psikeyhackr - 01 October 2007 05:54 PM

Jackson - 29 September 2007 02:14 PM

I’m convinced READING is good for kids.

Reading any old garbage is good for kids?  Why have them read something that might make them think?

I accidentally got exposed to sci-fi but otherwise I would not have heard of Arthur C. Clarke until 2001 came out.

Clarke was the first person to suggest geosynchronous satellites for communications and got ridiculed by “experts” for it.  What has Rowling done comparable to that?  The problem is so much garbage gets so much hype and then the bandwagon effect kicks in.

Compare Clarke’s A Fall of Moondust to a Harry Potter book.  I haven’t read any but I waited for the first movie to come on cable to see what the big deal was about.  It lived down to my expectations.  Worse than Star Wars which is too dumb to qualify as science fiction.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Fall_of_Moondust

psik

I agree that some fantasy/sci-fi has more credentials than other f/s-f, but, sir, you just equated a book to its movie?  The first book, too…

What I want to know is why the HP cultural phenomenon is getting more bad press than any other popular sci-fi or fantasy series… How significant is Battlestar Galactica for petes sake?  What about all the BG fans out there?  I haven’t watched any of it, so take that with a grain of salt.

I guess it is a target moreso because people are hailing the books as the godsend that got their kids to read.  Well, after HP a kid is probably going to want to read more books… and it’s true, HP is not the dumbed down muck critics make it out to be.  I did read the series after book seven came out, and I’ll admit by the first fourth of book six I was wanting to go back to reading my grown-up literature when I did read, but I read it all the way through, and all in all the series impressed me to be honest.  If people are worried about the number of adults who have read nothing in their life but HP, then I’d agree there is something to worry about there.  But, for kids?  I think the series is great.  And, the best part is kids are likely to be disappointed with the movies too!    So that’ll show them the perks of reading!

I just read that a Harry Potter first edition sold for 20000 pounds at auction -HERE-

Does anybody want to hold an auction for first editions of Harris, Hitchens, Dawkins, etc.?

Having finally read the issue, I think Paul comes off as an old fuddy-duddy, which is quite unlike him.

Anyone see the recent “shocker” that Dumbledore is gay? Guess those Christian apologists who have been trying to argue that HP is fit for good Christian young folks after all are in serious trouble now.

mckenzievmd - 27 October 2007 12:27 AM

Having finally read the issue, I think Paul comes off as an old fuddy-duddy, which is quite unlike him.

I agree—it really distracted me from the point of the article. I also have to question whether he read the books he is criticizing.

Aha, so Kurtz is a crypto-gay-basher.

Occam

mckenzievmd - 27 October 2007 12:27 AM

Anyone see the recent “shocker” that Dumbledore is gay?

It’s OK for a wizard to be gay because a wizard is “supernatural”.  It’s just “natural” people who aren’t allowed to be gay, right?

Ref.