Books and Music That Make You Dumb
A fun bit of research by a student called Virgin Griffith about correlations between intelligence (at least as measured by college SAT scores in the US) and what music you listen to and books you read. Judge yourself accordingly. I know where I am on that scale, but it would be gauche to mention it.
From the brilliant David Britland: Thank you, David.
Link is not working
I think your link is broken. Or maybe I watched so many bad movies I am incapable of clicking on it correctly.
the link doesn’t work, when clicked it says,
The URL is not valid and cannot be loaded.
The first link doesn’t work. Is it – http://booksthatmakeyoudumb.virgil.gr ?
The first link in the article doesn’t work! Can someone fix it?
Keen to look at the research, but link’s not working – can you give it a prod please? Ta!
The link doesn’t work, oh intelligent one. It directs me to http:/// (ie, there’s a slash instead of an address). 😛
Is your research link a bit ploppy? It is only coming up “http:///”
What kinda books you been reading?!
The link you supplied doesn’t appear to be working, unless the SAT’s in question are supposed to invite comparisons with the ‘missing link’!
Um, dead link or has my brain rotted from listening to Lily Allen?
Sorry Derren, but the URL link is not working or perhaps I’am dumb!
SORRY – MY FAULT… all fixed!!!
Well slap my hand!
Crime and Punishment and Catch 22 being at the brainy end pleases me, but Animal Farm hitting less than the Book of Mormon makes me sad. And I also thought that Life of Pi was the most overated piece of garbage in modern literature.
Nevertheless, enjoyable and harmless little exercise.
AAaaw Phillis, did he make you confess now…tss, you´re too good really
😉
Quite an entertaining little thing to tease various friends with there! As an average of what I read/listen to I seem to be happily sat just on the upper side of the middle.
Way too intellectual for my limited brain capacity. Here’s some alternative music-related venn diagrams…
http://www.vennthattune.com/
Well none of my favourites are on that list. Best books read over last year or so include: Dracula by Bram Stoker (again), Lie in the Dark and The Small Boat of Great Sorrows both by Dan Fesperman, Engleby by Sebastain Faulkes and The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. On the non-fiction side have just finished The Time Paradox by Zimbardo & Boyle which has been a very thought provoking read looking at the psychology of time and how your time perspective influences your life: http://www.thetimeparadox.com/
If you love books like me, try http://www.bookcrossing.com. Read a book then set it free for someone else to enjoy!
Cause and effect surely, isn’t it? – dumb people are Aerosmith adoring bible readers precisely because they are dumb in the first place. Now, I must stop listening to the Foo Fighters and listen to some Billy Jo-ell, on second thoughts I’d rather be dumb.
My music at the moment includes:
Anime/video game themes
Muse
Sum41
Bowling For Soup
Green Day
And books, well… not many to be honest.
I’m very much hooked on Green Day’s music at the moment (both the old and new stuff) and can’t stop listening! Is there any reason for this other than they must be a ridiculously awesome band? Maybe I am hooked? 😮
A lot of people do, however, think I am very smart. I got lots of A Grades in school and likely to get all A in my first year of University at the moment. But I don’t like being called smart, to be honest. The only reason I can learn stuff is because I know how to learn stuff really quickly. My pro gaming from the past also came in handy as well.
There probably is some sort of link, but I’m not sure if I am ready to say ’cause and effect’ yet (i.e. it is an indirect link of some sort, not a direct link). But I’m usually that skeptical lol.
Anything remotely intelligent-sounding that I read is cancelled out by the fact that my female roommate and I are currently on a quest to find and read the worst vampire novels in existence. They’re all pretty bad, so it’s taking a while.
the links are working now 🙂 thanks derren. xx
Interesting – the holy bible gets you a score of about 920 but the bible gets 1050! Taking religion out of the equation pays off yet again ;-0
SGC I hope that’s one big room you’ve got there!
well I the last thing I read was part of your book Derren what does that say about me in your opinion sweetie? lol
really must get round to reading it all some day I just seem to keep misplacing it or getting busy doing other stuff (should I slap myself for having had all 3 of your books for several years yet still not reading them all in full or are you gonna slap me for it yourself when i see you next month in Grimsby? lol)
Great link.
SGC, have you come across the Historian yet? (Actually a good one!)
@jameshogg – Green Day is a quite awesome choice and clearly far too low on that list. Same for Muse.
I had the Complete Sherlock Holmes delivered today from Amazon, but I can’t see Conan Doyle on that list. I was hoping it might make me more cleverer than wot I am. Hmph, now I’ll never know.
Peter H: housemates and flatmates are all called roommates here, because Canada is Bizarro-world.
Siobhan: no, I haven’t. We started at Twilight and have been going down from there. I didn’t think we could get any worse, but we have. It just goes to show that I can always go lower, no matter where I start.
We’re doing it for the good of the people. One day, someone will ask the question: “so what is actually the worst vampire novel EVER?” and we will have that answer.
