Studying books in school made reading books harder. This is potentially because reading became a chore rather than a privilege and a joy. I am currently halfway through Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and, I'm not gonna lie, I am watching VlogBrothers instead of reading it. But then I also stopped in the middle of reading it to read The Fault in Our Stars, which I would never pause the reading of for anything, even food.
@mlemleh I read Mary SHelly's Frankenstein. I really like it but I would have liked it better if I hadn't had to stop and answer questions on it for every chapter. But I thought it was cool how it brought up the question of what it means to be alive and the resposibility we have to things we create. Throughout the book I kept wondering why Victor didn't just kill the monster but then I thought about how Victor created the monster and he had once been kind so maybe it wouldn't be fair to kill him
the internet is addictive... withdrawal from it is a real thing, believe it or not. I adore reading but here I am on the internet and NOT reading my book! :sigh: I think I'll do that right now ^_^
I am a new Nerdfighter, brought into the fold by a link to a crashcourse video. I found Hank and John's style intriguing and wanted to see more. Vlogbrothers is hard to understand if you don't get all the inside jokes, so I decided to watch all the vlogbrothers videos in sequence.
It's clear you (John and Hank) did not intend your Brotherhood2.0 videos to be a long form narrative, it is now.
The internet is not going to replace books because people don't read books to memorize all the facts in it; they read books for the enjoyment of learning the story, of seeing life through a different perspective. People read books to see how others think, and to know that they are not alone. While the internet can do this, it can not tell stories and express timeless emotions like books can; that is why, whether on a fresh new Kindle or on 70-year-old pages, books will live on.
I used to be (and hopefully still am) an avid reader. However, right now I'm reading a really long book that I am sometimes interested in and sometimes not. It is at times like these that I turn to the Internet to entertain me until I feel interested enough to continue.
Spoiler alert: Your hotel will be cooler in Houston, Texas while on the Tour de Nerdfighting 2012. There, Hank will hold a Piccaso painting while eating pringles and, in the spirit of the internet, say "first".
When I read a book I really... I just sort of don't do anything else until the book is read. It doesn't matter how long the book is or what it's about, when I start reading you've got to practically start a fire to get me to put it down. So when you said that thing about getting distracted by the flashy flashy in the middle of a good book that didn't compute with me at all. I was all like 'is that really possible?'
The internet will never smell as nice as a book. It will also never age and yellow like a book will. It will also never be as refreshing as reading a book.
Yet a book will never be as personalized as the internet can be unless it is written by oneself, in which case one would never read one's own novel.
I have read barely a single book since I started senior high school, but I think the chief causes of that are the deep and awful guilt that high school students have drummed into them for ever doing anything that isn't studying, and the fact that when you turn 16, your parents and family no longer find it cute and exciting that their child can read a $40 novel in thirty-six hours and still call it a leisurely pace.
I have a massively hard time reading books like I used to, but I blame a lot of that on university life. In high school I wasn't all that challenged by most of my subject, so I had little problem reading 5 books at a time, but when university and grad school life came around, I read challenging things all the time that drained me of a lot of book-love. Now that I'm out of uni life, I go to the internet for brain sustenance, and I find myself struggling to focus...unless on the subway
Unfortunately, while I used to do nothing BUT read, now I do nothing but internet. It feels like I have to either focus on one or the other... I can read a book in a few hours and only do that, or I can do nothing hanging out online. Sometimes I take breaks to do the other one but I have to do it for hours at a time.
I read The Fault in Our Stars in three hours. Needless to say, the flashy-flashy lights of the internet did not hold a candle to my Awesome Focus of Awesome.
I'm studying Politics at Uni and I couldn't remember/understand a lot of my work, so after watching this video I decided to write it in a book, which really helped because it's a lot easier to understand forms of democracy if they're in scenarios so I just wanted to say thanks. Thanks :)
I go through phases: I'll not read ANYTHING for 2 or 3 months and then I'll spend a few weeks reading loads and getting through loads of books. My life is really busy with homework & stuff though :/
Its true, I used to love reading. Devoted at least an hour or two a night to it. And now, sure my life has become a little more hectic, but its been forever since I've sat down to read.
quite honestly, I'll read a chapter or two of a great book (the current project is "the world according to Garp") and then I'll stop and go write myself.
i only find it hard to read books i'm uninterested in. if i'm interested then i'll start feeling every emotion the main character feels. i end up locking m door at scary parts, crying at the sad times, and laughing my ass off when a good joke is told. i think that's why i like your books so much. i'll read for as long as i can but then i run out of pages to flip and then i'm sad. lately i've been without interesting (to me) books. i can't wait for will grayson will grayson
I tend to "binge read", sort of. I read for like three days straight, and then I'm on the internet for a while and suddenly I'm only reading at school when I have free time. Same with video games. It comes in waves...
I definitely find it hard to read books (as in I don't get them finished quickly or keep going for any great lenght of time). I keep stopping to go on the internet or to play/ listen to music
It is sort of true for me, up through about 8th grade I read ALL THE TIME constantly, and now I don't as much. I've gotten much busier with school and other parts of life, and I've found myself choosing to spend the free time I do have on places like Youtube (lol).
I still LOVE reading and love stories but I've found myself reading less. And I think partly because I know that I'll get sucked into the book and be oblivious to everything else. (which results in doing less homework etc) :P
@FawkesLastSong That is LITERALLY the story of my life. I've found the same things happening to me. My parents used to get mad at me because I'd walk around the house with my nose in a book, or read at the dinner table, or read in the bathtub (don't judge me). Now I feel like I just don't have the time anymore. It's depressing when someone who loves reading is unable to.
