings...

6 years ago...I meet this guy...we became good friends in shortime. Some time after he told me his feelings for me...so can imagine what came after that...well it did not last very long because even though he though I was funny, nice...I didn´t read the right literature ( i was a "RIGHT ILLITERATE), you may think that nobody could be so silly...infact he was...Sometime later he found the perfect girl, pretty, thin, intelligent and of course she read lots about right literature...

but there was something missing...she didn´t know the smell of his garden flowers,

how to enjoy a night bath on the sea,she didn´t know that there was a bird nest in his garden trees...

there are things that books cannot give.

Last summer I stayed most of the time in Khao Sok national park. One of my friends was tourist guide. Sometimes we used to walk together in the jungle. He knew as many things as plants & animal behaviour as myself ( I have studied ecology) however he has never gone to university or read boks about animal and plants behaviour or physiology.

I read because I like it. I just enjoy very much. I can be anything...a pirate, bussiness man, a selfish woman, a muse, a old man...I can be anywhere Egypt, south Africa, Russia, France, middle earth, Fantasia...

I READ BECAUSE I LIKE IT.

Maybe there are many people in Thailand that doesn´t read but everytime I came to Thailand I have come across to people who can speak english, play music, talk about interesting things and they don´t read too much(if they do at all)

I think reading books open you mind but can also narrowed, everything depends on the books you read and how critic you are with the information you recieve.

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Are Star Wars novels okay?