Fluff Reading vs Hard Literature: Find a Balance

Too many concepts for me to understand this novel.  

Do you ever meet those people who read ALL THE TIME, and yet you've never heard of a single title they are reading? As if they've somehow tapped into the completely irrelevant book club, where every book is fluffy cupcake fun, and the most difficult theme in those books is having an overbearing aging parent or a bad case of inner thigh razor burn?

I call it the reality television of book reading.  Technically, yes, you are reading. But nothing that makes you think. It's purely escapism.

Great, fine. We all need escapism. We all need entertainment, and fun, and a feel good moment before we shut the side lamp off, and hit instantaneous sleep from the exhaustion of living in a constantly demanding world. Perhaps this fluff reading is actually good for us on some psychological level.

Even I get confused and have to reread
hard literature 

Yet, I can't help thinking, with all those great reading skills you've been perfecting; why not pick out a classic story every once in a while, and read it while also doing some online analysis of the themes/motifs /symbolism/etc. and see if it does something more for your brain.

Some people (not in education) seem to think that learning is done once you've graduated from whatever level of schooling you needed.  From then on, it's purely on-the-job experience that makes us more well-rounded. Need information?  There's a youtube video that will explain it all, or a wikipedia link that will give you all the answer you need.

Which is information, but it isn't thinking.  Wikipedia doesn't make you think.

A few days ago, I was talking to my science fiction class about string theory.  I realized while talking about it, I only understood the theory on the most basic level.  I decided to do some quick research before the next class.  So I googled it.  I read layers and layers of encyclopedic type information, and still had no better understanding of the complexity that is particle physics than if I made it up myself.  It was information, but not the kind that made me think. I put it on my to-read list: more quantum physics by non-professor types.

I realized I was missing Michael Crichton, one of the rare science fiction writers who wrote fluffy novels with hard facts in a way that the lay-person could understand it.  Jurassic Park did wonders to my understanding of DNA and genetic manipulation. While you could hardly call Crichton a master of the English language, he did research the heck out of whatever subject he was writing about, and present it back to the reader in easy to understand language, while also making the reader think about the morality or ethics of the science.  Sadly, he didn't get the credit he should've when he died, because he wrote a book called State of Fear, where he tried to debunk global warming, and the elitists turned on him.

And people are always turning on authors. "Oh, I don't read Twain because he uses racist language..." Really?  You missed his commentary and satire? "Oh, I hate Fitzgerald, because he glorifies rich beautiful people..." Look closer my friend, you're wrong. "Sherman Alexie's stories are only about Native Americans..." You couldn't find yourself in even one of his stories?

How many times did I watch parentless kids do the same thing
at Sears? Enough that I stopped caring when they got hurt. 

I think the reason we turn on so many "classic" authors, is because their works represent WORK. As in, it takes longer to read, has hard passages, and leaves a lot to the reader to conclude themselves. It makes us think. And thinking, used to make us better conversationalists. We could talk about issues in interesting ways, and cite literature or studies that backed our ideas and opinions, and now we post memes with 13 word captions to make our opinions for us.

And we say we read, but really we are reading pop culture porn. Fluffy words attached to worthless paper, that have no significance and don't represent reality.  The equivalent of saying, "I'm going to exercise today," and turning on the computer and making your SIM exercise instead.

I don't mean to be condescending. I read at least six or seven books a year with no intellectual merit, just as I sometimes watch Ax Men on TV. I need it to balance myself. Yet I also need a little McEwen or McCarthy or Steinbeck or Munro or Alexie, as well as Game of Thrones and Downton Abbey on television, to make me think on a deeper level a few times a week.

Read and then watch Life of Pi.  I'm still
thinking about all the layers of the story.  

Am I the only one who watches Pawn Stars and secretly hopes that Rick will finally tire of Chumlee's stupidity, and say something so profound and intellectually stimulating that Chumlee's brain will literally be blown, thus removing his character from the show, so that we can learn something about antiques once again?

What are you reading or watching (or even  writing about) that is making you think, question, or investigate?  I'd love to know.