The internet can never, ever replace books. As much as I love the internet, there's nothing quite like sitting down in a quiet corner (or in a bench outside) and getting lost in the author's projected world.
I read for fun. Is it harder to read books? No. Will it ever be? Probably, seeing how much time I spend staring at a screen. (This would make "seeing" harder. Not reading.) Although the flip side to this is I LOVE GLASSES (but do not need them) so maybe not...
I'm 17, I have a tough time reading books. I really like reading, I used to read all the time, but in the past few years I've bought video games and a computer for me to use and a cell phone and it's gotten to the point where with the little free time I have, I want to spend online.
not at all strangly, reading books is a way to completly and utterly forget everything around me. Because sometimes you really don't want to think about what is going on, or stuff you have to do. Stuff you should have done but didn't ..ect.
When I read that book, I am that other person and do not have my own mistakes and problems anymore for a while. I would have more problem stopping to read that the other way around!
I love love love reading books! <3 I don't see how anyone could pass up a good book for... well... nvm.. I just bought a new book and I started reading it but, we also just got internet here at home and well.. you can guess which one I chose (whispers: internet!)
Yeah it's harder and it's all you fault becausei like totaly want to get back to reading catching fire but your videos are staring back at me so i can't.Ughhhhhhhh. Nerdfighters rock!
You should read "The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains" by Nicholas Carr--it was written specifically to address why people these days have a harder time getting deeply involved with books. It's good. Very.
I haven't been able to read during most of the year which really sucks since when I was little I would stay up into the darkest hours of the night (10 pm back then) to read the next five chapters of a book. This is mainly because I go to high school... a really nerdy and fun high school but an extremely hard high school.
I've been finding it harder to read lately and I don't know why. I keep reading the same sentence over and over because for some reason it just doesn't compute in my brain and I HATE IT.
Giant squid of anger says BLAAUUGGGGHHHHHH *waves arms erratically*
I, unfortunately, have found it very hard to find a book that will drag me in and make me sit there and read it and forget about everything else until I'm done. I have found five books like that since I left highschool in 2008. Some romance novels {Which have an amazing plot like, like oh my god} and Anna and the French Kiss. It actually took me until page.... 60-80 to realize that AatFK was in first person. I hate books in first person, normally... eh. I guess I'm just weird.
I can read a book for hours on end and be so engrossed in the story that i can't hear people talking to me, even with a book iv'e read before, the internet will never replace books in my world :)
It's getting harder to read substandard prose. Proper novels have got to be intellectually interesting to be readable and in the world we live in where there is such good, intellectually interesting prose, how could substandard novels be readable at all?
"occasionally i'll put down a good book to look at the flashy flashy lights of the internet" ...i put down looking for alaska to watch vlogbrothers...does that mean i really put it down?
I used to be really good at numbers - I used to remember everyone's birthday, all of my friends' phone #s, and I could memorize any number or code up to 10 digits. I can't do that anymore. Thanks technology XD I usually blame the fact that humanities is more of my thing and math is evil but I'm laying the blame on technology now
And I will never tire of long-form narratives. They're my favorite kind of narrative ^_^
If it's new, I keep the book with me at all times. Usually, the internet wins.
Yeah, I've found it increasingly difficult to read books over the years. I went from reading hours a day in elementary school, to reading almost nothing in middle school (when I discovered YouTube), to finally getting back into it in high school. Some days I read nothing, and some days I read an entire 250 page novel. The Internet is definitely my biggest distraction.
well that depends on the type of book i finished son of the mob in 3 dfays becouse i liked it so mus (mind that im only 13 and im a VERY slow reader) Harry Potter is one of my fave seiries but i dont like some of the parts without cedric,ron,draco,and Nvil so i tend to look up sparkaly stuff on google
I find books refreshing. The internet is good for instant entertainment, but once you've seen the flashing light that's the end of it. With books (and other longform narratives) there's always more meaning to be found.
I don't find it hard at all to get focused on a book. Once I start reading, I keep on reading, not even noticing I'm turning the page until there's no more pages to turn. Then I'm sad because I don't have any more to read. Curse obsessive reading...
I do find it harder to read a book or magazine with the invention of the internet but I shut my computer down at night and leave it out of my bedroom which forces me to read; and focus on what I am reading.
Transit hotel as she mansi! So is amazing time with their cars run full-page. Tumblers. Police. Rigidly rigorously would have had a great title if we raise the invoice going to be. Ah, Youtube captions. You fail.
Captioning stuff here is interesting, mostly because I've just discovered that not once has it recognized the worlds "Google" or "narratives." For some reason, this fascinates me. Also, I think it's hilarious that the faster you talk, the less it understands.
ANYWAY, I find it hard to start books. Like, I'll procrastinate reading, which I did not use to do when I was younger. But if I'm reading a really engaging book, it'll be hard to distract me.
I don't necessarily think that having external information available to us is making us more stupid. I think that because we don't have to memorize facts from textbooks and whatnot, there is more time to put it together, or critically think, which is infinitely more important than being able to memorize 'random' facts.
Depends entirely on the book in question, in my case. Recently, I've read two books within 3 days of getting them(Feed by Mira Grant and The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss), and I've got two or three books/series that I've been chipping away at for weeks, months or years, depending on which one it is.
It all depends on how it catches my interest. I'm not necessarily disinterested in the ones I'm taking forever on, but I'm in no rush to finish them, either.
I really find it hard to read with all the flashy cool computer and iPhones and video games.That's why I have a kindle that can read stuff too me.I also read books like yours when I'm off at school
It isn't so much the flashy lights for me, but the content. Your videos and most of what I spend my time on the computer gives me just as much to think about as my books. But I am known for reading hundreds of pages a day and having separation anxiety from my 50th aniversary edition of Lord of the Rings.
