Chart: Books that make you dumb

[stsparky]

Books that make you dumb: chart
POSTED BY MARK FRAUENFELDER, JANUARY 25, 2008 11:32 AM
http://www.boingboing.net/200801251130.jpg
Artur Bergman says:
"Wikiscanner hacker Virgil Griffth told me a while ago about his latest data mining project, to visualise the relationship between books and SAT scores. Today he released his findings at Booksthatmakeyoudumb.
He does this by cross referencing the 10 most popular books at every college, as given by Facebook, and the average SAT score. He then presents it all in this nifty little visualisation."
Link (http://booksthatmakeyoudumb.virgil.gr/)

[Shuft]

That is awesome.

/me reserves a copy of Lolita at the library

Is it weird that my first thought was "I wish there was a chart like this for taste in everything else so I can have even more validation."

[Sock Full of Boiled Dimes]

Fahrenheit 451? Really?

Funny how the Book of Mormon is read by a more intellectuals then the Holy Bible.

Oh, and anyone who reads Zane is obviously a dumbass.

[akitaka]

I'm sure that most, if not all of those who claim that the Holy Bible is their top-choice have not read it cover-to-cover, nor can give you a clear-cut picture of what it's "about". At least those that have read "Zane" could give you a synopsis of sorts =\

My favorite book ain't listed :( it's "the gift of fear" by Gavin De Becker...cool readings.

[Fermented Yeast Paste]

I'm not sure I'd categorize Lolita as erotica.

[akitaka]

I'm not sure I'd categorize Lolita as erotica.
...but "Zane" sure is :hat:

[qwert]

As the most popular book of all time is the bible, does this mean that most people are not so bright?

[Urameshi YuSooKey]

As the most popular book of all time is the bible, does this mean that most people are not so bright?

Or it means that if you say the Bible is your favorite book then you probably don't read much else(not much of the Bible probably)

I'd rather see this cross-referenced by each school or tpyes of schools.

[jindojim]

Hmm...seems like people who say "The HOLY Bible" are dumber than people who say "The Bible". Although it's important to keep in mind: correlation ≠ causation.

Me no read books. Cept Harry Potter :P But I did well on my SATs. And, Harry Potter leads the list of favorite books at my undergrad :) As well as at Harvard, haha.

My undergrad school's average SAT: 1451
Favorite books:
1 Harry Potter
2 To Kill A Mockingbird
3 Ender's Game
4 Angels And Demons
5 The Bible
6 Catcher In The Rye
7 1984
8 The Great Gatsby
9 Kite Runner
10 East Of Eden

Point is: none of this really says anything.

[Urameshi YuSooKey]

Ender's Game FTW

I'm going out on a limb as assuming that 'The Holy Bible' refers to the King James version only version versus other modern transcriptions, those being 'The Bible'.

Either way, this study is interesting but nevertheless means jack squat.

Edit: the fact the Harry Potter books out-rank every other book by far is a sad fact to me. Dumbass students.
Yeah, I'm talkin to you.

[Shuft]

That'd be a fun chart too. Versions of the bible. King James vs Holy vs book of mormon etc.

[belladonna]

that's insanely awesome... however my favorite books that were listed were rather average, and i did fairly well on my SATs...

[Sock Full of Boiled Dimes]

The only thing this chart really does it brag about SAT scores.

Oh, and college students really don't like to read.

[belladonna]

i don't know about you, but i happen to love to read as do most of the people i know

[Urameshi YuSooKey]

I love reading yet I'm far too lazy to actually get around to reading anything. :bang:

[jindojim]

Ender's Game FTW

I'm going out on a limb as assuming that 'The Holy Bible' refers to the King James version only version versus other modern transcriptions, those being 'The Bible'.

Either way, this study is interesting but nevertheless means jack squat.

Edit: the fact the Harry Potter books out-rank every other book by far is a sad fact to me. Dumbass students.
Yeah, I'm talkin to you.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that the average facebook user doesn't take the King James version into account as the definitive version of The Bible, making it "The Holy Bible". Rather, if they say "The Holy Bible", it's probably out of reverence, meaning it's a better indication of their religiosity.

And, it's my opinion that it's mainly pseudo-intellectuals who claim that it's sad that people like Harry Potter in an effort to belittle others' reading tastes. So what if people enjoy it? I know it's not on par with what literary scholars would deem "classical literature" or "a thought-provoking masterpiece", but I still enjoyed reading the series. I have to read way too many things anyway that generally aren't fun...

