Fiction or non-fiction?
 

If you were to raise an individual, what do you think would be the worst - denying him/her access to fiction or denying him her access to non-fiction?

For simplicity we will define the terms as given by wikipedia:

Fiction: Fiction is story telling. More specifically, fiction is an imaginative form of narrative. Although the word fiction is derived from the Latin fingere, "to form, create", works of fiction need not be entirely imaginary and may include real people, places, and events.

Non-fiction: Non-fiction is an account or representation of a subject which is presented as fact. This presentation may be accurate or not; that is, it can give either a true or a false account of the subject in question. However, it is generally assumed that the authors of such accounts believe them to be truthful at the time of their composition.

Re: Fiction or non-fiction?
 

I vote non-fiction and its not close, but then I've never had the patience to continue past page 10 of a fictional story*. (And I don't feel lacking because of that, or feel that anyone I have met who was into fiction had any "edge")

EDIT - I did manage to read significantly more than 10 pages of The Bible, but I considered that reading to fall within history/philosophy/science of cults etc. It also helps that it is very funny in parts.

Re: Fiction or non-fiction?
 

I vote fiction and its not close. Reading fiction is one of life's great pleasures and incredibly useful in helping us learn about life without trial and error. Non-fiction is essentially (though not necessarily) trivial and can be learnt or looked up later.

chez

Re: Fiction or non-fiction?
 

I'd have to vote non-fiction...All the math, science and other fields of learning as well as history (which people are suppose to be smart enough to learn from, but that's debatable) are non-fiction, besides truth is stranger than fiction so I guess I could find something amazing in non-fiction as well as fiction...

Re: Fiction or non-fiction?
 

If analogy is allowed then it's non-fiction and fiction isn't on the same planet. Is 'Godel, Esher and Bach' non-fiction? for example.

luckyme

Re: Fiction or non-fiction?
 

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If analogy is allowed then it's non-fiction and fiction isn't on the same planet. Is 'Godel, Esher and Bach' non-fiction? for example.

luckyme

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I'm assuming vital works like Theory of Poker aren't fiction or non-fiction.

chez

Re: Fiction or non-fiction?
 

The Theory of Poker...truly an inspired work...but are inspired works fact or fiction? lol

Re: Fiction or non-fiction?
 

I'd try to substitute fictional stories with entertaining real stories. Books like Donnie Brasco, Monster, and Lucky are quite entertaining and of course they still contain a literary element. History in a broader sense is pretty interesting too.

Re: Fiction or non-fiction?
 

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The Theory of Poker...truly an inspired work...but are inspired works fact or fiction? lol

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Well Fawlty Towers was inspired and is clearly fact whereas some claim the clearly fictional bible was inspired.

So it seems fairly obvious that inspirational is independent of fictional/non-fictional.

chez

Re: Fiction or non-fiction?
 

Awww you're so hardcore Chez... [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]