What do you consider well read? If, having never read a single novel in my whole life...

What do you consider well read? If, having never read a single novel in my whole life, I chose 10 fiction and 10 non fiction books from internet articles, would you consider me well read? I'm talking about articles that list famous books "that everyone should read before they die." I haven't finished the list yet but it includes some titles like A Tale of Two Cities, Art of War, A Brief History of Time, LotR, The Stand... Pic semi-related, its my Library of sad, unfinished books.

Read whatever you want, dude

No one cares if you're well read or not. You read because you like it, not because you want to be "well read" because that's a meme

No it takes a lot more than 10 books to be considered well read, and triple that if you're reading pleb-tier crap like what you mentioned.

More like at least 10 books from each major country/time period.

If you read 10 Greek books, 10 Russians, French, Americans, Germans etc + 10 philosophy books then maybe you're pretty well read.

Sad shelf, what too much approval seeking must look like.

But I don't like reading at all. I'm 20 years old, and I've never read a book cover to cover. I read 120 wpm, my seven year old niece is more well read than I am. I graduated from high school, but I never did any homework, and I never read any required books.

I decided to take a super learning course, and start reading a lot. I've always said the reason I don't enjoy reading is because I have to reread stuff over and over again to retain it, and each iteration takes a long time anyways

What the fuck is a super learning course?

No, the social books are because that's my greatest weakness. Short story: I walked in the hot phoenix sun for 20 minutes to get to College everyday for a whole semester because the security guard looked stern and I didn't want to ask him for a free parking permit.The programming books are because that's what I wanted to do with my life.

lol

I guess speed reading that focuses on comprehension and memory, and not just reading fast.

looks gamer dweeb who wanted to be a programmer but didn't have the self-discipline to make it happen, sad shelf indeed

It takes a lot more than that, plus it depends what someone is meaning to be 'well read'

See, you're going for the breadth argument, but i'd argue that someone reading a good amount of books on one topic makes them more knowledgeable and well read, that someone who is just dabbling everywhere.

>But I don't like reading at all.
Then why do you want to force yourself to read those 20 books?
I assure you, nobody cares if you read or not. 90%+ of people do not read anything after school.
In this day and age there is no such thing as well read. Just reading well.

lol i knew it was the shelf of a community college dropout, you're mom told you to stop playing video games all day and begged you to go to school so you signed up for a computer science degree but then after getting a 'd' in calc 1 you quit

Then don't read

Why would you force yourself to do something you don't like? Stop fetishizing reading like so many anons here do

But I am a programmer and I don't play games, all I have is a Ps2 now and I never play it.

God you guys are making a lot of assumptions here, still in College, no major. And for that matter I'm trying to better myself, I think that's worth something.

>The programming books are because that's what I wanted to do with my life.

you already confessed to quitting school after one semester, we're all anonymous you don't need to lie, besides your shelf says it all, besides all the non-programming related 3d bullshit, maya etc., you literally have a book about "writing for video games", come on bro, you're no geek, just a gamer nerd.

But, I really am a programmer, those booms are from highschool, and I didn't drop out, I got a parking permit.

>20 total books
Highschool seniors have read 20 total books
"Well Read" should be taken to mean 'possessing the literary experience and knowledge base to understand the Western Canon', or substituting the Western Canon for any other subgroup of texts. For example, someone who has a strong foundation in the Greeks may not have the foundational knowledge to understand the Japanese modernists or Russian classics.
Being 'well read' is relative to the subjects being discussed and is not a badge earned by completing X number of Y texts.

>120 wpm
that is quite slow user. Are you sure you don't have dyslexia

I don't think so, I don't get letters mixed up in my head or turn them around.

After re reading this comment, I don't understand your point about the writing book, or Maya. I wanted to make my own models for my games, and the writing book thought was going to teach me about proper design, which it might but I didn't get very far.

Dyslexia is more than just spelling user. It covers all reading difficulties including reading speed, trouble with comprehending the written word etc.

No one here is old enough to be well read.

Dyslexia is a myth invented to excuse poor reading standards.

Dyslexia does exist though it is about as overdiagnosed as autism.
Also, if you believe that person has read all the texts in that picture, you're insultingly naïve

I'd say a person has to be versed in fiction (long and short), poetry, drama, essay (in general form), history (+art history), philosophy, religion, understanding the forms and convention of each, having read through the ages, having read from multiple regions, and having read the major cornerstone works of civilization (Homer, Plato, Dante, Shakespeare, Cervantes, etc), and on top of all that having developed your own personal taste and areas of interest (focus on medeval poetry, or focus on 19th century russian lit, etc.). That person is well read.

>Dyslexia is a myth invented to excuse poor reading standards.

thank god someone else is redpilled on dyslexia! after you work with enough sad saps with "reading disabilities" it's like, no, you're just a fucking bum who managed to sneak through a failing high school without ever learning to read proficiently, kys... but then i try to think a bunch of marxist and christian thoughts about how it's important to help poor bastards and i carry on

well most people dont even read a book a year, so in most peoples eyes youre well read simply by doing it at all

Being well read is not about reading a shit ton of books, it is about actually understanding the books you have read. If you have read twenty books and understand them by heart, you are a better reader than a man who read a thousand and didn't get a word, because the former reads to understand, while the latter reads to brag

>tfw people think you're well read and being humble when you say that you're honestly not
forever a sood

The concept of being "well read" is an abstraction. To give credence to the notion is to say there is a universally agreed upon goal for reading books. There is not. There are endless reasons to read and endless books serving their own goals and intentions. Every reader eventually develops their own conception of good literature and they do so simply by reading and noting what they like and what they dislike. Pick up a book that seems like it is 'up your alley', if after 50 pages or so you don't like it then put it down and forget it. If not, then you don't need to be told to keep reading, you'll just want to do it.

Every reader has their own reason for reading, There are those that do so to achieve a feeling of being "well read". But it's only in their own head. To consider yourself well read you are establishing a canon to work through, and it's never going to be universally agreed upon. So they can think the're right all day, and that's fine, but it will just be completing their own goal- same as the person who sets out to read sci fi books to satiate their need for imagination stimulation.

>If I read 20 books am I well read?
Fuck no.