Read what you like, not what is on a list. There is room to guide and suggest, but fixed lists to tick off are absolutely horrible.
What good pacing, characterization, plotting looks like, how to convey a great idea to the reader, without sounding preachy or bore him to tears. And most importantly, how to weave all these elements together into a cohesive whole, as most masterpieces do.
This way they can have a somewhat more critical eye of the more mainstream fiction they'll likely consume in much greater quantity.
I find that most mainstream SF or fantasy books consist of the same foundational elements - but add fantastic concepts or spectacle to the mix, which might grab a certain amount of interest, but must get these foundations right in order for the novel to remain compelling
I think the act of writing is a lossy transformation - someone raised on a steady diet of only sci-fi novels is bound to be only be capable of writing a lesser sci-fi novel.
In order for a writer to reach at least the level of mainstream fiction, the writer must bring some extra from his own - either coming from non-fiction literature, life experience, the rare spark of original genius, or well-executed fundamentals in books like the ones mentioned on the reading list.
I think they also broaden the mind, because they make people imagine how other societies could function, how technology could change things, what could exist in the universe we do not know etc.
Historical fiction, and even more actual old writing, has some of the same impact, but is limited to what has happened, rather than what could happen.
> I think it's useful for young people to be exposed to what's widely regarded as some of the best-written books out there, so that they might get an idea of what a really well-written book looks like.
I agree entirely, but a list you have to complete is not the wat to do it.
Lately I've been consuming more of it than I would admit in polite company - LitRPG, Military SF, YA stuff,. - and quite a bit of it is aimed at a younger audience.
A lot of this stuff is well written and engaging, but highly derivative, and is patterned on classics.
> The list doesn’t coddle, like the American mind has become.
"Coddle" is a verb. Minds do not "become" a verb. The sentence needs a rewrite.
I thought it was a very well-written article.
Thanks for the recommendation on Christopher Nguyen's "Value Capture".
Where we may agree is that Mensa isn't in the business of measuring education, but instead of horsepower.
And the reading way toward maximizing a developing child's base ability to think is to read as much as possible, which will necessarily be what piques their fancy much of the time.
But literature education and recreational reading shouldn't mean one doesn't engage in the other. Every high performing child does both, at least to meet the the standards with which I'm familiar.
Still I'm unsure as to why Mensa feels the need to cobble together a basic prep school reading list, if wildly uncurated.
To your point, something more in line with their rasion d'etre might be to provide short best of lists for recreational, slightly advanced reading in age appropriate genres.
> By signing below, we attest that _____________________________________ has read a complete and unabridged version of all the books as recorded on the Excellence in Reading 9-12 grade list above, and that this record is true.
If it was a list of "good books you might enjoy reading", I would have no problem with it. it is the idea you must read them all, even ones you dislike, that I think is wrong.
In the case of the plays it is preferable to see them than to read them.
Although I read A LOT as a kid, I skipped most of the classics. (Meaning: anything not sci-fi, fantasy, or non-fiction.)
Around 30yo, I got Gulliver's Travels as a gift. Wow. I loved it. Provided context for so many common clichés.
So I started to check other classics off the list (as able). I wish I'd started earlier. Face palm slap.
Good, bad, or indifferent, being exposed to the origins of ideas expanded my worldview and gave me appreciation for what followed.
> Around 30yo, I got Gulliver's Travels as a gift. Wow. I loved it. Provided context for so many common clichés.
Another writer whose works are just a bunch of clichés. I was disappointed to find Shakespeare was the same. (that is supposed to be a joke, BTW).
I do not think it such a disaster to read those at 30. better to read them a bit later and enjoy them, than to read them earlier and not. What you enjoy does change over time.
I think the most important thing is to get kids to read, then to read anything reasonably good.
You do have some different definitions attitudes to mine which may account for part of it. For example:
> It took me a while to realize the point of the whole exercise of the Mensa list. It’s not to become well-read. That’s a side effect. The point is to lose your smugness. To get knocked off balance by something older, stranger, smarter than you. To stop assuming you know it all.
I would say those are not two different things. If you have not been affected by things that are "older, stranger, smarter than you" you are not well read!
But this is all guessing.