Can you judge people on the books they read?

Jacob · Post by **Jacob** » 02 Sep 2011, 05:03

It's invalid to use the saying, "Don't judge a book by it's cover."
But, no. People have different interest in fiction and non-fiction books, they could be a calm and gentle person but reading a book about crazy stunts and dangerous tricks.

But, people who spread a lot of hatred read a lot of stories about death, which I have witnessed.

I would mostly go with the no section, but you don't really know.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » 02 Sep 2011, 05:14

Jacob wrote:It's invalid to use the saying, "Don't judge a book by it's cover."
But, no. People have different interest in fiction and non-fiction books, they could be a calm and gentle person but reading a book about crazy stunts and dangerous tricks.

But, people who spread a lot of hatred read a lot of stories about death, which I have witnessed.

I would mostly go with the no section, but you don't really know.

A fellow worker told me about his mother who right up to her death (and she died at 92!) was addicted to murder mysteries & the more bloodthirsty the better. She used to get books sent to her from the US years ago, long before Amazon was thought of, because she couldn't get them sufficiently gruesome locally.
She was a lovely old lady & I don't think she ever acted on what she was reading.

StephenKingman · Post by **StephenKingman** » 02 Sep 2011, 05:24

Fran wrote:
Jacob wrote:It's invalid to use the saying, "Don't judge a book by it's cover."
But, no. People have different interest in fiction and non-fiction books, they could be a calm and gentle person but reading a book about crazy stunts and dangerous tricks.

But, people who spread a lot of hatred read a lot of stories about death, which I have witnessed.

I would mostly go with the no section, but you don't really know.
A fellow worker told me about his mother who right up to her death (and she died at 92!) was addicted to murder mysteries & the more bloodthirsty the better. She used to get books sent to her from the US years ago, long before Amazon was thought of, because she couldn't get them sufficiently gruesome locally.
She was a lovely old lady & I don't think she ever acted on what she was reading.

Im sure she would have rebuffed the quite gentle "Murder She Wrote" then Fran for not being gruesome enough

Maud Fitch · Post by **Maud Fitch** » 02 Sep 2011, 06:32

BookBuddy wrote:I think you can learn a lot about a person, looking at their entire book collection but only in a positive way.

My book collection is eclectic. I don't believe in a reading 'comfort zone' so I have many genres, good and bad authors, popular, classics and obscure novels in various condition from falling-apart paperbacks to expensive hardbacks. Some I love and some I hate but they've joined my family so I keep them. My point being that my books don't reflect any order yet I am an orderly person. Maybe they reflect the fact that I am 'open to change'.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » 02 Sep 2011, 08:30

Maud Fitch wrote:
BookBuddy wrote:I think you can learn a lot about a person, looking at their entire book collection but only in a positive way.
My book collection is eclectic. I don't believe in a reading 'comfort zone' so I have many genres, good and bad authors, popular, classics and obscure novels in various condition from falling-apart paperbacks to expensive hardbacks. Some I love and some I hate but they've joined my family so I keep them. My point being that my books don't reflect any order yet I am an orderly person. Maybe they reflect the fact that I am 'open to change'.

Maybe you're an organised person with a disorganised mind ... or maybe your inner Maud is a disorganised person trying to break out.

Bighuey · Post by **Bighuey** » 02 Sep 2011, 20:35

I think its 50-50 about telling what a person is like by what they read. I had a friend who was in the Navy Seals, and he went through some weird s--- in Viet Nam and he killed a guy in a gunfight when I knew him, he was a violent rough guy someone you didnt want to get on the bad side of and he read romance novels, harliquin stuff like that. Ive seen him cry reading a sad one. We were sitting in front of my house one time having a beer and this little dog got hit by a car and he really came apart. He was bawling like a baby. But Ive heard of crazy killers blowing away a bunch of people because they were influenced by some violent book. You guys in the U K, wasnt there some whacko over there a while back who wasted some people because he was influnced by a horror novel?

StephenKingman · Post by **StephenKingman** » 03 Sep 2011, 04:17

Bighuey wrote:I think its 50-50 about telling what a person is like by what they read. I had a friend who was in the Navy Seals, and he went through some weird s--- in Viet Nam and he killed a guy in a gunfight when I knew him, he was a violent rough guy someone you didnt want to get on the bad side of and he read romance novels, harliquin stuff like that. Ive seen him cry reading a sad one. We were sitting in front of my house one time having a beer and this little dog got hit by a car and he really came apart. He was bawling like a baby. But Ive heard of crazy killers blowing away a bunch of people because they were influenced by some violent book. You guys in the U K, wasnt there some whacko over there a while back who wasted some people because he was influnced by a horror novel?

I dont remember that case Bighuey but i wouldnt be surprised if it was the case, different people react to literature in different ways although i dont think blame for such events can be laid at the door of novels, its more likely an askew mindset that was triggered by a book or movie.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » 03 Sep 2011, 07:33

Bighuey wrote:I think its 50-50 about telling what a person is like by what they read. I had a friend who was in the Navy Seals, and he went through some weird s--- in Viet Nam and he killed a guy in a gunfight when I knew him, he was a violent rough guy someone you didnt want to get on the bad side of and he read romance novels, harliquin stuff like that. Ive seen him cry reading a sad one. We were sitting in front of my house one time having a beer and this little dog got hit by a car and he really came apart. He was bawling like a baby. But Ive heard of crazy killers blowing away a bunch of people because they were influenced by some violent book. You guys in the U K, wasnt there some whacko over there a while back who wasted some people because he was influnced by a horror novel?

