In the second part of the four part series on Entertainment I wrote:
“Reading is the most active of all entertainment. The passive aspect of reading is provided by the author of a work and it is passive in the sense that when reading we allow the author to guide our thinking to some degree. Reading is active in the sense that we must actively (mostly automatically) turn the printed matter into ideas and must use our minds and imaginations to understand, interpret, judge, “see,” (imagine) and enjoy whatever is provided by the author. At every moment we are in control of what and how much of what the author has provided we choose to ‘consume.’”
When reading for our own enjoyment, it is the most rewarding of all forms of entertainment, because it is also the most demanding. I’ll paraphrase the quote from The Autonomist’s Notebook from the fourth part of the Entertainment series:
“The kind of entertainment any individual will enjoy is determined by the kind of person they are. The trite mediocre majority will enjoy trite mediocre entertainment. The exceptional individual cannot enjoy the insipid fare that satisfies the average. He can only be bored or irritated by it. But the entertainment that the exceptional enjoy cannot be enjoyed by the average, because it is too hard. One measure of entertainment is the demand it places on those who enjoy it. The average person will despise great entertainment because it is too difficult. The exceptional will despise the commonplace because it is too easy.”
Fewer people read all the time, which is an indication of society’s decadence. It is easier to turn on some electronic device and have one’s entertainment provided by someone else requiring as little effort as possible on the part of the entertained. With rare exception, especially today, what is provided as entertainment by the most passive forms, television and films, is mostly worthless trash and for the independent individualist, an intolerably boring waste of time.
A Book To Read, Possibly Free
It’s not like Harry Browne’s book, it’s a novel, meant for entertainment and it individualistic and freedom oriented. The name of the book is Nobel Vision, and if you are interested, please have a look at my new offer, and do ask for the book.