Yeah I have trouble nowadays with reading books... I used to be able to read like 5 books in a week, now I just can't seem to focus anymore. It's horrible! I want to read novels again!
I, as a teenager, read more than most people I know and write as well, but am not very worried about this issue of the internet becoming more popular. It allows people to access books a lot easier than they would and also allows new writers to get a market.
I don't think you need to worry about that. We NEED long form narratives, like we need to breath. Dislocated facts are, by themselves, meaningless. You need a framework to put it in. You need to organise and filter information. For we all know that the internet is full of nonsense too. :)
I got a degree in chemistry and all I got from that degree is the ability to understand some of the literature. Sure there's lots of things I will look up. But I need my internal database in order to functio
I finished "Looking for Alaska" in a day, so I think the Internet hasn't completely destroyed my novel reading experience. (I recently ordered "Paper Towns", "An Abundance of Katherines", and "Will Grayson, Will Grayson".
Ah I love the captioning on this. Right after 'nazi army' it says it will be called Lhasa and I certainly thought that I was the President of Georgia it ....:)
I don't know anyone's mobile numbers, not even my own. I know my home number and my best friend's home number (she said she sometimes ends up accidentally typing in my home number instead of hers). That's it. BUT I remember the names of all the actors in Merlin, I remember hundreds of quotes from Youtube, Merlin,...I remember whatever I don't need to remember.
I'm finding it harder to read books at the moment, cos I'm distracted and bored with the loooong book I'm reading at the moment.
I multi-task really well. I've burned through 6 books of an 8 book series(so far cause I obviously haven't read the last book so I'm not sure if theres another book) in about a month, month and a half. Which is pretty amazing by my standards xD. To be honest I only know my house phone number, the pharmacy, clinic and my favorite pizza place. I hardly use the phone and I lack a cell phone(hard to believe in this day and age I know) so I don't have need for a lot of phone numbers.
If I'm reading a book I've never read before, then NOTHING can distract me from it... Which is why I've been known to read a 600 or 700 page novel in a day:)
@blablaohlala I envy you. There's this 700 page novel I've been trying to read for months. However, I can read 300-500 pages or so in about three days if I'm really engrossed in a book. God I love books.
I read all the time, mostly stuff way above what an eleventh grader should be reading but when you've been reading what are considerd 'adult books' since seventh grade its hard to go back to the boring kids stuff. Usually it takes me about two weeks to read an 800 or so page novell. It would be shorter if I didn't have to do homeworkd and didn't have distractions like the internet.
I have no problems reading books. In fact, I go to the library at least two times a month and always have at least three library books checked out at any given time. :)
It is also worth note that I am in college (so I have to read my textbooks too) and that I spend over 20 hours on the internet every week. ;D
I think what stands between people and difficult to read books is language. The English language has been losing it's formal version since about the sixties. Our tolerance for the prose of the 1800s and early 1900s is rapidly declining, and there were a lot of important books written in that time span.
The human brain is a pattern finding machine. It's the uniquely human ability to make generalizations and assumptions that keeps us above artificial intelligence. Humans aren't just good at patterns, we need them. We're addicted. For that reason, I don't think people will ever stop loving stories.
We can deal with big, huge patterns. If anything, I think being free of the encumbrance of remembering trivia like phone numbers should leave us free to form big, huge systems of knowledge.
About books: what I find really helps is to read books outside. Find a park/forest/etc where you can just sit down and read. Don't bring your phone, laptop, or any other electronic that might distract you. Just sit and read.
If for some reason you still cannot focus on reading for more than XX minutes, is OK. Don't get stressed out or force yourself into reading. Put the book down and take a few minutes to enjoy the outsides. Go ahead and start reading again when you feel like it.
I've been finding it harder to read books for awhile... which sucks when you have to read so much for school. But even good books I find hard to read. I find myself wanting to just hear someone read it for me as I read along...
Studying books in school made reading books harder. This is potentially because reading became a chore rather than a privilege and a joy. I am currently halfway through Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and, I'm not gonna lie, I am watching VlogBrothers instead of reading it. But then I also stopped in the middle of reading it to read The Fault in Our Stars, which I would never pause the reading of for anything, even food.
mlemleh 1 day ago in playlist Uploaded videos
@mlemleh I read Mary SHelly's Frankenstein. I really like it but I would have liked it better if I hadn't had to stop and answer questions on it for every chapter. But I thought it was cool how it brought up the question of what it means to be alive and the resposibility we have to things we create. Throughout the book I kept wondering why Victor didn't just kill the monster but then I thought about how Victor created the monster and he had once been kind so maybe it wouldn't be fair to kill him
ValkyrieMaiden95 13 hours ago
:) But it is not the shmanciest...
Purstiltski7 1 day ago
the internet is addictive... withdrawal from it is a real thing, believe it or not. I adore reading but here I am on the internet and NOT reading my book! :sigh: I think I'll do that right now ^_^
MusicStealsMyHeart 1 day ago
i thought that the bar in the thumb-nail was a fish tank
Dorkfish582 2 days ago
I am a new Nerdfighter, brought into the fold by a link to a crashcourse video. I found Hank and John's style intriguing and wanted to see more. Vlogbrothers is hard to understand if you don't get all the inside jokes, so I decided to watch all the vlogbrothers videos in sequence.
