-Mark Twain
There is a large amount of unfortunate truth in this quote, perhaps more so today than ever before in the history of word consumption. If you ask someone to name a book about a whale they can say Moby Dick but cannot actually cite anymore than that, place the author in a lineup, or tell you the name of the Captain's first mate in spite of that name now branding the most popular coffee chain in the world.
We all fall into this classics trap though and I myself am certainly not innocent of it so in addition to amping up my reading this year, I'll be trying to integrate some "classics" as well; though the definition of such can vary depending on the reader.
The first classic I'll be thumbing is perhaps not one in the traditional sense but certainly in a more contemporary one, Stranger In A Strange Land by Robert Heinlein. This book is touted by many in the Sci Fi community as the grand-daddy of science fiction novels, one of the best and most thought provoking ever written. Somehow I have missed this entirely and only added it to my shelves a few weeks ago because I was told I needed to read it. Even though I learned how to spell "pause" because my parents were recording the newest episode of "Star Trek" each week and needed me to work the VCR I hadn't even heard the title. Despite being tucked in the back of a station wagon and driven to every major science fiction convention on the West Coast for the first 15 years of my life and the resulting exposure various RPGs and their followers... I have not read this book. I was essentially raised navel deep amongst nerds and trekkies and I feel like a piece of my science fiction learning is now lacking, as though I skipped arithmetic entirely and so cannot fully comprehend the variations of two and two.
So far I'm a few chapters in, we'll see if it holds as much impact and fanfare for me as it has others.
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