Nicholas Dames has taught Literature Humanities, Columbia University's required great-books course, since 1998. He loves the job, but it has changed. Over the past decade, students have become overwhelmed by the reading. College kids have never read everything they're assigned, of course, but this feels different. Dames's students now seem bewildered by the thought of finishing multiple books a semester. His colleagues have noticed the same problem. Many students no longer arrive at college—even at highly selective, elite colleges—prepared to read books.
This development puzzled Dames until one day during the fall 2022 semester, when a first-year student came to his office hours to share how challenging she had found the early assignments. Lit Hum often requires students to read a book, sometimes a very long and dense one, in just a week or two. But the student told Dames that, at her public high school, she had never been required to read an entire book. She had been assigned excerpts, poetry, and news articles, but not a single book cover to cover.
the future is r-slurred 
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
!bookworms good to see rdrama's bookclub is on the same level as Ivy League classes.
https://archive.li/9NlT0
Here's the full article without the paywall
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Idk what Dostoevsky is doing in any great books course, who invited him?
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
forcing kids to read russian litrature in 2024 is a microagression
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
he's the best.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
nah, he sucks bro
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
wrong
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
overrated at least
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Crime & Punishment is definitely overrated, can't speak for his other works
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Dostoevsky is super overrated, if Juice Wrld said this nobody would care.
If you want good Russian literature read Gogol or Bulgakov instead. Dostoevsky is just the Russian author that appeals to the west, he was an anglophile, if you want something more authentic this is not it.
Dostoevsky is just a Russian version of an anglo writer, he is not really what you would describe as "Russian literature"
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
This is actually the same opinion Nabokov had of him, he said Dosto is more revered as a writer in the West and that in Russia he's more of a mumbo jumbo mystic.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
I wanna call this a contrarian take but honestly Dostoevsky was pretty polarizing even during his time. I've only read a couple book by him (Demons and The Brothers Karamozov) and they both have high highs and low lows in terms of what you're getting.
What I will say is that dunking on a random quote like that is funny but pretty much on the same level as /r/MenWritingWomen when it comes to critique. Yes his characters are often extremely melodramatic but those characters often had very realistic and cold aspects to them as well. The psychology of his characterizations are fantastic, and the way he manages to capture seemingly contradictory emotions and actions of people is probably his strongest aspect as a writer. I think a big reason why he was so appreciated in the west was thanks to 1) solid translations and 2) a kind of sincerity that looked in the face of rampant cynicism honestly and attempted to give its own answer.
The problem I had with his work was that the cynical and realist outlooks presented in his book were too ideologically convincing, and it made the sincerity that tried to answer with look pretty weak in comparison. It feels like the same trap that the "New Sincerity" writers a hundred years later in the west struggled with, where the best writing they did was mostly cynical. Makes me think sincerity and transcendence are things that aren't meant for deeply introspective types who write long novels about human suffering. That shit is best left to Chads like Camus who can just go "Yeah you just gotta accept the absurdity of life dude JUST DO IT!" instead of Fyodor who goes "I don't think any just, omnipotent and omniscient God exists if that God is cool with an incredible amount of pointless suffering with things like war and child abuse happening to people that had no choice in the matter... B-But you should still have faith cause this is just part of God's unknowable 4-D chess! R-Right guys?"
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
that's just one sentence, it means nothing.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
maybe
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
You plebs need to get on MY level of autism
I only read 50 year old science fiction slop books like Left Hand of Darkness
Where transgenders are the norm and cissoids are the freaks in fiction
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
You guys should read the Eisenhorn trilogy. It's good.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
Same people who think 3 Body Problem is the height of literature
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
they need to read the fricking diamond age
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Snow Crash too
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
When I was doing addictions recovery volunteering I tried getting a few of the nerdier guys to read Snow Crash to discuss it with me
and nobody got past page 50. 
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
!sophistry
LETS FRICKING SOOOOOOO
PHISTRY
!ifrickinglovescience
Or maybe we could encourage people to learn things that matter instead of dog shit that 18th century inbreds felt comfortable with?
I have some good book suggestions for college students:
Calculus
Linear Algebra
Ordinary Differential Equations
Partial Differential Equations
Physics
Thermodynamics
Quantum Theory
Organic Chemistry
Inorganic Chemistry
Biological Chemistry
Physical Chemistry
Cell Biology
Genetics
!physics !chemistry !biology !engineering add to the list
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Twilight
50 shades of grey
Twilight 2
Twilight 3
Whatever they read at drag queen story hour
Twilight 4
The lgbtq+ bible
Twilight 5
Harry Potter (lgbtq remaster)
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
Extremely
!engineering !chemistry
Add Transport Phenomena to it
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
so like do you do chemistry and drive a train or something
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
Fakecel
Not books
All of this shit is incredibly useless unless you're a researcher in that specific field. Occasionally linear algebra comes up in some software context, but even then smart dorks already made a library for you.
OChem at least you can make drugs if you get gud, but you'll probably get arrested.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
You can enjoy both if you are not a complete neurodivergent
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
If you can't do real analysis should you even have human rights?
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
The modern day Ivy League is basically just pure signalling. Their graduation rates are sky high: the difficulty is in getting in, not in passing the course. Compare to stuff like the Sorbonne where every graduate is offered a place but less than 40% of the class manages to make it past the first year. Or even better: elite European universities like Cambridge/Oxford/ETH Zurich where getting in is hard but then the courses are super challenging too.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Public LATAM universities are the same. The reason American Universities rank so high is because of research, but that's in STEM though. My foreignercel impression is that Ivy League Unis renown and alumni outcome is due to networking and prestige.
If you're a lawcel graduated from Yale or Harvard then you'll be acquainted or friends with people who'll become federal judges, politicians and big shots on large law firms. I'm sure it's the same for journos.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Literally the only reason to get into Ivy Leagues is for networking and prestige, that's it. They generally teach worse even because the professors are generally there for research and not teaching so give 0 fricks about you even understanding shit.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
I also suck at the small detail part. I am good at the overall plot though. It's like my brain just ignores all the pointless descriptions as anything beyond window dressing.
On the negative side people are clearly getting dumber in the developed world.
On the positive side the GDP is still growing steadily which suggests that the technological advancements easily balance out the stupidity.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context