It's clear you (John and Hank) did not intend your Brotherhood2.0 videos to be a long form narrative, it is now.
thebhgg 2 days ago
tumblr-ers
Dorkyzmusic 3 days ago
if you turn on the captions when he says the books name backwords, it says nazi arden. Conspiracy theory?!
potatossuck 2 weeks ago in playlist Vlogbrothers 2010
The internet is not going to replace books because people don't read books to memorize all the facts in it; they read books for the enjoyment of learning the story, of seeing life through a different perspective. People read books to see how others think, and to know that they are not alone. While the internet can do this, it can not tell stories and express timeless emotions like books can; that is why, whether on a fresh new Kindle or on 70-year-old pages, books will live on.
snatchingstars 2 weeks ago
Absolutely not harder to read books. If I go a week without reading a book or at least start or finish a book, it makes me incredibly sad.
TransgressiveInkgirl 2 weeks ago
when did my house get so nice? xD
Thefalloutofmadness 2 weeks ago
Its not that hard to read a book these days when the book has the words "John Green" on them. Other then that yeah its a little tricky.
MinecraftWithMat 2 weeks ago
haha! i read the book.
leighia1 3 weeks ago
I find it harder to read books because I am too busy watching you talk about books.
crazybilby 3 weeks ago in playlist Uploaded videos 2
I know I definitely find it harder to read books these days :/
alexriderguru101 3 weeks ago
'Stupider as individuals'? 'Stupider'? Really, John :P
19sexybexy94 3 weeks ago
I used to be (and hopefully still am) an avid reader. However, right now I'm reading a really long book that I am sometimes interested in and sometimes not. It is at times like these that I turn to the Internet to entertain me until I feel interested enough to continue.
itsawayoflife142 3 weeks ago
Wait until you see your hotel room in 2012.
ISwishAndFlick 3 weeks ago 2
Spoiler alert: Your hotel will be cooler in Houston, Texas while on the Tour de Nerdfighting 2012. There, Hank will hold a Piccaso painting while eating pringles and, in the spirit of the internet, say "first".
mthsbandrocks 3 weeks ago in playlist More videos from vlogbrothers
Don't forget to be armoirsome!
fantasyfanatic777 3 weeks ago
Yay, Chicago!
iggyrocks1 3 weeks ago
Tumblerettes!
Applepopess 4 weeks ago
When I read a book I really... I just sort of don't do anything else until the book is read. It doesn't matter how long the book is or what it's about, when I start reading you've got to practically start a fire to get me to put it down. So when you said that thing about getting distracted by the flashy flashy in the middle of a good book that didn't compute with me at all. I was all like 'is that really possible?'
moonlady3000 1 month ago
The internet will never smell as nice as a book. It will also never age and yellow like a book will. It will also never be as refreshing as reading a book.
Yet a book will never be as personalized as the internet can be unless it is written by oneself, in which case one would never read one's own novel.
sbcflirter 1 month ago
I have read barely a single book since I started senior high school, but I think the chief causes of that are the deep and awful guilt that high school students have drummed into them for ever doing anything that isn't studying, and the fact that when you turn 16, your parents and family no longer find it cute and exciting that their child can read a $40 novel in thirty-six hours and still call it a leisurely pace.
theoneknownasme 1 month ago
I have a massively hard time reading books like I used to, but I blame a lot of that on university life. In high school I wasn't all that challenged by most of my subject, so I had little problem reading 5 books at a time, but when university and grad school life came around, I read challenging things all the time that drained me of a lot of book-love. Now that I'm out of uni life, I go to the internet for brain sustenance, and I find myself struggling to focus...unless on the subway
abbynormal0ne 1 month ago
CC says you are with David Letterman :)
TaylorMarie831 1 month ago in playlist More videos from vlogbrothers
This is a nice hotel indeed, it's a nice hotel indeed.
ThinkTankerMeeks 1 month ago in playlist More videos from vlogbrothers
Having read Will Grayson Will Grayson since last watching this vlog, I NOW understand the Frenchies thing. XD
silverdragon1314 1 month ago
Unfortunately, while I used to do nothing BUT read, now I do nothing but internet. It feels like I have to either focus on one or the other... I can read a book in a few hours and only do that, or I can do nothing hanging out online. Sometimes I take breaks to do the other one but I have to do it for hours at a time.
chexmixultimate 1 month ago
I read The Fault in Our Stars in three hours. Needless to say, the flashy-flashy lights of the internet did not hold a candle to my Awesome Focus of Awesome.
kaikiyukionna27 1 month ago 6
I'm studying Politics at Uni and I couldn't remember/understand a lot of my work, so after watching this video I decided to write it in a book, which really helped because it's a lot easier to understand forms of democracy if they're in scenarios so I just wanted to say thanks. Thanks :)
TheImaginaryBiscuit 1 month ago
i first saw this when i hadnt read will grayson will grayson and was confused by the frenchys joke. now it is hilarious
plushalligator 2 months ago
I go through phases: I'll not read ANYTHING for 2 or 3 months and then I'll spend a few weeks reading loads and getting through loads of books. My life is really busy with homework & stuff though :/
Hatgooch 2 months ago
I love reading. But I do have trouble reading now a days. I just can't get into a book like I used too.
alliwicious1 2 months ago
Its true, I used to love reading. Devoted at least an hour or two a night to it. And now, sure my life has become a little more hectic, but its been forever since I've sat down to read.
PytD 2 months ago
quite honestly, I'll read a chapter or two of a great book (the current project is "the world according to Garp") and then I'll stop and go write myself.
cspiccologurl 2 months ago
If I like a book then I cant put it down no matter what I try, even for the Internet.
TheGallifreyanGirl 2 months ago
I haven't read a book cover to cover since I got my first laptop computer six years ago.
