Things you've learned from books ..........

[elvet]

... and I don't mean ethical/moralistic themes like 'war is bad' , 'pollution is bad', etc.

Despite Fantasy and SF being fiction, there is often kernels of truth or fact in the narrative. Having just finished Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, there were tidbits every few pages about things like purifying gold, making 'watered steel' swords, and creating phosphorous from raw materials. Perhaps some readers may find it boring, but I like to read about the practical side of things that are part of ages past. From reading fantasy, I've got a better appreciation of how hard it is to maintain an army, the logistics of feeding a population, and the reality of travelling at a horse's pace, among other things. I've also developed an interest in history, particularly of England. From an early age I was focused on science, and history was just something to memorize and maintain an adequate grade in. Now, I've got this fascination with Celts, Anglo Saxons, and the monarchy.
I know that many authors take a creative license, so I'm often at Wikipedia checking up on things, but even that is a learning process. Who knew that reading Fantasy fiction could expand your knowledge.

 

[dask]

This might not be what you want but one thing sf and fantasy has inspired me to do is collect non-genre books written by sf/fantasy writers. Hence, I have a book about the Alamo by John Myers Myers; books on dinosaurs, Atlantis, and the scientific lunatic fringe by L. Sprague de Camp; books on history, science, and the history of science by Isaac Asimov; mysteries by Fredric Brown, Ray Bradbury, Leigh Brackett, and Jack Vance; westerns by Louis Trimble, Lee Hoffman, and again Leigh Brackett; and a book about comics by Ron Goulart.

 

[HareBrain]

Two that spring to mind are: Hanson's disease/leprosy, from reading Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen Donaldson; and how large sailing ships work, from reading Robert Redick's Chathrand books.

 

[paranoid marvin]

A towel is a man's best friend

 

[Interference]

Don't fully cook scrambled eggs in the pan, it'll finish cooking on your plate.

 

[Montero]

Don't throw up in a space helmet. (I could have worked that out but...)

That Medieval main roads had the King's Reeves to look after them for law and maintenance.

 

[BookStop]

THey aren't SFF books, but Nevada Barr's anna Pigeon mysteries always teach me little tidbits about the surviving the outdoors, or firefighting, or layout of National parks, lol... They are really quite interesting.

 

[elvet]

THey aren't SFF books, but Nevada Barr's anna Pigeon mysteries always teach me little tidbits about the surviving the outdoors, or firefighting, or layout of National parks, lol... They are really quite interesting.

I have most of the Nevada Barr books. My favorite was Blind Descent.

 

[Rodders]

I learned about Brane theory from Absolution gap.

 

[Interference]

Things I've learned from this thread: There's something called "Brane theory"

 

[Rodders]

There's a theory that there are many realities all "stacked" closely next to each other like sheets of paper. It's speculated that it may be possible to communicate with some of these other realities. (Sorry for the shoddy description, but that's how i understand it.)

There are some people who say that it was these "Branes" clashing together that caused the big bang. After reading this in Absolution Gap, i saw a genuine science program on TV which seemed to validate this as a real theory rather than a plot device. It was pretty interesting.

 

[Interference]

Membranes ... Yes, I remember Brian Cox on the subject, now you mention it. Thanks for the memory-jogger, Rodders

 

[clovis-man]

THey aren't SFF books, but Nevada Barr's anna Pigeon mysteries always teach me little tidbits about the surviving the outdoors, or firefighting, or layout of National parks, lol... They are really quite interesting.

I think the U.S. National Park Service thinks you can learn something also. You will find Nevada Barr books for sale at pretty much all Park Service visitor centers. It's a pity, but she seems to have stopped writing them.

 

[dwndrgn]

I've learned all sorts of little tidbits - uses of certain herbs for healing, what a fletcher and a cooper are, how steel swords are made, escape velocity, millions of little facts that help more often than you think while playing Trivial Pursuit...

And often they force me to sniff at improper use in movies and books of things that, in general, aren't common knowledge but should have been looked into when they come into the sphere of the book or movie's creators. You can't do that! It doesn't work like that! And suchlike phrases tend to find their way through my normally very rigid conversational filter. Of course I'm then forced to explain to some poor fool who just happens to be within hearing why it can't be done that way. Chris isn't the only pedant on this forum ;-)

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

As Oscar Wilde said of Kipling's Captains Courageous, 'I object to know all about cod fishing.'

 

[Montero]

The amazing range of materials bows can be made from (KJ Parker)

Life in Ancient Rome - Lindsay Davis's murder mysteries.
Monks in Shrewsbury and the Mathilda and Stephen part of history (not covered at school) thanks to Ellis Peter's Brother Cadfael.

 

[clovis-man]

I've certainly learned a lot about the early 19th century British Admiralty by reading the Aubrey/Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brian.

 

[BookStop]

I think the U.S. National Park Service thinks you can learn something also. You will find Nevada Barr books for sale at pretty much all Park Service visitor centers. It's a pity, but she seems to have stopped writing them.

I know she wrote a stand alone thriller, but certainly that doesn't mean Anna Pigeon is no more, does it? I just finished Winter Study and figured I'd be content enough just re-reading every other book while waiting for what was next.

All I ever learned about history was fiction. What I mean is, that since I abhor studying history, I pretty much kept myslef away from that particular type o' learnin', until I read a short story about piracy during the war of 1812. I picked up a non-fiction book after that to fill in some of the blanks that were in the original fictional tale, and to substantiate some other things that were in there. See, I ended up accidentally learning from the fiction.

 

[Vladd67]

If you read the footnotes in the Flashman books by George MacDonald Fraser you will get a wonderful introduction to Victorian era history.

 

[Moonbat]

I learnt a lot about Whaling, from Moby Dick!