[Sublime]

I've read the first few pages of Lolita after i watched the movie... I snitched an e-book off of Lithursday on /b/. But since it's gonna make me so much smarter I'd better go read all of it.

Although let me try and explain why so many allegedly smart people have read it. In the preface of the book there's this line: This commentator may be excused for repeating what he has stressed in
his own books and lectures, namely that "offensive" is frequently but a
synonym for "unusual;" and a great work of art is of course always original,
and thus by its very nature should come as a more or less shocking surprise.

This book is all but shouting in the face of the reader that it's meant for intelligent people who'd recognize the 'artwork' behind the potentially offensive plot. It's like someone wrote on the cover 1200+ SAT only! :D Plus it's highly controversial which makes it a bestseller on the basis of what today's society enjoys.

[erbiumfiber]

How do you get the college stats? I'm logged into Facebook but it doesn't seem to be coming up (I'm not part of my college network as I don't have a college e-mail address). If someone else can post it, I'd be interested. MIT.

I'm guessing the list is going to be all sci-fi, fantasy, Lord of the Rings-ish.

[MNJetter]

Ahh, amateur research. Where "C.S. Lewis" and "John Grisham" become book titles instead of authors' names, and "The Chronicles of Narnia" (assumedly the one that wasn't written by C.S. Lewis? :duh:) gets compressed into a single volume of literature.

Methinks Mr. Griffith has read Zane one too many times. :D

[Scarabomb]

I love reading yet I'm far too lazy to actually get around to reading anything. :bang:This kind of describes me.:duh:

[SlickWilly440]

I love reading yet I'm far too lazy to actually get around to reading anything. :bang:

Hey, reading forum messages also counts as reading even if it isn't a book. Plus in a books there is only a one way interaction stream versus a forum.

[Roxie]

I love reading yet I'm far too lazy to actually get around to reading anything. :bang:
Says the guy who wants to make fun of ppl who read HP.

Sit on it and twist. :p

A lot of that least reads like my English Honors books lists in HS.

[xinster]

zane is a sick bitch

[MNJetter]

My SAT score isn't on that list. I am too smart for these books. :D

[Plekto]

I'm not seeing anything by Tolkien? (no, The Hobbit doesn't quite count in my book)

Oh - yeah, not surprized at all by a couple, like Jane Eyre. Very tough, dry reading. Though there are a lot of literaly "classics" that should be included as well. The Oddysey comes to mind immediately - need all of your brain to read it. Some schools still have it as a part of their standard cirriculum.

[belladonna]

I'm not seeing anything by Tolkien? (no, The Hobbit doesn't quite count in my book)

Oh - yeah, not surprized at all by a couple, like Jane Eyre. Very tough, dry reading. Though there are a lot of literaly "classics" that should be included as well. The Oddysey comes to mind immediately - need all of your brain to read it. Some schools still have it as a part of their standard cirriculum.
jane eyre is one of my favorite books! i read it when i was fourteen and i still love it

[MNJetter]

I'm not seeing anything by Tolkien? (no, The Hobbit doesn't quite count in my book)
I'm sure I saw Lord of the Rings in there somewhere. If that doesn't count as Tolkein, I don't know what does.

p.s., the Hobbit should count, too. It's the only Tolkein book I've ever been able to read through in its entirety. :P

there are a lot of literaly "classics" that should be included as well
Remember, this isn't a study of which books make you stupid. It's not even a "study" at all, per se. It's a compilation of books that are popular among facebook members, compared against the SAT averages of the colleges that they attend.

...Nobody even looked into the possibility that the SAT average of the facebook members of a certain college might be different from the SAT average of the entire student body, including people not involved on facebook. If I was still attending college, my SAT score would have been counted in there, but not my book preferences, since I have nothing to do with stuff like facebook. And that doesn't make for an accurate survey.

[xtine]

... And that doesn't make for an accurate survey.

Well hopefully most of you understand this, but this "survey" was just a personal data mining experiment for kicks. Of course it's not supposed to be for accuracy, but sort of a "hm, that's interesting" response.

And for those of you that didn't fully understand how the data was collected, basically this guy (Virgil -- of wikiscanner fame) mined public facebook data of everyone's favorite books listed. He took the data of average SAT scores from the schools of the networks these facebook members were from, and then compiled them that way.