MrJivePirate 2 months ago
i only find it hard to read books i'm uninterested in. if i'm interested then i'll start feeling every emotion the main character feels. i end up locking m door at scary parts, crying at the sad times, and laughing my ass off when a good joke is told. i think that's why i like your books so much. i'll read for as long as i can but then i run out of pages to flip and then i'm sad. lately i've been without interesting (to me) books. i can't wait for will grayson will grayson
bjg223 2 months ago in playlist More videos from vlogbrothers
I tend to "binge read", sort of. I read for like three days straight, and then I'm on the internet for a while and suddenly I'm only reading at school when I have free time. Same with video games. It comes in waves...
littlebassfisherman 2 months ago
I definitely find it hard to read books (as in I don't get them finished quickly or keep going for any great lenght of time). I keep stopping to go on the internet or to play/ listen to music
asdfqwerzxcv6 2 months ago
It is sort of true for me, up through about 8th grade I read ALL THE TIME constantly, and now I don't as much. I've gotten much busier with school and other parts of life, and I've found myself choosing to spend the free time I do have on places like Youtube (lol).
I still LOVE reading and love stories but I've found myself reading less. And I think partly because I know that I'll get sucked into the book and be oblivious to everything else. (which results in doing less homework etc) :P
FawkesLastSong 3 months ago
@FawkesLastSong That is LITERALLY the story of my life. I've found the same things happening to me. My parents used to get mad at me because I'd walk around the house with my nose in a book, or read at the dinner table, or read in the bathtub (don't judge me). Now I feel like I just don't have the time anymore. It's depressing when someone who loves reading is unable to.
ShardsOfAutumn 2 months ago
For me its the other way around. I didn`t like to read a couple of years ago, now it`s my life....
animecrazynerd 3 months ago
The internet can never, ever replace books. As much as I love the internet, there's nothing quite like sitting down in a quiet corner (or in a bench outside) and getting lost in the author's projected world.
krizziekun 3 months ago 77
This has been flagged as spam show
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You'll find Trock songs, challenges, and vlogs there.
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TheJollynerd 3 months ago
whoa CHICAGO!!!
Oldfashionholedig 3 months ago
i always walk by Frenches on the weekend
Oldfashionholedig 3 months ago
I read for fun. Is it harder to read books? No. Will it ever be? Probably, seeing how much time I spend staring at a screen. (This would make "seeing" harder. Not reading.) Although the flip side to this is I LOVE GLASSES (but do not need them) so maybe not...
MissLFlechsig 3 months ago
Tumblrists
princessmononoke99 3 months ago
"I'm gonna do an internet! WOWWWW!"
"Well I'm gonna do a book... aw."
;-P (In all seriousness, I love reading.)
Monicah177 4 months ago in playlist More videos from vlogbrothers
OMFG. JOHN MADE A GRAMMATICAL ERROR. HE SAID "STUPIDER", IT'S MORE STUPID!!! AAAAHHHH!!!
igelbeatz 4 months ago
I'm 17, I have a tough time reading books. I really like reading, I used to read all the time, but in the past few years I've bought video games and a computer for me to use and a cell phone and it's gotten to the point where with the little free time I have, I want to spend online.
TehBonar 4 months ago
I'm fairly certain the mirror image of Will Grayson Will Grayson is not "all-star nazi arden" but nice try Google
verboselie 4 months ago
I am still a big book reader.
Crusier66 4 months ago
thats funny in captions when you saaid stupid it said diverse 0.o
fluffandstuf 4 months ago
It really is hard to read in this day and age.
xSobhan 4 months ago
I've developed a habit of reading books aloud to myself...I'm regressing o_O
SeahorseyPrincess 4 months ago in playlist More videos from vlogbrothers
"french is still the frenchie" -youtube captions
Azami4117 5 months ago
not at all strangly, reading books is a way to completly and utterly forget everything around me. Because sometimes you really don't want to think about what is going on, or stuff you have to do. Stuff you should have done but didn't ..ect.
When I read that book, I am that other person and do not have my own mistakes and problems anymore for a while. I would have more problem stopping to read that the other way around!
lottetje88 5 months ago 99
I love love love reading books! <3 I don't see how anyone could pass up a good book for... well... nvm.. I just bought a new book and I started reading it but, we also just got internet here at home and well.. you can guess which one I chose (whispers: internet!)
xskullxcuppycakex 5 months ago
I do find it harder to read books nowadays. And it makes me cry whenever that happens.
I'm like no!!!! I love books, I really do, but even my books are computerized now, its sad
sarey1998 5 months ago
I have got to start watching these videos with captions!
OldSocksVideos 5 months ago
"President-elect will race will race of the body onto n". Best line ever.
peaceluvcandy4 5 months ago in playlist More videos from vlogbrothers
"transit hotel as she mansi."
peaceluvcandy4 5 months ago in playlist More videos from vlogbrothers
Yeah it's harder and it's all you fault becausei like totaly want to get back to reading catching fire but your videos are staring back at me so i can't.Ughhhhhhhh. Nerdfighters rock!
potterlife1 5 months ago
The only VB video ever uploaded on my birthday :D
Whiffinity 6 months ago
Just now I put down a book to look at the flashy flashy lights of this video....
sixyellowwalls 6 months ago
john speaks simlish
philophos 6 months ago
You should read "The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains" by Nicholas Carr--it was written specifically to address why people these days have a harder time getting deeply involved with books. It's good. Very.
technoirschach 6 months ago
/watch?v=Lht_JH2xi6w
g00hz 6 months ago
Nope. I love books. I love the internet too, but sometimes a book is just waaaayy better :)
safiregurl32 6 months ago
Seriously, he looks like Tony DiNozzo!
sesshypuppysbff 6 months ago
It's so much harder for me to read books nowadays.......
