
Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s Favorite Literature Books (2018) - JJseiko
https://www.nuggetsofthought.com/2018/08/22/taleb-literature-books
======
gumby
The sheer volume of publication is a problem, as is Sturgeon's "law" that "90%
of everything is shit."

So for fiction, which I really enjoy, I mostly read the work of deceased
authors. Why? Well, if they are old and still in print (or still mentioned in
things I otherwise enjoyed) then they are probably better than the run of the
mill.

Doesn't mean I read _anything_ old -- I can't stand James Joyce, though I have
friends who love the work. I don't have the education to understand it.

With apart from the two examples below I won't mention particular authors, 1>
because it will inherently sound snobbish ("oh he likes to read _that_ old
author -- I had to read that thing in school") and 2> because everybody's
taste changes.

For some perspective on my attitude: in high school I was really saddened that
only seven of Sophocles' plays survived when he had written over 100 and we
have records of some of the missing work winning prizes. But I came to realise
that must have been some clunkers in the mix and over a few thousand years
perhaps these seven are seven of, say, the best ten. Pretty good!

Also I have never understood the fetishism of the original. People obsess over
Shakespear's first folios, and the differences in printings and revision:
which is "correct"? These old works are "good" because they are continually
reinterpreted and remixed into our underlying culture.

"good" in scare quotes because it's all personal judgment -- I have a few
Shakespeare plays I really love, and many I can't stand or am indifferent to,
and personally I couldn't care less about his sonnets. Doesn't make me a good
or bad person, nor is it a comment on your opinion if you feel differently.

