What is Digg?98 Comments
- Twoism, on 10/12/2007, -7/+36Fiction doesn't "have much to teach us." What the hell is this guy talking about?
- Godric, on 10/12/2007, -1/+26"except it's kinda hard to find non-fiction nowadays"
There are more nonfiction books than you can read in a lifetime. Interesting ones too. Here are some tips that have helped me:
Search Amazon for topics or people you are interested in, invariably amazon will turn up 3 or 4 excellent books on any given subject--borrow them from the library, look at the NY Times Bestseller lists, Google Pulitzer Prize nominees, keep up with news stories about top non-fiction books in X category for year Y. For instance:
List of science books up for the 2006 Aventis Prize
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4783042.stm
I mean, come on. Are we not on the most powerful research tool ever devised? - jaspinDroid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14Just try reading the Dune novels without learning something. Won't happen.
- badminus, on 10/12/2007, -6/+17Complete air-headed dross.
This 'advice' could easily be boiled down to two idioms.
1) Question everything.
2) Get a library card. - ravenmuffin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Agreed.
And as support, here is a quote from Albert Einstein:
"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." - ndm007, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9*Cogitate- think deeply about something
*5 + 7 = 13
*Ballroom dancing. Sounds, interesting :)
*Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Economic and Political Origins
*Is Mac OS X really that stable??
So, does this mean i'm on the road to success? - Nocturnal, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9I agree with his tips. I subscribe to dictionary.com's word of the day.
- tacocat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I'm sure when when says 'fiction' he means something like serial sci-fi and romance you'd find at supermarkets.
I find fiction essential to my life. It keeps me witty and personable. Not reading fiction has the same effect on my personality as having limited human contact; and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that way. - cybernetic798, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8"Always question your own beliefs"
SO ABSOLUTELY CORRECT. Even if you are religious, or strongly believe in something else you should always question what you believe and internally debate it for doing so will make you smarter and wiser. It is only by doing so that we move on and become more knowledgeable as a human race, and improve ourselves. To believe in something is not wrong, to believe it blindly without understanding or questioning, is. - cibby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I disagree with some of this article... he suggests reading non-fiction as opposed to fiction, but also suggests expanding your vocabulary. Fiction is capable of stretching your mind in unconventional ways, too...
- mikeintosh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Eh, A lot of that was just common sense type stuff. I figured he was going to have exercises or something...
- mercatfat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Well, it depends. If claiming "fiction has much to teach us, really" means "I will make ham-handed references to 1984 in regards to our current govenment", then no. But it certainly does open up new lines of thinking. Cyberpunk, for example, provides an increasingly true way of looking at our current climate, both in a corporate and religious sense. We may not be in Cyberia yet, but the corporate and privateization aspects are certainly increasingly valid.
But if fiction means "Stephen King writes about another goddamn devil dog", then also no.
Myself, I prefer relevant non-fiction and historical fiction. Good fiction can open up new perspectives to non-fiction reality, which is rarely bad.
/tin-foil magic - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Why is this front page? Paul = Douchebag
- cranium, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7I think 90% of the country would be against #5, but then again I could be wrong.
- boredaghast, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Why is this on the front page? Paul's tips for life? Who is this douche-bag?
- philomatic, on 02/08/2009, -0/+5How will this affect the sale of ipods?
- mianos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I just love those 'how to make money by paying me for a report on how to make money'. The pay for premium tip on the front page:
'The secret of wealth is working easier, not harder P
Want to get rich? Just work hard and you will is the conventional wisdom. But the conventional wisdom is wrong. Since the dawn of humanity, the road to wealth has been through working easier, not harder. "
It's got to be worth some ridicule. For example, my own:
"Pay me and I'll tell you how to make money"
Now for free I'll tell you how:
"Convince others to do the same to you". - DNABeast, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Not if you think two odd numbers equal a third odd number.
(although maybe I missed your sarcasm) - Doggpound, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Just because you are right from the start does not mean their are not other ways of seeing it.
- goat77, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I'm getting really sick of these B.S. self-help posts.
"Unlock your genius by playing sudoku while perched on a pole and at the same time spinning plates on your fingers!" - velocipenguin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I think you may have the wrong Paul. There's nothing on the site mentioning Paul Stookey, and there's a mention of a company called "PRK Holdings" at the bottom of the page. Furthermore, I really doubt someone with his background would start a web site to sell generic advice to idiots.
- esspee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4That's one crazy ass URL
Erm, why can't we use Less-than, greater-than or back slash in our comments? :( - TheKillDoctor, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5You are correct. People generally stay far away from questioning their beliefs. It's their mental security blanket.
