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90% non fiction reader because I have an insatiable appetite to be educated and for me the best way is to read constantly. IMO I educated myself more after I quit high school than I ever did IN school. Especially after seeing what they require to graduate high school today its pathetic.
I only read non fiction,usually history,but I picked up a historical fiction novel two days ago that I'm enjoying,it's called possession and is set in the Victorian era and modern times.
I LOVE reading non fiction - history, biographies, sociological studies, travel books, autobiographies, etc. To me, real life is so interesting, I don't feel a need for fiction - unless it's philosophical or allegorical, like George Orwell or Ayn Rand or CS Lewis' fiction.
Some of my very favorite writers are (in no particular order): Thomas Friedman, Bill Bryson, Peter Ackroyd, GK Chesterton, Bruce Feiler, and Norah Lofts.
That being said, sometimes I just want to lose myself in something totally fantasy, like the Outlander series. It's got enough real history in it to keep me interested...and who wouldn't want to fall through time and marry Jamie Fraser? LOL
So you think The Lord of the Rings is as fact-based as The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich? Then you concede that you are completely ignorant of virtually all history, as you only know what you've seen written and relayed. The Civil War? Just someone's story. The Norman Conquest? No different that Beowulf. George Washington? Accounts of his life are no more real than Melville's account of Captain Ahab. Following your -- [ahem] -- 'logic'.
And that's obviously wrong.
because books like jane austen or mark twain that depict "everyday" life while being made up is no different than a book about some guy named "george washington" who went off to fight a war... unless you took the task of researching history, how do you know how "accurate" those "non-fiction" books are?
even "cold mountain" being "based" on a true story, is still a fictional book that could be "based" on any number of people during the time period
while I don't particularly like the book, since it is widely read enough, to kill a mockingbird is also "fiction" but does good enough to let people "learn" a bit about what went on in the time period
was rich dad/poor dad not "real" enough for MBA programs to teach it in the 1990s? yes it is fiction and debunked now, but back then enough colleges thought it was worth enough to teach from
when did "fiction" become become "fantasy" in your mind? and why do you feel compelled to use a mocking tone
I read everything and just pick up what the next book lying around is.
In the past 3 weeks, I've finished a non fiction of a C-130 crash at the North Pole, picked up and went through "The Bedford Incident" and am now reading "The Widows of Eastwick". Don't know what will be the next book.
I see people knocking fiction and then recall a discussion I had the other day with another diver about a real life table top tactical exercise I did in the 80s. I brought up a question about whether or not our defense counter measures settings should be on automatic. The obvious answer was "Of course! If he has fired a missile at us, he knows where we are!".
I was approaching it from, "What if he has worked out we our in 2 or 3 possible locations and he can afford to fire a missile down each axis? Will we, when we start defending ourselves, make enough noise to tell him where we are?" (and I was directed to find that answer and the rest of it is not up for discussion)
I'm captivated by a good story but I do enjoy historical fiction wherein I learn much of what I was supposed to have learned in school.
Murder mysteries are favorites.
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