The bands were in no particular order 🙂
American Idiot is an amazing album… Jesus of Suburbia is my favourite song from it at the moment :p
Siobhan & SGC: that makes 2 mentions for The Historian. Is there a trend emerging here?
SSJ & Jameshogg: another vote for Muse from me and big name drop time – Chris Wolstenholm lives just round corner from me and his kids go to same (state) school as mine. Often see him collecting them in his swanky red jag and say a friendly hello.
I meant to say too low on the SAT scoring chart. Clearly I need some more fancy book-learnin’ 😉
Many very very clever indeed people like Green Day. Hell, I bet even Derren has a copy of American Idiot hidden away somewhere. Although ownership doesn’t imply appreciation of course 🙂
SGC: I presume you’ve worked through all of the Anne Rice stuff??
i hate shoddy research. it’s “ALL Quiet on the Western Front”!
-the libarian
What? Are my eyes decieving me, or is there no mention of HitchHikers Guide to the Galaxy? Pssh. I didn’t see any Wilde in the list, nor Shakespeare, nor Keats, nor.. well, quite a few people, actually.
Maybe when the sample range includes some decent work the results may be of interest. But until I see a correlation between intelligence/attractiveness/wittiness and the readership of Tricks of the Mind, I won’t be convinced.
My music and books atm aren’t on there.
I mostly listen to Assemblage 23, Persephone, L’Ame Immortelle and The Crüxshadows right now, which is probably a bit too gothy for an American college list.
As far as reading goes, my perennial favorite genre is Victorian detective pulp (all the Holmes stories, as well as authors like Wilkie Collins). I got an original Victorian bound quarterly volume of the Strand Magazine (with several Holmes stories) for my birthday a few months ago, which was very nice.
I’m reading modern authors’ takes on Holmes stories in the The Game’s Afoot collection right now, as well as the Lucifer Box novels (my newest addiction — I love Mark Gatiss’ style of writing).
If I have to go by what’s on the list at that website, though, I’m firmly in the middle. Is that good or bad? 😛
Siobhan: no, since we started down at Twilight we felt Anne Rice might actually be a step too high for our purposes. I died a little inside when I said that out loud for the first time. My roommate unearthed some really awful ancient teenage books called The Vampire Diaries and I suspect we may actually be at rock bottom with those.
live by statistics
paint by numbers
meh.
Oh I adore Radiohead, Led Zeppelin….but I’m really into obscure alternative music too. None of them are on the list……..
Bjork
Jens Lekman
CSS
CocoRosie
Bat For Lashes
Yeah Yeah Yeah’s
Peter, Bjorn and John
Fiona Apple………….
Kate Bush
The list is ENDLESS!……………
It intrigues me, this list. As an English teacher, I am frequently told by students, ‘I hate reading.’ When I insist that they at least try to pick up something that weighs more than a menu for the local chinese takeout, they smile vaguely and inevitably ask the question – ‘What is going to make me smarter then?’ As if they only have this one chance to read.
We don’t have SAT scores here, but this list is going on my wall and I shall use it to psudo-scientifically recommend books. More helpful than you’d think, given questions like ‘what do you enjoy reading’ are usually met with glazed, confused stares.
I’m also ever thankful that Dan Brown doesn’t appear on the list – I swear, if I had a dollar for every student who asked whether or not it was a ‘true’ story… well…. I wouldn’t be teaching any more, that’s for sure!
I love Radiohead, but they suffer from the same problem as Macs in that most of the people I know who are keen on them are complete tosspots. Usually the same people as well.
As for the booklist… I’m upper-middle (would be higher but I’m a bit allergic to Gabriel Garcia Marquez. ‘Magical realism’ doesn’t do much for me)
What happens if some of your fave books and music score high and others score low?
Does that mean I can choose whether I am dumb or smart?
Dan Brown IS on the list as is Shakespeare who didn’t write books but plays.
I wholeheartedly agree with Single Serving Jack where is Arthur Conan Doyle?
Not many authors of children’s literature, Phillip Pullman, Alan Garner, Enid Blyton?
Only three books containing dragons – surely a mistake?!
I love C.S. Forester, although F Scott Fitzgerald can be a bit of a git.
Thanks to flapjack for the link to venn that tune!
I haven’t read any of books in that list except having wanted to read “atlas shrugged” some miserable day when I feel too bored. I wasn’t too surprised however to see religious books at below average level, shows pretty much general tendencies in population. Sorry if someone finds it insulting, sigh…
Just I don’t think that books make people smarter or dumber, but that correlation is opposite: people like and pick books based on their intelligence level
I was going to be all “cultural capital” and “correlation does not = causation”, but then I saw one of my favorite books is highest ranked, so I have to conclude that this list is entirely valid and without fault.
Also, the most intelligent people I know listen to the Unbearables. 🙂
Hopefully you will come to Liverpool soon 😀
I went to see last years show in Blackpool but missed the end
for the last train. So Liverpool would be good. x