Of course it's not accurate because you can have someone with a very high SAT at a school with a low average, and vice versa. But the data is still interesting to look at, and it does give a little perspective of the favorited books that are connected with the perceived intelligence rating of the school.

[Citizen]

I've been saying that a bunch of those books make you stupid for a long time now. For example, The Da Vinci Code. The chart is too small to hold my interest and I'm not going to bother following the link for a bigger one. All I have to say is that there had better not be any Kafka on that list.

jindojim: Your school's "favorite books" list would be more accuratly titled as "the books that everyone was forced to read in high school, because noone can seem to think of anything else". =0

p.s., the Hobbit should count, too. It's the only Tolkein book I've ever been able to read through in its entirety.

The only one I enjoyed was The Silmarillion.

[Eddie Echoplex]

Where's Dianetics?.

[Citizen]

Scientologists probably strongarmed it off of the list. =0

Or it's just not very popular. Either is really a pretty plausible reason.

[Urameshi YuSooKey]

I've been saying that a bunch of those books make you stupid for a long time now. For example, The Da Vinci Code. The chart is too small to hold my interest and I'm not going to bother following the link for a bigger one.

For Citzen's sake :P(you're really not the one to follow a link huh)
http://wikiscanner.virgil.gr/btmyd/BooksThatMakeYouDumbLarge.png
*updated Lolita as 'classic' rather than 'erotica'.
-I'll delete if it's too large-

[Ichisan]

Well I know this is obvious but it's 'books for dumb people' or 'books dumb people like' rather than books making people dumb. Innit?

[Citizen]

Atlas Shrugged
The Book of Mormon
Fight Club
The Notebook
Harry Potter
The Color Purple
The Da Vinci Code
Eragon
The Chronicles of Narnia

Teehee. And no, I don't follow links. Now if only there was some way to actually figure out which books really do make people dumb. This one is obviously fairly baseless and doesn't prove the intelligence of the people or the quality of the books so much as it proves which books are the most well-known among college students, most of which seem to be well-known due simply to being religious texts, books of recent pop culture, trendfag books (I love Agent Orange as much as the next guy, but really, shut the fuck up about it, it doesn't make you cool), or books they had to read in high school or college.

[Roxie]

also, it completely ignores that most of the U.S. doesn't go to college at all.

[Citizen]

That list also made me realize that the worst books seem to get made into movies the most often. Please, for the love of god, if there's an Atlas Shrugged movie, don't tell me.

The one thing that did surprise me, though, is that so many college students listed the Book of Mormon. I'm not knocking the Book of Mormon, but really, I thought this list was supposed to have been compiled from schools in every state, not just Utah.

[MNJetter]

Maybe a lot of private colleges are like my college was, and requires its students to take a couple of religion courses as a general requirement. My school was affiliated with the Lutheran church, so we were required to take one course related to Lutheranism, and then required to take one more religion course of our choice, which involved a wide variety of Christian Studies and comparative religion courses.

[japanat]

Where's Dianetics?.Tom Cruise, et al, notwithstanding, there just aren't that many Scientologists, so I wouldn't expect to see Dianetics on a list of most-read titles.

[stsparky]

... Please, for the love of god, if there's an Atlas Shrugged movie, don't tell me. ...
Bwahaha! Not yet. You'll always have the Fountainhead though.

[Y.T.]

....

Once I bought Atlas Shrugged in an antique bookshop. I thought it was a good idea at the time... I remembered reading some praise of it somewhere.

I wonder what kind of person one has to be to be able to like that book.

I have never, ever read anything that even came close to Atlas Shrugged in hatred contained inside. The author was most likely a vicious psycho.

Plus, the last 400 pages are quite boring.

BTW.. where is Greg Egan in that chart?

[MEGA SATAN 3000]

I've never read it, but I've also heard people praising it. . .what do you mean by hatred?

[stsparky]

I've never read it, but I've also heard people praising it. . .what do you mean by hatred?
Ayn was the epitome of the selfhating anything.

[Y.T.]

I was under the impression that she was a narcisstic personality, and hated mostly others.

Reportedly, she couldn't stand beautiful women. They made her green with envy.

[Roxie]

we talked about her in my soc class. She was all about the "pure" capitalism.

[sutebun]

I really like The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, but there is no doubt at all that Rand was a crazy psycho bitch who let herself get to her head. For example, outcasting one of her longtime supporters (who even had articles approved by her published about her philosophy) when he decided to quit having an affair with her (they were both married).