"Books that make you dumb (or smart)"


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"Books that make you dumb (or smart)"

Post by guild navigator »

This was a link I found yesterday, showing high school students favorite books matched with SAT scores. I was surprised to see Dune middle of the pack, and Lolita on top...


http://booksthatmakeyoudumb.virgil.gr/

What do y'all think?
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SandChigger
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Post by SandChigger »

This looks familiar. Maybe someone posted about it over on T(A)U. (IIRC Phaedrus knows or was at the same school with the guy who did it.)
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Post by Robspierre »

I can't believe Atlas Shrugged placed so high....

Rob
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Post by Omphalos »

Vladimir Nabakov is a genius, and Ayn Rand appeals to mathematical-professional types, like architects.

Looks familiar to me too, but if I had to guess Id say it was posted on DN long before T(A)U came around. Not sure about that though. Looks like its been updated recently with shtuff like He's Just Not That Into You.
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Post by Robspierre »

I enjoy Nabakov's work, most of the people I know who like Rand are business majors....

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Post by DuneFishUK »

(this post looks familiar to me also.. but this time the pictures work)

It looks to me like the people make the books dumb. I read that Fahrenheit 451 is a standard book for schools (my own copy is an ex-school copy) so for many of the dumb students I wouldn't be suprised if it was the only book they'd ever actually read.

Atlas Shrugged on the other hand is 1000 pages of tiny eye bleedingly small type - if you put that much effort into reading a book - you'll probably do ok at school. (or have eyesight good enough to copy other people's answers...)

I gave up trying to read it properly, I had to cheat - listen to the audio book version ... all 55 hours of it :)

I do feel a little bit smarter now though...
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Post by A Thing of Eternity »

Weird, I SWEAR I posted "why is the bible on there twice? :lol: " yesterday... must be loosing it.
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Post by SandRider »

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Post by Sole Man »

A Thing of Eternity wrote:Weird, I SWEAR I posted "why is the bible on there twice? :lol: " yesterday... must be loosing it.
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Post by Freakzilla »

A Thing of Eternity wrote:Weird, I SWEAR I posted "why is the bible on there twice? :lol: " yesterday... must be loosing it.
Maybe once for making you smart and once for making you dumb?
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Post by Phaedrus »

SandChigger wrote:This looks familiar. Maybe someone posted about it over on T(A)U. (IIRC Phaedrus knows or was at the same school with the guy who did it.)
Indeed.

He graduated a few years before I did, but I attended the same high school, and I know a few people who know him. Same guy that did that WikiScanner thing back in the day, if anyone remembers that anymore.
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Post by Drunken Idaho »

Interesting link... I realize the graph is based on data, but I gotta disagree with the placement of many of those books (in relation to Dune, of course). The fact that Atlas Shrugged is up there is kinda scary, but why on earth is the Book of Mormon (Dum-dum-dum-dum-dummmb) at the same level as Dune? Dune is easily more of an intelligent book than Ender's Game, yet the graph shows otherwise. And the Da Vinci Code? pfffft...

I picked up a couple used books the other day. One was "Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" which the Da Vinci Code essentially ripped off completely. I'm fucking loving it so far. I read like 50 pages last night, could not put that shit down. About a hundred times more interesting than that Dan Brown crap. The other thing I picked up was an issue of Galaxy magazine featuring Project 40 by Frank Herbert, which was later renamed Hellstrom's Hive. I haven't read it yet, but I thought it was cool. And sadly, it was the only Frank Herbert work I found at this used book store. Though I didn't look too hard.
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Re: "Books that make you dumb (or smart)"

Post by Sandwurm88 »

I was trying to find this thread, cause I got my SAT scores back recently. How do people with 1000-1100 like Dune!? I would've thought at least 1300+!! They should update this with the new Writing section, which I didn't think was too bad.

EDIT: And I also think "Books that make you dumb" is such a stupid title...it should be "Books that Dumb People Read" or something. Reading, on the whole, doesn't generally make you dumber, IMO...unless we're talking KJA, but that goes without saying.
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