Was just recommending a book and it occurred to me (again) that the title can be misunderstood, people then judging the contents on that misunderstanding rather than reading the book itself.
How Children Fail by teacher, John Holt is the example that prompted this thread.
Any others?
Oft misunderstood book titles ...
Oft misunderstood book titles ...
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rachelbean
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Re: Oft misunderstood book titles ...
The Selfish Gene is the first one that comes to mind for me.
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Re: Oft misunderstood book titles ...
Same here, I dismissed it as another one of those Social Darwinism tracts before I was introduced to Dawkins via The Mind's I.rachelbean wrote:The Selfish Gene is the first one that comes to mind for me.
What I've found with a few discussions I've had lately is this self-satisfaction that people express with their proffessed open mindedness. In realty it ammounts to wilful ignorance and intellectual cowardice as they are choosing to not form any sort of opinion on a particular topic. Basically "I don't know and I'm not going to look at any evidence because I'm quite happy on this fence."
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Re: Oft misunderstood book titles ...
Ayep, The Selfish Gene .. I've read the book (original version) before I read the criticisms that were based on misunderstanding the title, so there was no confusion for me at all. RD explains what he means by 'selfish' in the context of the subject matter in the opening chapters of the book. While reading the book I did find myself having to actively refer back to that explanation in my mind on many occasions, though, because I had become used to applying the popular connotation of some words as I'd always understood them without further thought to any more objective meanings, and the intent of the author in his/her use of the words.
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apophenia
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Re: Oft misunderstood book titles ...
The Tibetan Book Of The Dead
The Diamond Sutra
Of Grammatology
The Apocrypha
The Metaphysics of Aristotle
Being and Nothingness
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Re: Oft misunderstood book titles ...
Sorry to be obvious but the Bible is the first one which comes to mind.
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Re: Oft misunderstood book titles ...
Ivanhoe, absolutely nothing about Russian male prostitutes in there. 
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Re: Oft misunderstood book titles ...
No, it appears right. Philosophy is really nothing. Maybe the little logic bit is right in it.
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Re: Oft misunderstood book titles ...
Correct in concept.Tero wrote:No, it appears right. Philosophy is really nothing. Maybe the little logic bit is right in it.
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Re: Oft misunderstood book titles ...
Bible means "book", so it should have been called "a Bible" not "the Bible".Rum wrote:Sorry to be obvious but the Bible is the first one which comes to mind.
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Gawdzilla Sama
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Re: Oft misunderstood book titles ...
The Bronze Age Goat-herders' Anthology of Campfire Tales for Boys: God's Little Instruction Manual for Handling Slaves, Sex Slaves, Kitchen Help, Naughty Offspring, Babysitters and the Soon-to-be-extinct Tribes Next Door. Now with The Egomanical Hippie and His All-Boy Posse Hang Out in Palestine.Horwood Beer-Master wrote:Bible means "book", so it should have been called "a Bible" not "the Bible".Rum wrote:Sorry to be obvious but the Bible is the first one which comes to mind.
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Re: Oft misunderstood book titles ...
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - not a grease-fingered manual to keep in the garage.
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Re: Oft misunderstood book titles ...
How about a book most people know, but don't know the title: "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". Few people realize that that's the correct title.
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