SydLexia.com - The Forums :: View topic - Books you are told are good that end up pissing you off

Joined: Oct 12 2007 Posts: 821

Cattivo wrote:

nihilisticglee wrote:

There is actually conflict on whether or not the Muslims destroyed the Library of Alexandria

But most of the evidence, while not totally conclusive, points to the Muslims. If they didn't conquer the territory anyway, there would still be evidence from that era that would allow us to know definitively what happened.

The evidence is a story that was written almost 800 years after the library was destroyed by a man called Abd al-Latif, who would later have the story copied by Barhebraeus, who most historian seem to base this idea off of. It doesn't add up as anything more than a myth.

Quote:

nihilisticglee wrote:

Quote:

Colossus of Rhodes

Wrong, they may have stolen the already destroyed statue, but had nothing to do with its destruction.

Hence my use of the of word "remnants." Read entire posts before firing off half-cocked.

I could have sworn this said otherwise when I posted this, but I have been up for over 24 hours, so it is definitely possible I missed something in my first read through. I apologize for my mistake

Posted: Jun 08 2009 08:32 pm

Without unlimited access to a wonderful life rejuvenating Life Potion

and a time machine history will continue to be inaccurate, but at least we'll all have something to debate / discuss. Neutral

Joined: Apr 14 2006 Location: Lake Michigan Posts: 3332

SoldierHawk wrote:

Don't forget that Muslims were also responsible for the preservation of most of Western history, culture and literature during the Dark Ages though. If it wasn't for them and what they kept, the Renaissance would never have happened.

Nope. Remember the monks I mentioned? Much of what we know today is thanks to the preservation conducted by the Church. Ask any Medieval Scholar.

Obama said almost the exact same thing as you, when he was in Cairo, but he is no historian. From a recent conservative blog post: http://blogsforvictory.com/2009/06/08/obama-fails-as-a-student-of-history/

Political correctness vis-a-vis Arabia has obfuscated the current dialogue on these matters, and shedding this mindset, on top of doing some primary research into the Middle Ages, can peel away the layers to the truth.

nihilisticglee wrote:

The evidence is a story that was written almost 800 years after the library was destroyed by a man called Abd al-Latif, who would later have the story copied by Barhebraeus, who most historian seem to base this idea off of.

I remember a lot more evidence than just that, and a pretty liberal professor I had in grad school supported the idea also. Can't remember all the evidence besides learning in school that that was the cause, besides the small possibility of an earlier fire.

You could say that the possible fire centuries before damaged the Library, but the evidence for that is even sparser.

nihilisticglee wrote:

I could have sworn this said otherwise when I posted this, but I have been up for over 24 hours, so it is definitely possible I missed something in my first read through.

I believe I edited that in almost immediately after posting it, and I'm almost positive it was up before you had a chance to read it. If not, I apologize then. I do so much editing on these debate posts, that it's hard for me to keep track of.

Posted: Jun 09 2009 12:18 am

Cattivo wrote:

SoldierHawk wrote:

Don't forget that Muslims were also responsible for the preservation of most of Western history, culture and literature during the Dark Ages though. If it wasn't for them and what they kept, the Renaissance would never have happened.

Nope. Remember the monks I mentioned? Much of what we know today is thanks to the preservation conducted by the Church. Ask any Medieval Scholar.

Not any Midieval scholar, Catti. I didn't just pull that out of my ass--plenty of scholars and history books disagree with the position your blog there takes.

Joined: Apr 14 2006 Location: Lake Michigan Posts: 3332

SoldierHawk wrote:

plenty of scholars and history books disagree with the position your blog there takes.

With their own agenda to push. It's a common misconception because of modern society's need for political correctness.

Joined: Oct 12 2007 Posts: 821

Cattivo wrote:

nihilisticglee wrote:

The evidence is a story that was written almost 800 years after the library was destroyed by a man called Abd al-Latif, who would later have the story copied by Barhebraeus, who most historian seem to base this idea off of.