I heard an interview with a guy last week on radio ... he was a Navy Seal and has written a book about his exploits. The training they go through is something else .. he more or less said if you survive the training you come out of it absolutely rock solid mentally or a total basket case!

But your story about your friend reminded me of the Johnny Cash song about love ... bet you know the one.

Bighuey · Post by **Bighuey** » 03 Sep 2011, 09:49

Fran wrote:
Bighuey wrote:I think its 50-50 about telling what a person is like by what they read. I had a friend who was in the Navy Seals, and he went through some weird s--- in Viet Nam and he killed a guy in a gunfight when I knew him, he was a violent rough guy someone you didnt want to get on the bad side of and he read romance novels, harliquin stuff like that. Ive seen him cry reading a sad one. We were sitting in front of my house one time having a beer and this little dog got hit by a car and he really came apart. He was bawling like a baby. But Ive heard of crazy killers blowing away a bunch of people because they were influenced by some violent book. You guys in the U K, wasnt there some whacko over there a while back who wasted some people because he was influnced by a horror novel?
I heard an interview with a guy last week on radio ... he was a Navy Seal and has written a book about his exploits. The training they go through is something else .. he more or less said if you survive the training you come out of it absolutely rock solid mentally or a total basket case!

But your story about your friend reminded me of the Johnny Cash song about love ... bet you know the one.

Ive heard the song, dont remember the name of it. My friend was somewhere in between basket case and rock solid. If he liked you he would die for you, if he didnt it was best to stay away from him. The booze finally killed him, he was drunk more than he was sober. He always said he drank because he couldnt deal with reality.

Ghastlies · Post by **Ghastlies** » 07 Sep 2011, 10:22

unfortunately, i do. i judge my classmates' capabilities to understand things by the kinds of books they read. although this does not at all apply for some (because some just read easy-to-understand teenage books but they're such smarty nerds).
i know, i have no right to judge them by what they read, and i probably will never know if they are truly able unlike what i've thought they'd be, but i guess it just gives me a first-impression.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » 07 Sep 2011, 13:23

We judge people all the time, mostly unconscious, by much shallower criteria, appearance, age, gender, colour, religion, nationality etc etc .... the books they read is probably no worse a criteria to use.

Jacob · Post by **Jacob** » 07 Sep 2011, 20:03

Bighuey wrote:I think its 50-50 about telling what a person is like by what they read. I had a friend who was in the Navy Seals, and he went through some weird s--- in Viet Nam and he killed a guy in a gunfight when I knew him, he was a violent rough guy someone you didnt want to get on the bad side of and he read romance novels, harliquin stuff like that. Ive seen him cry reading a sad one. We were sitting in front of my house one time having a beer and this little dog got hit by a car and he really came apart. He was bawling like a baby. But Ive heard of crazy killers blowing away a bunch of people because they were influenced by some violent book. You guys in the U K, wasnt there some whacko over there a while back who wasted some people because he was influnced by a horror novel?

That sounds... creepy. But I can figure a lot of people try to copy what they read and see. Even if it means wasting someone or putting them in serious injury.

Bighuey · Post by **Bighuey** » 07 Sep 2011, 20:22

There was a movie a few years ago, something about a mouth, i forget exactly what. It was about a guy who was an author, he wrote Steven King type stories and people read them and went psycho, murdering raping terrorist attacks the whole world was going nuts from reading this guy's books. I think at the end everyone was dead and the one guy was in some kind of a psycho ward going through some weird stuff. He ended up killing everyone in the place or something. I dont remember much of it, I know it was super weird and there might be a grain of truth in it.

Jacob · Post by **Jacob** » 07 Sep 2011, 20:46

Bighuey wrote:There was a movie a few years ago, something about a mouth, i forget exactly what. It was about a guy who was an author, he wrote Steven King type stories and people read them and went psycho, murdering raping terrorist attacks the whole world was going nuts from reading this guy's books. I think at the end everyone was dead and the one guy was in some kind of a psycho ward going through some weird stuff. He ended up killing everyone in the place or something. I dont remember much of it, I know it was super weird and there might be a grain of truth in it.

Damn, I gotta get my hands on that film. Sounds like my type.

Bighuey · Post by **Bighuey** » 07 Sep 2011, 20:56

Jacob wrote:
Bighuey wrote:There was a movie a few years ago, something about a mouth, i forget exactly what. It was about a guy who was an author, he wrote Steven King type stories and people read them and went psycho, murdering raping terrorist attacks the whole world was going nuts from reading this guy's books. I think at the end everyone was dead and the one guy was in some kind of a psycho ward going through some weird stuff. He ended up killing everyone in the place or something. I dont remember much of it, I know it was super weird and there might be a grain of truth in it.
Damn, I gotta get my hands on that film. Sounds like my type.

I Wish I could remember the name of it, I know it had mouth in the title. They used to show it on HBO all the time.