TheSomethingWitty 6 months ago
Waitwaitwaitwait... if images are mirrored through photo and video... why does his shirt still clearly read "pizza" O_O
ZeAwkwardOrcas 6 months ago
@ZeAwkwardOrcas because he double mirrored it after recording. :P
jony1710 6 months ago
I haven't been able to read during most of the year which really sucks since when I was little I would stay up into the darkest hours of the night (10 pm back then) to read the next five chapters of a book. This is mainly because I go to high school... a really nerdy and fun high school but an extremely hard high school.
Lydianime 6 months ago
I've been finding it harder to read lately and I don't know why. I keep reading the same sentence over and over because for some reason it just doesn't compute in my brain and I HATE IT.
Giant squid of anger says BLAAUUGGGGHHHHHH *waves arms erratically*
BookwritinChick 6 months ago
It depends on what book I'm reading. (EG. Fist three John Green books, Hunger Games Trilogy, Coraline, ect.)
MegaBacktalk 6 months ago
I, unfortunately, have found it very hard to find a book that will drag me in and make me sit there and read it and forget about everything else until I'm done. I have found five books like that since I left highschool in 2008. Some romance novels {Which have an amazing plot like, like oh my god} and Anna and the French Kiss. It actually took me until page.... 60-80 to realize that AatFK was in first person. I hate books in first person, normally... eh. I guess I'm just weird.
freezie656 6 months ago
Pete Holmes not knowing
SemisonicNerdfighter 6 months ago
@rbooksbakes Me too!
doclovesorange 7 months ago
I can read a book for hours on end and be so engrossed in the story that i can't hear people talking to me, even with a book iv'e read before, the internet will never replace books in my world :)
rbookbakes 7 months ago
It's getting harder to read substandard prose. Proper novels have got to be intellectually interesting to be readable and in the world we live in where there is such good, intellectually interesting prose, how could substandard novels be readable at all?
IlnousaimeleMonsieur 7 months ago
Tumbledor
larala21mil 7 months ago
It isn't getting harder to read books, on the contrary, for me it's getting easier to get lost in the magical world the book creates.
meddows12345 7 months ago
I LOVE BOOOOOKS!!!!!!!! I SLEEP THEM AND LIVE THEM AND EAT THEM!!!! I WILL NEVER GET SICKNOF THEM!!!!!
isayhionthe75 7 months ago
I love reading books unfortunately I am not allowed to read any books until i finish my summer AP work :(
mycatisinsane 7 months ago
John: nosyarg lliw
CC: nazi art
!?!?!?
kloonforthewin 7 months ago
John: So, Nerdfighters again, I hope you like Will Grayson, Will grayson. Hope to see alot of you on tour. Hank....
CC: President-elect will race will race of the body onto n....
LOL
kloonforthewin 7 months ago
"occasionally i'll put down a good book to look at the flashy flashy lights of the internet" ...i put down looking for alaska to watch vlogbrothers...does that mean i really put it down?
razzo3456 7 months ago
Acctually I still end up reading alot of long form narritives but many of them are on the Internet.
crazylele1 7 months ago
I used to be really good at numbers - I used to remember everyone's birthday, all of my friends' phone #s, and I could memorize any number or code up to 10 digits. I can't do that anymore. Thanks technology XD I usually blame the fact that humanities is more of my thing and math is evil but I'm laying the blame on technology now
And I will never tire of long-form narratives. They're my favorite kind of narrative ^_^
If it's new, I keep the book with me at all times. Usually, the internet wins.
ReKrisB 7 months ago
If it's a new book I won't put it down. I will only stop for food and the restroom.
Heartze 7 months ago
0:43 if you click Transcribe Audio and then Translate Captions, it says "Nazi-kuns"...
SodaVampire 7 months ago
Comment removed
SodaVampire 7 months ago
tumbli.
combinationist 7 months ago
Yeah, I've found it increasingly difficult to read books over the years. I went from reading hours a day in elementary school, to reading almost nothing in middle school (when I discovered YouTube), to finally getting back into it in high school. Some days I read nothing, and some days I read an entire 250 page novel. The Internet is definitely my biggest distraction.
LillianMoon 7 months ago
well that depends on the type of book i finished son of the mob in 3 dfays becouse i liked it so mus (mind that im only 13 and im a VERY slow reader) Harry Potter is one of my fave seiries but i dont like some of the parts without cedric,ron,draco,and Nvil so i tend to look up sparkaly stuff on google
imaoddballtehe 8 months ago
I love a good book, but it has to be seriously engrossing for me to read it for more than an hour a day.
dominosoul 8 months ago
I find books refreshing. The internet is good for instant entertainment, but once you've seen the flashing light that's the end of it. With books (and other longform narratives) there's always more meaning to be found.
perpl3xity 8 months ago
If the book is bad i put it down but if i love the book i find it insanly hardto stop reading for anything
booknerd12345511 8 months ago
yet he still harbors the rest of the remembering random facts we no longer need to organize...youtube captions hahaha
Tierrabell95 8 months ago
I don't find it hard at all to get focused on a book. Once I start reading, I keep on reading, not even noticing I'm turning the page until there's no more pages to turn. Then I'm sad because I don't have any more to read. Curse obsessive reading...
POPclogger216 8 months ago 82
"You're always listening." Oh my God, the Internet is GLaDOUS!
