# Could you give up reading? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 8, 2011, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-give-up-reading/588354 "2011-07-08T21:40:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-give-up-reading/588354/1 "2011-07-08T21:40:24Z")
What if the evil powers at work in the universe arranged it so that should you ever read for pleasure again your children will drop dead. If you have no children then whoever it would pain you most to cause the death of will drop dead. _Could_ you do it? You are allowed to read road signs, instruction manuals, prices at the grocery store, whatever you need to perform your duties. You can’t read The Straight Dope though. No audiobooks neither. I think I could. I think it would be very very hard. It would be like a death. It would be like losing a limb, like losing half my brain. I would probably get depressed. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-give-up-reading/588354/2 "2011-07-08T21:45:15Z")
> [@carlotta](#): > > What if the evil powers at work in the universe arranged it so that should you ever read for pleasure again your children will drop dead. If you have no children then whoever it would pain you most to cause the death of will drop dead. > > _Could_ you do it? > > You are allowed to read road signs, instruction manuals, prices at the grocery store, whatever you need to perform your duties. You can’t read The Straight Dope though. No audiobooks neither. > > I think I could. I think it would be very very hard. It would be like a death. It would be like losing a limb, like losing half my brain. I would probably get depressed. Why no audiobooks? ---
**Author:** ![Otara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Otara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otara)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-give-up-reading/588354/3 "2011-07-08T21:51:26Z")
Wouldnt choose to do it, but dont think it would be particularly hard. Otara ---
**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-give-up-reading/588354/4 "2011-07-08T21:55:27Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > Why no audiobooks? Because these powers, they are evil. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-give-up-reading/588354/5 "2011-07-08T22:00:38Z")
I don’t know if I could. I’d try, really, really, hard, but I’m the kind of person who will read the back of shampoo bottles if I have nothing else to read. I’m afraid I’d slip up sooner or later…probably sooner. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-give-up-reading/588354/6 "2011-07-08T22:03:58Z")
Nope. Couldn’t do it. I have to read for my job, and I get pleasure from learning new things to teach that I read about, so it would never work. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-give-up-reading/588354/7 "2011-07-08T22:12:04Z")
No, I couldn’t do it. I know that I’d never be able to do it. Sorry, kid, your mom’s an addict. Seriously, when I was a kid, my parents punished me by grounding me from recreational reading. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-give-up-reading/588354/8 "2011-07-08T22:22:54Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Seriously, when I was a kid, my parents punished me by grounding me from recreational reading. Me too. If I was \*really \*in the doghouse, they confiscated my library card…I lost that sucker for a whole month once! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-give-up-reading/588354/9 "2011-07-08T23:38:11Z")
Couldn’t not. I’d be like Orpheus - I’d end up doing it without thinking based on passion and condemn my loved one to a cruel fate. Feel better ? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-give-up-reading/588354/10 "2011-07-08T23:52:01Z")
I guess if I absolutely had to, I’d do it. But it really would take something like a threat to a loved one’s life. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-give-up-reading/588354/11 "2011-07-09T00:04:51Z")
I’d be miserable, but I’d do it to save my partner’s life (but he would never want me to). Short of that, they’d have to pry books from my cold, dead hands. ---
**Author:** ![Hedda\_Rosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hedda_rosa/32/1204_2.png) [@Hedda\_Rosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hedda_Rosa)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-give-up-reading/588354/12 "2011-07-09T00:08:26Z")
To save my kids I could do damn near anything but I would hate hate hate not having reading in my life. It is core to who I am. Color me one of those who was grounded\* from\* reading as a kid. The cruelest thing was when my mom took a book away when I was right in the middle of it! Oh that was torture. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-give-up-reading/588354/13 "2011-07-09T00:10:21Z")
For a kid? I’d do it in a heartbeat. It would be incredibly difficult, but you’re talking about my (imagined) kid’s _life_, for god’s sake. Wouldn’t parents do anything for their kids? ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-give-up-reading/588354/14 "2011-07-09T00:24:37Z")
I could make more kids! No really though, I’d have to gouge my eyes out or something just to make sure, but of course I’d quit reading to save my daughters’ lives. ---
**Author:** ![PeacePlease](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/71c47a/32.png) [@PeacePlease](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeacePlease)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-give-up-reading/588354/15 "2011-07-09T00:37:07Z")
No kids, no SO. That would leave my parents. I live to read. If not a book, online. Oh well, the 'rents are getting old anyway!! ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-give-up-reading/588354/16 "2011-07-09T00:46:59Z")
I would try really hard, but short of blinding myself, I’m rather positive I would slip up at some point and accidentally read the back of some container for non-instructional purposes. I really would have to go around with a blindfold or poke my eyes out. ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-give-up-reading/588354/17 "2011-07-09T02:30:10Z")
Under those circumstances, yes, I could do it, and would do it. But I’d be severely depressed. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-give-up-reading/588354/18 "2011-07-09T02:36:03Z")
Would it just be the one person who would die? Well, sorry \. You’re gonna die; I _got’s_ to read. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-give-up-reading/588354/19 "2011-07-09T02:36:29Z")
For my kid? In a heartbeat. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-give-up-reading/588354/20 "2011-07-09T06:07:08Z")
I guess it says something about me that my first thought was, “Well, I’ll get over the death of a loved one.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-give-up-reading/588354.md?page=2)