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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think having never read a book is nothing to brag about

80 replies

lastqueenofscotland · 27/12/2017 16:50

I am a bit of a book worm but I was meeting a friend and her Dfiance for lunch today and she was saying that her New Years resolution was to read some classics/good books and asked for a few recommendations.
Cue her DF having a real brag about how he's not read a book cover to cover since primary school... no learning difficulties etc. Also goes on about how he doesn't read papers/the news as it's always "boring and about other countries."

Aibu to think wilful ignorance is nothing to brag about?!

OP posts:
user1497997754 · 27/12/2017 16:53

My mum brags about never reading a book.....I bet she knows every word on her pension book though lol

Cambionome · 27/12/2017 16:54

That kind of pride in his own ignorance would certainly put me right off.

Bambamber · 27/12/2017 16:55

If people choose not to read books, that's up to them. But it does seem a very odd thing to brag about.

EmilyChambers79 · 27/12/2017 16:55

I never read the newspapers or watch the news. I'm not ignorant but I can't be bothered with mainstream media and the crap it decides to share as "news"

However I wouldn't be impressed with people bragging they hadn't read a book. I'm not sure why it's something to be proud of.

DotForShort · 27/12/2017 17:19

I can't stand this sort of pride in ignorance. I see it in my students sometimes. And they are university students who are, presumably, pursuing academic study of their own free will.

It goes beyond reading too. Not long ago I mentioned Angela Merkel to a group of students. Two of them looked completely blank. When someone clued them in, they smirked and one said he had far better things to do with his time than "learn the names of random world leaders."

hevonbu · 27/12/2017 17:22

...far better things...

Pokémon Go?

MrsTerryPratchett · 27/12/2017 17:23

I have to say it's a curiously English thing. And possibly American in some areas. I've never met a French, Italian or Spanish person who gloats about not reading or not knowing anything about politics or current affairs.

meredintofpandiculation · 27/12/2017 17:25

It extends to mathematics too. People will proclaim proudly "I was hopeless at maths", then go on and say they never need to use it anyway. Not surprising, then, that so many people cannot assess the relative risks of different courses of action, or come up with comments like"but you can't reduce the number of people with less than 60% of the median wage because then the median wage will go up and you'll be back where your started".

Kingsclerelass · 27/12/2017 17:36

Weird. I can't imagine he'll be very interested in helping any dcs with homework.

ScreamingValentaMySantaExpress · 27/12/2017 17:37

Nothing to boast about and nothing to be ashamed about - we are all different.

DotCottonDotCom · 27/12/2017 17:45

Nothing to boast about. I don’t have the sheer patience for a book. I’ll own that fact but tbh I’m not proud either lol

Thehogfather · 27/12/2017 17:54

In that scenario yanbu. Ignorance is not something to be proud of.

On the other hand I know someone who is barely literate who I could imagine saying that if they were defending their self amongst pretentious twats or cornered. (dyslexic but not diagnosed till middle age). Highly intelligent, excellent general knowledge and a walking encyclopaedia on one subject. But reads so slowly they can't make it through a full book.

MexicanBob · 27/12/2017 18:00

I've met pillocks like this a few times. Basically, they're the suckers who don't deserve an even break.

weebarra · 27/12/2017 18:02

It's a funny one. On the surface it's certainly nothing to brag about. My PILs are very intelligent (FIL is a doctor and the first in his family to attend university) and when I first visited them I judged them on how few books they had in their house.
I met DH at uni when we were both 17 and he hadn't read a book cover to cover. DH was diagnosed with dyslexia in his twenties and now at 40, reads for pleasure. My PILs enjoy being active and couldn't imagine sitting around reading when there were other things to do, I'll neglect other things in favour of a book. It depends what he's like in other ways.

TheHungryDonkey · 27/12/2017 18:07

I’m an avid reader when I have the time. My ten yo son hates books. Hates stories. Doesn’t understand fiction. Won’t read them at all. They are a Lie to him. He sometimes at a push reads non fiction. It is possible to absorb knowledge, culture and enjoy fiction in different ways. His vocabulary is wide and varied because mine is. Not on Mumsnet perhaps but in real life.

missperegrinespeculiar · 27/12/2017 18:16

actually, I think it is something that you should be maybe not ashamed of exactly, but certainly see as a weakness, ignorance is not a good thing really

yes, of course you can learn in different ways, but it is not very easy to acquire in depth knowledge of various subjects, and the world in general, without ever having read a book

EmilyChambers79 · 27/12/2017 19:55

On the other hand, I have an extensive book collection but it's all fiction and crime thrillers. I read to escape. There's nothing highbrow in my collection at all.

One of DH's friend actually said "it's so sweet and adorable that you consider yourself a "reader" with this simple collection".

She even made little air quotes round the word reader.

Anyway, reader snobs also annoy me.

Original poster
lastqueenofscotland · 27/12/2017 20:00

I wasn't being a snob... I was slightly taken aback that someone wouldn't keep an eye on current affairs because it was all about other countries Hmm

OP posts:
Hefzi · 27/12/2017 20:01

DotFor I wonder if we work in the same place?! I'm fascinated by what prompts a student who's never read a complete book to choose to "read" for a degree in Humanities - and to boast to their lecturers about the fact!

nocoolnamesleft · 27/12/2017 20:50

I have a friend who has been known to brag that she has not read a book since leaving school. Unfortunately, she announced this shortly after I had proofread a document for her. I'm afraid that I pointed out that this explained a lot.

EmilyChambers79 · 27/12/2017 21:08

I wasn't being a snob... I was slightly taken aback that someone wouldn't keep an eye on current affairs because it was all about other countries

No, I didn't mean you.

I agree with you, that it's nothing to boast about not reading etc.

I was just saying that it gets on my nerves when people criticise what you read and claim it isn't "proper" reading and that you might as well read nothing than a fiction book.

Crunchymum · 27/12/2017 21:21

In was astonished to find that three of my colleagues - all aged between 25 and 30 and all born in UK - had never even heard of Nineteen Eighty Four.

They didn't know a thing about it. Had never heard of George Orwell Shock

I actually stalked around the office and got a bit loud about it.

My non UK born colleagues of a similar age had at least heard of it!!!

(I feel the UK born bit was relevant by the way!!)

Alisvolatpropiis · 27/12/2017 21:25

I have always found it a curious boast. I heard it quite often during my degree and stint in the legal field. So many very intelligent people who didn’t read.

I understand the “I was hopeless at maths” comment. I was, in terms of academic maths. But money as in accounts, taxes I got. And later mathematical odds, via learning how to play poker.

I couldn’t be with someone who was proud of their own ignorance.

IncyWincyGrownUp · 27/12/2017 21:26

mere I’m shockingly bad at maths, and will admit it freely. I’m not proud though, and am working on getting better at it. Volunteering in school has taught me all manner of maths skills that weren’t given to me when I was a schoolchild myself!

Long division still makes me cry though!:o

Alisvolatpropiis · 27/12/2017 21:26

Crunchy

That’s unusual - it was on the GCSE syllabus for that age group