FantasticBlueGirl 8 months ago
I do find it harder to read a book or magazine with the invention of the internet but I shut my computer down at night and leave it out of my bedroom which forces me to read; and focus on what I am reading.
crogger321 9 months ago
Transit hotel as she mansi! So is amazing time with their cars run full-page. Tumblers. Police. Rigidly rigorously would have had a great title if we raise the invoice going to be. Ah, Youtube captions. You fail.
PaperNinja42 9 months ago
Quite ironically I've put down a book to watch this video.
yoyogster 9 months ago
HEH it was frenchy's
ditchfairy 9 months ago
Captioning stuff here is interesting, mostly because I've just discovered that not once has it recognized the worlds "Google" or "narratives." For some reason, this fascinates me. Also, I think it's hilarious that the faster you talk, the less it understands.
kittykatthetacodemon 9 months ago
Tumblrites...that's...my name for them...
ANYWAY, I find it hard to start books. Like, I'll procrastinate reading, which I did not use to do when I was younger. But if I'm reading a really engaging book, it'll be hard to distract me.
iluvlost09 10 months ago
I don't necessarily think that having external information available to us is making us more stupid. I think that because we don't have to memorize facts from textbooks and whatnot, there is more time to put it together, or critically think, which is infinitely more important than being able to memorize 'random' facts.
MsJizzyjazzy 10 months ago
Depends entirely on the book in question, in my case. Recently, I've read two books within 3 days of getting them(Feed by Mira Grant and The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss), and I've got two or three books/series that I've been chipping away at for weeks, months or years, depending on which one it is.
It all depends on how it catches my interest. I'm not necessarily disinterested in the ones I'm taking forever on, but I'm in no rush to finish them, either.
Izzy84075 10 months ago
I love you, friend. I love you.
InTheEyesOfTheMoon 10 months ago
yeah thats what happens to me. or its just cuz of my ADD
mCKIEbABYoNEmOREtIME 10 months ago
I really find it hard to read with all the flashy cool computer and iPhones and video games.That's why I have a kindle that can read stuff too me.I also read books like yours when I'm off at school
anarchistvin 10 months ago
I live for books. The only times I get distracted by the internet is because of a new video from you guys or a new post on my play by post.
TheGaselli37 10 months ago
ROFL, frenchy's. It exists?
26Staples 10 months ago
It isn't so much the flashy lights for me, but the content. Your videos and most of what I spend my time on the computer gives me just as much to think about as my books. But I am known for reading hundreds of pages a day and having separation anxiety from my 50th aniversary edition of Lord of the Rings.
aquadrop25 10 months ago
I read your books on iBooks and I just went on YouTube in the middle of a chapter while already attracted to the flashy lights that is my iPod touch.
NARLZS 10 months ago
Yeah I have trouble nowadays with reading books... I used to be able to read like 5 books in a week, now I just can't seem to focus anymore. It's horrible! I want to read novels again!
XplosivGirl 10 months ago
Books have been my life since I was 5 so no
GumiYummi 10 months ago
"I certainly thought that I was the President of Georgia." -John Green, CC 2010
FredIsMyName22 10 months ago
I read as often as I have a book to do so. However, books are expensive, and the hour-long drive to get to the closest book store is even more-so. :(
Masterkavi 10 months ago
Oddly enough I put down Will Grayson, Will Grayson to watch this video.
ettuaslumiere 10 months ago
I think John speaks too fast for the captioning.
The captioning hardly coincides with what he was saying at all!
pinkyvoodo 11 months ago
John Green- "Tumbleepoos..."
Youtube Captions- "Congress"
TheFlameingBurito 11 months ago 147
I find it harder to find books I like, but once I start reading I DON'T STOP. I once accidentally stayed up all night reading.
"I'll just finish this chapter and then I'll go to sleep."
"Oh. I finished the book. Oh. My alarm clock is about to go off. Oops."
dolphin64575 11 months ago
MY FIRST VIDEO OF VLOGBROTHERS <3 <3
SeverusSnapeOrSev 1 year ago
FRENCHY'S IS REAL??? and how did the yeti feel about that?
OhSomethinClever 1 year ago
apparently, tumblees is congress, because of cc
mcremcre18 1 year ago
you keep visiting Chicago...yet...no chicago style polish?! Union Ave and James Rochford St. Look it up :)
bikerkidjoe 1 year ago
I certainly thought i was the president of Georgia. captions are amazing,
Overaddiction 1 year ago
turn on the captions for this video it's hilarious. John is the President of Georgia and the author of a book called Nazi Army
kewlpeepsnowman 1 year ago
Lat night, I dreamt of Tiny Cooper's play. ITS WAS THE BEST DREAM I HAVE EVER HAD!
veggiepunk2410 1 year ago
My fiction time is a tug-of-war between novels and the "flashy flashy lights of the internet"
and at 1:12 I got a shock because I currently wear that very shirt .____0
nonsensicalcompound 1 year ago
I, as a teenager, read more than most people I know and write as well, but am not very worried about this issue of the internet becoming more popular. It allows people to access books a lot easier than they would and also allows new writers to get a market.
kittyswillcolor 1 year ago
I'm almost like Robert Langdon, I can remember almost every phone number I've dialed.
FirstmateRouge 1 year ago
I don't think you need to worry about that. We NEED long form narratives, like we need to breath. Dislocated facts are, by themselves, meaningless. You need a framework to put it in. You need to organise and filter information. For we all know that the internet is full of nonsense too. :)
I got a degree in chemistry and all I got from that degree is the ability to understand some of the literature. Sure there's lots of things I will look up. But I need my internal database in order to functio
pienkunicorn 1 year ago
YOU BROKE THE FIRST RULE OF TUMBLR.
