Big Bang Theory and books

Mar 19, 2013 21:48


I saw this pointed out the other day. It had never occurred to me before, but it is a bit odd:

Nobody in The Big Bang Theory ever seems to read a book.

Well yes, the four boys read comics, but that's about it. Wouldn't they read books too?

Surely Sheldon would read hard SF - Arthur C. Clarke for example. I could see Leonard liking classic SF, but ( Read more... )

books, television comedy, via ljapp, science fiction

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Comments 8

andrewducker March 19 2013, 22:06:41 UTC
Yeah, this is true. You'd expect _some_ reading.

Mind you, not many people on TV read books. I wonder if they don't want to remind people there's an alternative :->

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philmophlegm March 19 2013, 22:22:18 UTC
That's also true - and odd.

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kargicq March 20 2013, 06:19:10 UTC
It's even odder than that. Nobody in books reads books. Or at least it's rare enough that I notice when they do!

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ladyofastolat March 20 2013, 08:30:57 UTC
My first reaction was "But loads of people in books read books!" Thinking about it, though, I think that is only true in some genres. It's quite common for the main character in a teenage girl novel to be a very keen reader. I've also come across it in quite a few historical romances - the Northanger Abbey sort of thing, in which novel-reading makes the heroine dreams of romance and adventure. But I can't think of many examples in books that contain more action. Maybe the characters are too busy saving the world to stop and read a book?

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ladyofastolat March 20 2013, 08:17:42 UTC
Leonard and Sheldon have got Longclaw on their wall. While I think this was acquired afer the GoT TV series started airing, the sword itself isn't a TV tie-in version, and it didn't come with any reference to the TV series, so I see this as a piece of book-related fandom. Although I admit that this is a fairly tenuous piece of evidence of book reading.

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eledonecirrhosa March 20 2013, 13:54:12 UTC
Having only seen one episode, can anyone answer this - when you see the characters' bedrooms/living rooms are there shelves covered in books there? I think the only room in my house that doesn't have books in it is the bathroom!

On the other hand, perhaps the props department have been told to steer clear of things that will cause copyright clearance issues? "No, you can't have THAT poster, or THAT album cover or any of THOSE book covers properly visible in shot!"

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ladyofastolat March 20 2013, 17:44:53 UTC
I can think of two possible reasons ( ... )

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eledonecirrhosa March 20 2013, 21:19:50 UTC
You'd think that they could mention Terry Pratchett, Harry Potter or Twilight as well known 'bestseller' geek book phenomena, though? Ot do you think the fact that there are film/tv versions of these trumps the book aspect?

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