- holybins, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Did anyone read some of his other crap? Read the one about how "the world hates the weak"...I don't understand if he wants me to become charitable or become less weak...either way it's garbage!
- cctoronto05, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Okay, how many Digg readers of Paul's tips, subscribed to/paid for his premium content?
IOW, did Paul make money from the Digg Effect?
Further, is nickzee (the submitter, for you lazy ones), related to Paul? - DigitalDud, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Completely useless, no digg.
- allenu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Anybody else sick of these lists? 5 excellent mind habits to develop. Top 10 tools to make you more productive. 13 books you must read. The only 4 DVDs you must watch this month! Six signs you are going insane!! Jesus, digg is turning into those impulse magazines you can pick up at the counter.
- theholycow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Are you agreeing with TFA or disagreeing? Your tone (sarcastic, or misunderstood?) is not obvious from your post.
I tend to disagree with TFA regarding fiction. Compelling non-fiction reads that stimulate the mind are rarer than stimulatory fiction. IOW, better to read something than nothing, and you'll be bored to tears reading textbooks in your spare time; reading fiction (versus watching the latest episode of a Flavor Flave reality show) at least stimulates the mind and causes you to think, and is something you'll want to do more of once you've done it. - Spastastic, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Nothing astounding, original, or something that is outside of plain common sense here. No dig man no dig..
- mangojump, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"The multitude of books is making us ignorant."
- Voltaire - vann, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Yes, that was the only point which struck me as particularly untrue. Non-fiction doesn't guarantee "true" any more than fiction guarantees "entertaining," and there's plenty of misguided or simply false non-fiction out there from all sorts of perspectives.
And saying that fiction has nothing to teach us is, well, silly. Jesus gave moral instruction using "fiction," i.e., parables, and the ancient Greeks understood the cathartic value of good drama and comedy. Heck, one of the 20th centuries best essayists, George Orwell, is better known for his fiction than his wealth of compelling non-fiction, and both are instructive in their own ways. - afrazkhan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@ivachen,
It's dangerous to try and be facetious or dryly sarcastic here. Many people will not understand you and modd you down. It's unfortunate, since it means that you can't have witty comments like yours (which I completely disagree with, but that's another post) without getting blasted. - ezkiel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3anticipates the required common sense isnt so common (oops I did it myself)
- swax, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Fiction is what this article is based on, thanks for five off the cuff tips.
- The_Dude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I didn't find these as interesting--mainly because they are simply common sense--as a recent similar page like this that suggested doing stuff like shower with your eyes closed (not interested) or using the opposite hand to brush. I'm using the mouse with the wrong hand. Doubt it'll make me smarter, but it can't hurt.
- stalinvlad, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Paul is my fictional creation
- KadunkaDunk, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Does anyone else find this completely audacious? A website created by ''some guy'' telling people how to live their lives? Ridiculous.
No digg. - altjason, on 10/12/2007, -5/+7A textbook example of "Ok this is lame."
- diggleo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I'm thinking of taking the contents of the previous post about enhancing your memory (http://www.aboutitworld.com/college-university/13313.php) and this post and creating a book called, "An Idiot's Guide To Things You're Supposed to Already Know"
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I hate sites filled with clipart of people faking emotions of freedom and happiness on photoshop-enhanced islands?
- velocipenguin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Presumably because they delimit HTML tags, which (as the statement above the comment entry field says) aren't allowed.
- Rice, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Anything reminding people to question their own beliefs is good enough a digg for me.
- jayfader, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I read that one and stopped reading. How utterly ignorant.
- vamsi, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3#5: Always be ready to question your own beliefs
That sound you heard was a million /.ers silenced - AaronMan24, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Yeah, pretty much, but the last one about questioning your ideas and reality is something I found to be an important factor that is often overlooked, especially now.
- blackjack75, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3He says we should always be prepared to question our own beliefs but he seems to ignore that maybe some people at least might be right from the start!
Stephen Colbert? :-) - Toiling, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Couldn't agree with you more. This guy is solely out for the cash. His tips can be pulled from anyone's ass quite easily. he's relying on the digg effect to boost his reader base.
- dwainetrain, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Fiction only entertaining? Doesn't have much to teach us? Should I toss my Shakespeare? Why, I would be old before I was wise!
I'd read non-fiction if someone can recommend books that aren't written by pompous, name-dropping, biased know-it-alls. - xt0ph3r, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It's fiction, and he says to avoid that.
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