Don't read Annotated Books

Started by StrawberryDream, September 02, 2009, 05:45:12 PM

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StrawberryDream


Oniya

Actually, it's 'abridged' books that I have a problem with.  I was thrilled to get a copy of Alice in Wonderland from a relative for my daughter, and they completely left out whole sections.  I'm ready to download it from Project Gutenberg and read it to her from the screen.
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
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Serephino

That really is a crime!  I loved 'The Outsiders' and a few others on the list.  I thought 'The Chocolate War' was a bit retarded, but why ban it?

And yes, abridged books are bad too.  I have an unabridged copy of 'The Secret Garden' and while it's very long it's one of my favorite books. 

Bayushi

Quote from: Oniya on September 02, 2009, 05:51:50 PMI'm ready to download it from Project Gutenberg and read it to her from the screen.

Aww!

Such a good mother, Oniya! That's the way books SHOULD be shared. Unfortunately, some people can only read out loud for so long before dry throat, etc.

I hope your daughter enjoys your reading it to her.

Inkidu

It's people thinking they can say what's right for everyone else. The only thing that should only be abridged or annotated are dictionaries. That's because any one of them is about five feet tall.

It's the same reason they've banned Loony Toons and all that. I saw some old cartoon and they had edited (a kids cartoon mind you) where an anvil was dropped on a head. What? Do they think kids are going to pick up three ton anvils and drop them on their heads!
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Oniya

Quote
annotated

[Inigo Montoya]You keep using that word.  I do not think it means what you think it means.[/Inigo Montoya]

Annotated books are books that have had additions made to them, usually in the form of relevant footnotes.  Case in point is the Annotated H.P. Lovecraft, which includes references to the time and region that Lovecraft was writing in, which gives the reader even more of a context to use to appreciate the work.  I recall an annotated Through the Looking Glass that included the moves to the chess game that Alice was taking part in.  Annotated Shakespeare includes definitions of what was common slang in the Elizabethan era.

Abridged books (aka, the Creeping Evil of Censorship) are books that have had parts of the text removed, either for conciseness (abridged audio books, abridged dictionaries) or for editorial reasons (where segments have been removed because they are distasteful to someone).

For what it's worth, I think an annotated dictionary would even scare me - and require a forklift to move it.
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Inkidu

My grandmother had a Webster's unabridged and it weighed like, sixty pounds. They're the kind of dictionaries you need for Scrabble but winning isn't worth the hernia.
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Trieste

A quote from the article:

QuotePeople read these books to escape from reality, not to look at it from some else's point of view.

Beg to differ. :)

I'm glad people are still talking about this. It's been an issue ever since before I was in school... And will continue to be an issue until and unless we un-fuck the education 'system'.

Nimmy

Would you consider the Shakespeare plays with the actual Shakespeare on one side and the notes on the other to be annotated (or any Shakespeare with footnotes, for that matter)? If so, I know a lot of people (myself included) who rely on those notes to actually understand and enjoy, to an extent, reading his work. We don't understand his English any longer.

And further, if you were to give a high school or college student an unannotated Shakespeare book, most of them would look at it, look at you, and probably laugh in your face before tossing the book on the nearest table/chair etc.

I don't mind annotated books, personally. Annotated books give you an option: If you know what's going on and don't need the note (or don't know what it means but don't care and don't want to read the note), then you ignore it and go about your reading. If you don't know what it is and want to know, you read it. Abriged books, on the other hand, annoy me, and not only due to the censorship thing. You're reading along and suddenly... "hey, where'd that plotline I was reading disappear off to, damnit?"

Bayushi

Nim, she used the wrong word.

She meant abridged, where they cut out large chunks of the book "they" deem as unnecessary or unwanted.

Shakespeare has been MURDERED by the "abridged" versions put out by the Politically "Correct" idiots plaguing our education systems.

Which is something I wholly and entirely agree with Trieste on. We should present the material and the facts(provided history/science/social studies) and encourage the students to make their OWN conclusions. WOW! IMAGINE THAT! Encouraging people in SCHOOL to use their BRAINS to figure things out on their own.

But that's the 'hard' way, and we can't have the $80,000 a year teachers actually WORKING, can we?

/rant

Footnote: Akiko doesn't hate teachers. Akiko hates the education system, corrupted by the politically motivated NEA and disparate Teachers Unions. Akiko also hates that the Unions have lead to a teacher's culture of corruption and outright laziness, where good teaching is the exception and not the rule; and where problematic teachers cannot be fired, because of the Teacher's Union.

Nimmy

Wait.... we has brains? :o OMG are they dangerous?!

