Asklemmy

The Bible

The bible

The dictionary

The Silmarillon - the yellow pages of middle earth

Anything by Ayn Rand. She’s a terrible author and most people are more interested in showing that they could have read The Fountainhead than actually reading that unfun, meandering garbage.

Atlas Shrugged.

It's a massive paperback and looks impressive on a bookshelf but it's a dull narrative. I got about 200 pages in and was like fuck all these people and these stupid trains.

I can't name very many people that have finished the whole dictionary

The Bible

Literally 1984

Not as relevant as it used to be regarding this question, but...

War and Peace

The Bible

Capital, clearly. Not a single anti communist has ever read it because they never once refute a single talking point from the actual book. But every anti communist acts like they totally understand what's in the book and some go so far as to lie about having read it. And then you ask them what it says or why they're anti communist and they just make shit up or parrot 1950s Nazi propaganda and pretend like that's what's in Capital or what communism is about.

It annoyed me the first few times it happened to me but now it just makes me laugh. Having a book on your shelf or knowing the title of it is not the same thing as reading it or understanding it

For Christians, there's one called The Bible.

Without a shadow of a doubt the Bible.

No, reading the Gospels, Paul's letters, Revelations, Genesis, Exodus, and selected Psalms doesn't count as reading the Bible. Do you count reading 10 chapters of a 60+ chapter book as reading the book? Of course not.

I wouldn't say most people buy them, but Ulysses and Finnegans Wake. For me, they're unreadable. Or, I should say I actually read them during a time when I was reading classics that everyone seemed to claim were great, but I didn't know anyone who had actually read them. At the time I was doing it just to be able to say I did. A dumb reason.

I got nothing thoughtful out of either of them. There were some individual sentences and paragraphs that were fun to read just because of the alliteration and poetic flow, but they made no sense. A book written for others to read shouldn't need external commentaries or a knowledge of the author's life and mental state to understand.

Now if someone says they've read Joyce and not for a literature degree, I lose a bit of respect for them, as I did for myself, and as other people should for me. 0/10, not worth, would not buy again, would not read again

A Brief History of Time - a fair number of people do read it but there's a pretty big chunk of people that just want bookshelf clout.

Sometimes I buy physical copies of books I've read digitally.

Definitely the bible for most christians.

Non christians, probably To Kill a Mockingbird.

Infinite Jest

Dictionaries or lexicons. Who reads those from start to finish?

I need to go back and finish Gödel, Escher, Bach

Most of friedrich nietzsche's books

Any biography about some liberal political leader, like that Obama one. I think people buy them just because they trend on the top 10 books to read list. But everyone I've met who has it just keeps it on their coffee table to make it seem like they're into reading now. The only one I know who finishes those biographies is my grandpa who is a little senile and bored now.

I suspect not many people go and buy religions texts. Most people seem to get them for free or as a gift, so I'll skip that.

Dictionaries and reference books like encyclopædia don't get read much, but that feels like cheating, because that's not really what they are for.

I'd guess something from classic children's literature? I bet a lot of adults have never read Robinson Crusoe but buy it for kids. Or they pass on the copy that someone bought them as kids, that they never read. As a kid I managed to get through some classic literature, but I'd sometimes encounter one that was actually less interesting than just... doing nothing and waiting for time to pass.

As an aside, I don't think there's anything wrong with having books around that you haven't read! It seems most of the value of a library is in the books you haven't read yet. Or refer to, without fully reading, to inspire you as you need. Or even just have because you think they are interesting or contain ideas of value, and hope to get to someday. The books I've actually read just get shoved in boxes somewhere dark and dusty. On my shelves or on display are all the things I haven't gotten to yet!

I came to answer "the Bible", but it seems that was already taken. Multiple times.

It would seem that the people complaining about Christians not studying their scripture, commented without reading the comments ... that's somehow very meta

I got a really good one that I've seen everywhere but most people read summaries of it at best.

How To Win Friends and Influence People

I don't remember having bought even a single copy but somehow I have 5 copies of Catcher in the Rye, and I've never I've read it.

The Wheel of Time: Eye of the World

Not for a lack of trying

If you're Gen X, the entire three fucking ton collection of whatever encyclopedia itanica set out there and fifty time life books about random shit with pictures. Maybe sex by Madonna.

My parents, and those before them loved to appear as if they could ready but only really recognized the logos of gas stations and liquor bottles.