I remember a lot more evidence than just that, and a pretty liberal professor I had in grad school supported the idea also. Can't remember all the evidence besides learning in school that that was the cause, besides the small possibility of an earlier fire.

You could say that the possible fire centuries before damaged the Library, but the evidence for that is even sparser.

We pretty much know a fire happened in 48 BC (Caesar set his ships on fire, which spread to the dock by accident) due to the works of Plutarch, Aulus Gellius, Ammianus, Orosius, and Seneca, who have all talked about the damage caused by the fire. This is further supported by Marcus Antonius plundering the Pergamon to replace all the books lost in the fire to Cleopatra. However, it is not known if the library was restored after this point, as Alexandria had two other libraries. After this point the argument branches off, as some believe that the library's contents just sort of fell apart due to have receiving proper care, while other think it contents was transferred to the two other smaller libraries in Alexandria. If the library's content was able to be maintained, most of it contents would have been lost during the take over from Emperor Aurelian, which left only the smallest library, belonging to the Serapeum Temple, standing. Then, in 391, Theodosius ordered the destruction of all Pagan temples, which included the Serapeum Temple, which in turn would have destroyed the library.

On that note, should we make a new thread for this? Cause this is veering way off topic.

Posted: Jun 09 2009 10:32 pm

Edit: Deleted long rant that may be misinterpreted as flaming and further derail this thread. It was a knee jerk reaction to an issue that bothers me and I got over passionate in my response.

Joined: May 13 2009 Location: lowell, ma Posts: 289

I'm about to start reading Othello in my College English class and im pretty sure it's going to piss me off, that counts right?

Posted: Jun 09 2009 11:23 pm

I actually liked Othello. It's a great read once you get through it. I was never required to read it either, I just did.

I need to start seeing the actual plays at this point.

Posted: Jun 10 2009 12:15 am

blkplaguelmc wrote:

I'm about to start reading Othello in my College English class and im pretty sure it's going to piss me off, that counts right?

If it doesn't piss you off, you aren't human. Iago is an evil SOB (if an awesome one), and what he does is horrible and inexcusable.

If you mean piss off as in annoy you because its boring, I hope not. It's my favorite of Shakespeare's plays, and an amazing story. Get your teacher to let you watch the Kenneth Brannaugh movie if you can--its not perfect, but its by far the most exciting and interesting adaptation out there. Laurence Olivier's version is very good too, but...its hard to get past a white guy in blackface, at least for me.

Joined: Aug 10 2009 Location: Klaipeda Posts: 6

Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons". It was the shit. Literally! Didn't even try reading any other books of his after this one. It was more kind of a cheap Hollywood movie scenario than fiction. Maybe best-seller fiction simply isn't my cup of tea.

P.S. Moby Dick is a pretty awesome book. For me at least.

Posted: Aug 10 2009 07:07 pm

Atlas Shrugged. It's like a bad political cartoon that never ends.

Posted: Aug 10 2009 08:01 pm

Much of Vonnegut's work. He was a really popular author in highschool that the intellectuals recognized in the same way a frat-boy will pretend he's "deep" simply because he knows that Pink Floyd made "Dark Side of the Moon". Our library in highschool had a lot of his books and I read them all to find out what all the fuss was about. I was severely disappointed when I found that many of his stories were pretty dull and depressing. Occasionally he'd make a funny joke or an interesting twist however it almost always ended on a bad or pointless note. Most of them were also pretty short.

Out of all of his books the only one I really liked was Jailbird. Ironically it was his least favorite work. It was actually a pretty decent book and it ended on a happy note. I also disliked Kerouac's "On the road again". It starts out alright and their are even a few parts that I really wanted to like however as it got closer to the end I started to dislike all of the characters. Many of the major points of the story consisted of Kerouac and his friends getting really high and talking about what great things they were going to do, setting out to do them, then getting sidetracked and doing something boring and sad. At the very end when Kerouac (I forgot the pseudonym he used in the book) decides to abandon Moriarty simply because his other friends secretly didn't like him pissed me off. Sure he was kind of crazy and forgetful, but he meant well.

