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sparticus
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Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2013 11:51 am Post subject: A Book I have Discovered |
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I found this book today at a place I frequent - I must see if they will let me borrow it.
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Roland
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Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2013 8:13 pm Post subject: |
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Can you believe anything written by a guy who takes the ironic pen name of Capt. William Lubber? |
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ZeroTheHero
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Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 4:46 pm Post subject: |
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sparticus
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Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 12:10 am Post subject: |
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ZeroTheHero wrote: |
Apparently it's a good read for an 11 year old. |
then what's it doing in a Secondary College Library ? |
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ZeroTheHero
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Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 6:59 am Post subject: |
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No idea, but I based that statement on a user review. I haven't read it myself. |
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Roland
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Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 7:07 am Post subject: |
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sparticus wrote: | then what's it doing in a Secondary College Library ? |
Literature scholars and sociologists will examine the subtext to see what it says about early 21st-century assumptions concerning what is appropriate reading material for children. Probably not of much interest now, but in a century or so they will use it as a basis for saying how screwed up we were and pat themselves on the back for having advanced so far. |
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sparticus
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Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 10:02 pm Post subject: |
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Roland wrote: | sparticus wrote: | then what's it doing in a Secondary College Library ? |
Literature scholars and sociologists will examine the subtext to see what it says about early 21st-century assumptions concerning what is appropriate reading material for children. Probably not of much interest now, but in a century or so they will use it as a basis for saying how screwed up we were and pat themselves on the back for having advanced so far. |
Nice |
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Mr. Blue
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Posted: Fri Dec 13, 2013 1:08 am Post subject: |
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Hmm .... Roland's post wouldn't happen to have some kind of subtle sub-text with reference to the current state of scholarship, and certain smug assumptions about the superiortiy of our own time frame over others, would it?
Seriously though. There are actually some American colleges which let you get credit for studying the history of baseball. If that can be passed off as knowledge of academic worth, I don't see why Australian students can't study history of piracy for kids. _________________ " ... the mistakes that we male and female mortals make when we have our own way might fairly raise some wonder that we are so fond of it. " George Eliot |
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ZeroTheHero
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Posted: Fri Dec 13, 2013 8:53 am Post subject: |
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I've just qualified for being a teach English foreign language in secondary education ( ages 12-18 ) and parts of my curriculum was to study, analyze and understand the teaching value of (seemingly random) childrens literature.
That being said, it's almost impossible to distinguish a "poem for children" for example. Many poems which isn't specifically made for kids have simple sentences and high frequency language. Same goes for subject literature such as this book really. It may be suitable for kids because it is made to be easily read but it doesn't mean it's not for adults as well. |
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Roland
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Posted: Fri Dec 13, 2013 7:58 pm Post subject: |
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This past summer I attended a fantasy/SF conference/convention where the opening speaker talked about libraries collecting popular literature regarded as ephemeral. She talked mostly about romance novels, but also touched on SF and fantasy. Many of these works have already been lost completely to scholars, even though they were published within the past century. But scholars are already making use of surviving 60-year-old romance novels to look at the culture of the 1950s - a period of which they tend to be rather critical.
I told this to a friend who teaches English at a nearby college. She says her college's library is assembling just such a collection of romance novels because one of its most popular non-degree programs teaches aspiring authors to write for the profitable romance market. I would be surprised if some other college somewhere were not doing the same thing with children's literature. |
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Mr. Blue
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Posted: Fri Dec 13, 2013 11:27 pm Post subject: |
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I have met someone who teaches a class at a community college on how to write a best seller. She begins by saying that she doesn't know why she always gets asked to teach that class, because clearly if she knew how to write a best seller she would be on a beach in southern France with stong handsome men bringing her chocolate.
Not sure what that has to do with this thread, but I haven't done a nice piratical thread derailing in a while.
_________________ " ... the mistakes that we male and female mortals make when we have our own way might fairly raise some wonder that we are so fond of it. " George Eliot |
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ZeroTheHero
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Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2013 10:02 am Post subject: |
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I attended a writer's course where one of the selling points of the course was "Learn how to write a best seller". The first thing I asked the teacher was why he hadn't written several if he knew how to do it... He didn't have a proper answer. |
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Mr. Blue
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Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 1:10 am Post subject: |
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Meaning he gave you an improper answer? And he's an English teacher too. I'm shocked. _________________ " ... the mistakes that we male and female mortals make when we have our own way might fairly raise some wonder that we are so fond of it. " George Eliot |
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sparticus
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Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 3:46 am Post subject: |
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How to make a Million Dollars.
Write a Book called - How to make a Million Dollars.
And con 100,000 people to pay $10 for it.
In the book - the instructions are :
Write a Book called - How to make a Million Dollars.
And con 100,000 people to pay $10 for it.
It's a Pyramid Scheme |
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Mr. Blue
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Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 4:40 am Post subject: |
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Not a bad plan if you don't mind having 100,000 people anxious to beat you up and take back their ten dollars. _________________ " ... the mistakes that we male and female mortals make when we have our own way might fairly raise some wonder that we are so fond of it. " George Eliot |
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