Oscar Wilde's The Picture Of Dorian Gray

I read Dorian Gray in high school. I could not appreciate it. I started it again today. I like it much better now. I did not want to stop reading. Of course I only finished fifteen pages before duty (meaningless schoolwork) called, but I cannot wait to get back to Victorian England.

Sidenote: Neoclassical economics was created to justify Victorian England.

"...there is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." (page 4)

My rules of reading:

1. Minimize reading works written in your lifetime. You have lived it. There is no reason to read about it.

2. Read classics. Those who have read the classics separate themselves from those who only know the classics. (Those who do not know the classics are the luckiest people on Earth.)

3. Do not limit yourself. The scientist learns from fiction. The poet learns from science.

4. If you do not like something or do not have time to really read it, stop reading. Reading a bad book is masturbation without climax. What is the point? (My Dad says, "if it ain't worth a fuck leave it on the truck.") You can come back to good books (like Dorian Gray).

5. Always have books you want to read nearby. You never know when you will get a chance to read.

This list is by far the most pompous thing I have ever done. As James Buchanan said in the seminar last week, "Frankly, I don't give a God damn."