Posted: Aug 12 2009 02:29 am

Thorinair wrote:

Atlas Shrugged. It's like a bad political cartoon that never ends.

Ayn Rand seems way too up her own ass.

Posted: Dec 29 2009 12:09 pm

'The Once and Future King' should've been an enjoying read for me. I like stories with knights and wizards, and this was supposedly a classic. It turned out to be a 600+ page grind I couldn't even enjoy a single chapter of. Also, the author of 'The Giver' owes me two months of my life. Absolute worst read of my life. Pretty much ruined books for me.

Wizard Joined: Jun 12 2009 Posts: 4209

The ending to 'The Dark Tower' series. Pissed me off to no end.

But, it makes sense, and I had to acknowledge that in order to resist writing Stephen King a death th--I mean letter.

I mean, Roland can't climb to the top of the Tower if he keeps abusing the trust of others. But I think when he reaches it this time, he won't go through the same charade, after all--he has the Horn of Eld, now.

God, I think I'm going to start a topic about this.

Posted: Dec 29 2009 04:52 pm

Oedipus Rex....

*SPOILERS!!!!!*

He stabs his eyes out. Damn you tragedy!

Title: Hugh Joined: Sep 23 2007 Posts: 1591

Thunderhorse wrote:

Also, the author of 'The Giver' owes me two months of my life. Absolute worst read of my life. Pretty much ruined books for me.

Wait, it took you two months to read the Giver?

Posted: Dec 31 2009 07:05 pm

Captain_Pollution wrote:

Thunderhorse wrote:

Also, the author of 'The Giver' owes me two months of my life. Absolute worst read of my life. Pretty much ruined books for me.

Wait, it took you two months to read the Giver?

Well, I was in 6th or 7th grade, so reading it in a group, mixed with random assignments and tests equal roughly two months. Definitely wouldn't have taken that long if I were allowed or if I wanted to.

Title: Hugh Joined: Sep 23 2007 Posts: 1591

Oh, yeah. I always thought it was dumb how long books took to read in novel studies.

Joined: Oct 01 2009 Posts: 5316

Paradise Lost was pretty boring in high school, if I went back to it now I would probably enjoy it more.

Posted: Jan 01 2010 05:44 am

Thunderhorse wrote:

'The Once and Future King' should've been an enjoying read for me. I like stories with knights and wizards, and this was supposedly a classic. It turned out to be a 600+ page grind I couldn't even enjoy a single chapter of. Also, the author of 'The Giver' owes me two months of my life. Absolute worst read of my life. Pretty much ruined books for me.

You make me sad on both counts. Two of my favorite books there. Sad

Posted: Jan 01 2010 09:03 am

I have a version of The Once and Future King called just The Sword and the Stone, and it's missing half the content of Once and Future. It also seems to be the book version of the Disney Sword in the Stone. Everything from Wart getting turned in to a Pike to Merlin having stuff from the future in his house, all there! Good Stuff. Smile

Banned Joined: Sep 13 2008 Posts: 3129

The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorn

We read this in my english class 1rst semester and it was a jumble of metaphorical phrases and a slow plot

Posted: Jan 17 2010 04:53 am

Hacker wrote:

The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorn

We read this in my english class 1rst semester and it was a jumble of metaphorical phrases and a slow plot

I so feel your pain. I hated that damn book. And I could never get over what a bitch Hester's kid was.

Also, "A Farewell To Arms." I know I'm supposed to kiss Hemingway's butt because I'm an English major, but seriously, I hate that book, and 90% of the rest of what he's written. Just....UGH.

"Catcher in the Rye" is another one like that. Its supposed to be this amazing and deep insight into the life of a disaffected youth, but frankly, I wanted to just slap Holden upside the head and tell him to get his ass a job or something and quit whining. Brat.