What is your sense of how your reading habits compare to your non-atheist friends, family and neighbors (as applicable)?
2007-03-03 20:38:13 · 14 answers · asked by Brendan G 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
trevor: fyi - that wasn't my point. thanks for the answer.
2007-03-03 20:45:27 · update #1
how many of you are, that is ...
2007-03-03 20:46:40 · update #2
I read a lot of physics books, factual history books and I also mix in various newspapers to keep up on current events. And if the point your trying to make is that I haven't read the bible, you are going to be wrong. I have read it cover to cover, I used to believe it was true. Then I grew up and learned about the real world that I live in.
Alot of the "religious" types I have met read their religious document and remain oblivious to hardcore facts. They follow their "conservative" leaders as if they were the be all end all of the human race.
p.s. Didn't mean to offend if I did question asker just thought I would point that out. :)
2007-03-03 20:42:20 · answer #1 · answered by trevor22in 4 · 5⤊ 1⤋
Not counting duplicate readings of the same books, a safe estimate for me would be 3000 books in my lifetime, and about half of those were between the age of 12-20.
I still read regularly (an average of 2 books per month), though a lot of it is now "e-texts" (ebooks, PDFs, plain text) because of the convenience of PDAs (300g with 5-10 books on it) and my computer versus carrying paper backs at 200g apiece.
I love Project Gutenberg.
http://www.gutenberg.org/
My family? They never read more than they have to; it's either work-related or low-quality crap novels like Jackie Collins or John Grisham.
My friends? The religious ones read very little and want to be entertained - a lot of movies and computer games. The agnostics and atheists tend to read a lot, though I'm above average for volume.
Addtional:
"TKD540", that's exactly the point. The religious think they know everything there is to know or needs to be known because they have a fictional book by a fictional "god". The atheist mind says, "I don't know" and wants to learn more.
Just as a drug addict can't kick the habit until he admits he has a problem, the ignorant can't educate themselves until they admit they are ignorant.
.
2007-03-03 20:47:58 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
I read a lot of popular science - especially on biology, anthropology, cosmology and astronomy. Some of my favorite authors: Timothy Ferris, Brian Greene, Simon Singh, Martin Rees, Jared Diamond and Richard Dawkins.
I also like reading history, though have no single author that's a favorite. Although historical fiction isn't my usual thing, I am rather fond of the Patrick O'Brian Master and Commander series.
Of my (religious) family, I would say most have read only a handful of books since high school. One devout brother-in-law reads a lot of Grisham, Tom Clancy, etc. but not much of substance.
2007-03-03 21:56:32 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I read a lot more than most people I know, and I know my atheist friends do the same - but then, my mother is a librarian, so that might have more to do with it than the religion thing. She's not an atheist.
2007-03-03 20:41:01 · answer #4 · answered by eri 7 · 5⤊ 0⤋
I am a theist, but I can say that through arguing with the atheists on this website I have found them to be pretty literate and astute. It would be interesting if thiests and athiests engaged in a "who wants to be a millionaire" contest.
2007-03-03 20:41:34 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
I love science fiction novels, though my favorite author is Dean Koontz.
I don't quite know how my non-atheist friends add up in their reading habits. I've never asked.
2007-03-03 21:09:10 · answer #6 · answered by umwut? 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
my bookshelves have a habit of collapsing under the weight.
edit to above me:
Would you like to compare bible collections, how about other religious texts. We could play some cool trivia games about your God's words.
2007-03-03 20:52:11 · answer #7 · answered by U-98 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I have no non-athiest friends, family or neighbours to compare with , I'll read anything non-fiction
2007-03-03 20:53:36 · answer #8 · answered by Apeman 4 · 4⤊ 0⤋
My friend is athiest and he never stops reading... Stuff like chaucer, and thoman aquinas, and so on.
Total book worm.
Hmmm... Guess that kinda ruins the point you were trying to make.
Oops.
2007-03-03 20:42:23 · answer #9 · answered by irishcharmer84 2 · 6⤊ 0⤋
Most of the atheists I know read quite a bit. Isn't it amazing how they value so much the words of other humans but not of their Creator? Brings to mind the words heady and high-minded. Most of the atheists I met are quite pompous about the intelligence and talent that God gave them. Gotta love 'em. Mmm
2007-03-03 20:50:41 · answer #10 · answered by ? 6 · 1⤊ 6⤋