[/sarcasm]

I know she used the wrong word. I was just putting my two cents in and was surprised that nobody had mentioned Shakespeare yet. I mourn the fact that I have a 10 pound Shakespeare book for my class (which is pretty much his entire body of work, or so they claim) but at the same time LOVE it. I am planning on keeping it for a very VERY long time

Clearly Akiko has not met Nimmy's AP English teacher from two years ago. Now there was a man who knew how to push students to think. I credit him for my 5 on the AP test and getting me out of having to take an English Composition class (which would have been review after him...) and got me happily on my way to fulfilling other, more interesting requirements for my degree.

Oniya

Quote from: Nimeneth on September 09, 2009, 08:23:20 PM
I was just putting my two cents in and was surprised that nobody had mentioned Shakespeare yet. I mourn the fact that I have a 10 pound Shakespeare book for my class (which is pretty much his entire body of work, or so they claim) but at the same time LOVE it. I am planning on keeping it for a very VERY long time

Quote from: Oniya on September 05, 2009, 02:39:36 PM
Annotated Shakespeare includes definitions of what was common slang in the Elizabethan era.

*puppy dog eyes*

Unfortunately, my two-volume Shakespeare collection is 'merely' unabridged, and not annotated.  Full text with no extras - but I got it for 12 bucks at a Renaissance Faire.  Score!  ;D
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

The Overlord

Quote from: Oniya on September 02, 2009, 05:51:50 PM
I was thrilled to get a copy of Alice in Wonderland from a relative for my daughter, and they completely left out whole sections. 

If someone takes something out of the work or alters it, for whatever reason, that's still censorship.

The Overlord

Quote from: Trieste on September 08, 2009, 11:52:15 PM


I'm glad people are still talking about this. It's been an issue ever since before I was in school... And will continue to be an issue until and unless we un-fuck the education 'system'.

Which given the arrogance of those who started it in the first place, it will be an issue until we fuck them.


...and not in a pleasant way.

Oniya

Considering the parts omitted didn't seem to be particularly controversial (the Mouse's Tale (Tail) poem for one), I believe that it was 'edited to run in the time allotted' rather than 'bleeped'.
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

The Overlord


Which IMHO is still a form of censorship, even if not direct and malicious, although I understand the potential need to do that sometimes.

If I know something is clipped for time constraints or worse I won't even bother with it, I prefer a story, movie, etc. the way the creator intended it to be.

Transgirlenstein

I never understood abridging a book for "time alloted" reasons.  Its not a 3 or 4 hour movie where people need to sit all the way through.  Books are easy to read in chunks of time.
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Oniya

See, I'm the same way - but I'm guessing the argument is that a half-inch thick Abridged Alice would look less intimidating to a young reader than an inch-and-a-half thick compilation of 'Alice' and 'Looking Glass' (complete with the original artwork).

As I said, I plan on replacing the one I got as a gift with the unabridged version, even if I have to kill a black ink cartridge to do it.
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Nimmy

Would that be inkocide? [/bad attempt at humor]

I have a compilation of all three Alice books in my basement somewhere, that I got as a gift when I was 10 or 11, I think. It's pretty thick. I sat down and read them, for the most part, and enjoyed them. Granted, it took me like a month+ to finish them, but mostly because the language was unfamiliar for me and I could really only make myself read for like a half hour at a time before being all "ok, my head hurts".

Granted this was about 10 years ago when kids weren't as fully hooked to the internet as they are now...

Oniya

Wait - three?  I'm only familiar with 'Alice's Adventures In Wonderland' and 'Through the Looking Glass (and What Alice Found There)'.     :o
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Nimmy

Edit on last post: Nimmy fails. My coffee hadn't kicked in! I blame the lack of caffeine!

I meant two.

Oniya

Perfectly acceptable reason, especially as it provided me with an excuse to wander Wikipedia.
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Candybot

IMHO, censorship in general is unneeded and dearly unwanted in the art/authorship circles. Each can pick and choose the book one wants to read, whether its spending an afternoon with Harry Potter (Banned by some christian circles due to "magic and witches") or the latest peice of fiction from the local library. Abridged versions of Anything are a tragedy in a book binding.

MercyfulFate

Censorship and free speech restrictions make me so angry.

Who are politicians to say what is and isn't right for the rest of us?

Leala Magnus

Censoring books and banning them won't solve the problems of the world. The government needs to worry about more obvious problems than censoring. Back when there wasn't censorship, the lives or everyone grew up normal, and banning a person's right to write and publish is stunting their Freedom of Speech  -_-