Nonfiction (Evan)
I don't read as much as I used to--I think all of you can relate to that. However, over the years I've been getting more and more into nonfiction. I used to think nonfiction was boring but that was only because I was forced to read boring nonfiction. I used to head straight to the fiction section in the library, because why would I want to read some boring nonfiction? That was the logic of a foolish child.
Nonfiction is as broad a term as fiction. It has many subgenres, each with their own interesting aspects. It's more than just textbooks and essays. One thing that will resonate with many people is educational videos on YouTube. Educational channels such as Vsauce are a bountiful source of knowledge and entertainment. Extra History is another one I really like, teaching historical events with a casual tone and with some nice art to go along with it. I think one of the earliest educational videos I can remember watching is this. It's a video about turning a sphere inside-out. The one I linked isn't the exact video I watched, but an 1440p upscale of the 480p DVD release. The original (I think) is in good-old compressed 240p. It teaches some really cool stuff about topology, although I didn't even know what that word was back when I first watched it.
Ok, maybe videos don't count as reading, but there are plenty of nonfiction books that are very enjoyable as well. One series I used to really like reading was the Guiness Book of World Records. Reading about random records was really captivating to me. Things like "stretchiest person" were the most interesting to read about because it normally had a blurb about them and their story. I don't read the Guiness Book of World Records anymore, but I do read something quite similar: Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a neverending source of information and oddly captivating subjects. And one link leads to another that leads to another which leads to another until you end up at something completely irrelevant to your original article. There's a little game created from this called Wikiracing. You start with an article and have to get to another by only clicking on links in the articles. Wikipedia even has it's own well-documented articles.
Nonfiction is so much bigger than many people realize. It literally means "not fiction" so why wouldn't it be? It's all too common to think that it is limited to boring and confusing textbooks. Heck, your life is nonfiction and that's the most important story you have :).
Fascinating post, Evan. Due to the prevalence of fiction in literature and writing in general being somewhat stereotyped as an artform by popular culture, nonfiction isn't frequently touched upon in literary discussions, so it's interesting to see someone broach the topic in the form of a blog post; I agree that digital resources, while not technically a form of literature, are a major contributor to the nonfiction category.
ReplyDeleteI agree that nonfiction always seemed boring when I was younger (and still most of the time now). Most of my exposure to it had been just books filled with lists of facts, and those aren't really that interesting to read. But like with any other reading I suppose liking reading nonfiction is about finding the nonfiction you like to read.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting post, I never thought about it but I do tend to gravitate toward fiction due to the thought process that non-fiction is boring. But there are some interesting non-fiction books I have read including a child called it which is very enticing. In general I agree with you non-fiction is a very broad genre which can have multiple interesting topics.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting one of your first nonfiction videos was how to turn a sphere inside-out because I remember watching that video with my brother. Another "genre" in nonfiction writing that is surprisingly interesting is the reading section in standardized tests. A lot of them talk about unexpected, new topics and in the perfect reading difficulty. Overall, great point and post!
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