EmiWK 1 year ago
Pfft that hotel room isn't all that fancy. How many stairs does it have?
aburnflags 1 year ago 5
So I basically just took a break from reading The Bermudez Triangle to watch this.... Haha now I feel guilty:P
JagklikestheMacarena 1 year ago
I finished "Looking for Alaska" in a day, so I think the Internet hasn't completely destroyed my novel reading experience. (I recently ordered "Paper Towns", "An Abundance of Katherines", and "Will Grayson, Will Grayson".
I'm really excited to read all of them!
uglyfudge 1 year ago
Books > Internet.
ShenanigansSays 1 year ago
Um, my captions think "nosyerg lliw" is John saying "Nazi Army"
whizzywantstowrite 1 year ago
How about "will greyson, nosyerg lliw"
nickjovie 1 year ago
0:50 with captions: to be called Ihasa and I cerrtanly thought that I was the President of the Gerorgia it....
FTL what was that?
Wizepie 1 year ago
Ah I love the captioning on this. Right after 'nazi army' it says it will be called Lhasa and I certainly thought that I was the President of Georgia it ....:)
trippelet 1 year ago
Comment removed
trippelet 1 year ago
according to captions, tumblers=congress
Rainythekat 1 year ago
holy crap frencys is real? to the nerd mobile!
UndercoverGJH 1 year ago 3
I found it funny that when John says "You're always listening." the captions only got "it's." I guess youtube wasn't really listening
TurnDownTheAC 1 year ago
I don't know anyone's mobile numbers, not even my own. I know my home number and my best friend's home number (she said she sometimes ends up accidentally typing in my home number instead of hers). That's it. BUT I remember the names of all the actors in Merlin, I remember hundreds of quotes from Youtube, Merlin,...I remember whatever I don't need to remember.
I'm finding it harder to read books at the moment, cos I'm distracted and bored with the loooong book I'm reading at the moment.
QueenOfTheAubergines 1 year ago
I multi-task really well. I've burned through 6 books of an 8 book series(so far cause I obviously haven't read the last book so I'm not sure if theres another book) in about a month, month and a half. Which is pretty amazing by my standards xD. To be honest I only know my house phone number, the pharmacy, clinic and my favorite pizza place. I hardly use the phone and I lack a cell phone(hard to believe in this day and age I know) so I don't have need for a lot of phone numbers.
MelodieRose13 1 year ago
If I'm reading a book I've never read before, then NOTHING can distract me from it... Which is why I've been known to read a 600 or 700 page novel in a day:)
blablaohlala 1 year ago 154
@blablaohlala I envy you. There's this 700 page novel I've been trying to read for months. However, I can read 300-500 pages or so in about three days if I'm really engrossed in a book. God I love books.
Handitar 7 months ago
Frenchie's exists???? Mind... blown...
BrittanysMusicVideos 1 year ago
aahahaha there's an ad of to the right side that has peep shirts
thepotterfan4life 1 year ago
I read all the time, mostly stuff way above what an eleventh grader should be reading but when you've been reading what are considerd 'adult books' since seventh grade its hard to go back to the boring kids stuff. Usually it takes me about two weeks to read an 800 or so page novell. It would be shorter if I didn't have to do homeworkd and didn't have distractions like the internet.
gaarasgirlfriend678 1 year ago
According to the subtitles, Will Grayson Will Grayson is "one reason the race in shymanski" WTF??
phillyeagles0328 1 year ago
I have no problems reading books. In fact, I go to the library at least two times a month and always have at least three library books checked out at any given time. :)
It is also worth note that I am in college (so I have to read my textbooks too) and that I spend over 20 hours on the internet every week. ;D
that1weirdkid27 1 year ago
When I go on the internet, what I tend to do is just find something to read, I really need to find a good library
MiPoppopo 1 year ago
I think what stands between people and difficult to read books is language. The English language has been losing it's formal version since about the sixties. Our tolerance for the prose of the 1800s and early 1900s is rapidly declining, and there were a lot of important books written in that time span.
commentxxpolice 1 year ago
The human brain is a pattern finding machine. It's the uniquely human ability to make generalizations and assumptions that keeps us above artificial intelligence. Humans aren't just good at patterns, we need them. We're addicted. For that reason, I don't think people will ever stop loving stories.
We can deal with big, huge patterns. If anything, I think being free of the encumbrance of remembering trivia like phone numbers should leave us free to form big, huge systems of knowledge.
commentxxpolice 1 year ago
I love reading books! But I don't really read them in one sitting. I do computer stuff between!
ferngirltlc 1 year ago
i love reading books....but i think everyone takes a break to look at the flashy flashy internet. Everyone cool at least
weepingoldwillow 1 year ago
It's okay John. I have been developing my love-hate relationship with the internet too. It gets complicated sometimes...
ThisIsLagom 1 year ago
When you said "So last night was the first event of the tour, Hank" captions made it "and I certainly thought that I was the President of Georgia."
Ahaha.
bhelliom3 1 year ago
About books: what I find really helps is to read books outside. Find a park/forest/etc where you can just sit down and read. Don't bring your phone, laptop, or any other electronic that might distract you. Just sit and read.
If for some reason you still cannot focus on reading for more than XX minutes, is OK. Don't get stressed out or force yourself into reading. Put the book down and take a few minutes to enjoy the outsides. Go ahead and start reading again when you feel like it.
jandroxox 1 year ago
I've been finding it harder to read books for awhile... which sucks when you have to read so much for school. But even good books I find hard to read. I find myself wanting to just hear someone read it for me as I read along...
sjpianoprincess 1 year ago