On books and intellectual masturbation

I haven't read popular books. I haven't touched Foucault, I haven't read Umberto Eco, or anyone of those whose works are popular in the academe. Even relatively pop culture books, no, I haven't.

What I have read are random, light stuff — romance, Stephen King, Michael Crichton, Sidney Sheldon — whichever suits my mood. Things that don't require much thought. Where things happen just because the author said so. Never mind the loopholes. Never mind that *some* people regard those kind of stuff as sort of cheap. Whatever.

But I don't think it makes me any less of the person that I know I am. I know I can read Foucault and the likes. I know I can absorb what they have to say. I just...don't want to. I prefer the practical to the theoretical.

And right now, I've learned quite a bit of something new. I know I am being bombarded by contradictions. I think I read to take my mind off things that haunt me all the time. I use it as a means of escape, even for a little while. So I can stop contemplating and wondering and becoming agitated or whatnot.

Maybe someday, when I've got the energy, I'd stop reading merely for pleasure. Maybe I'll start picking up *meaningful* books that would challenge my intellect.

But then, who decides what's meaningful or not?

I mean, I can read books of philosophers all day and not get a single word of what it means and pretend I did. Just the same, I can read these "low-quality," "pop cult," and "wrong-in-what-they-teach" books all day long and not be influenced. In fact, I think it hones my critical thinking more, since I see the flaws of the philosophies such novels employ. I see the errors, I think about them, how many people are deceived and brainwashed. Then I think about how we can come up with better books, which will teach the right way of thinking. And how people should read other literature more.

I see the need for change more.

Yes, I know, few people think the way I do. Many people would say boycotting such material is a way to stop them from proliferating. But given the present culture, I doubt we could do it.

So, things as they are, I think I am better-equipped reading such books (although I admit I must not limit myself in reading only them). It pays to know what's in right now, so we'd know how to battle such ideologies. It pays to know the enemy.

So maybe I'd read some more. Afterward, maybe I'll start reading a bit of *them*. Soon, I hope.

Did you realize I was making excuses?

(EDIT) P.S. I have books sitting inside my computer — Margaret Atwood, Umberto Eco. I have satires, like Terry Pratchett. Even the fantastically pop cult Neil Gaiman. I just need the urge to start reading them.

P.P.S. Sometimes I think critically of the Harry Potter series. Sometimes I see allegories. But then, I don't like the premise of the prophecy. And I don't like the idea that change is tied to one person only...kind of like a "Great Man" theory of history...