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Don't Have Time to Read a Book? CliffsNotes Are Not the Answer--Here's Why
INC.com ^ | 3/4/19 | Expert Opinion By Wanda Thibodeaux, Copywriter, TakingDictation.com @WandaThibodeaux Mar 4, 2019

Posted on 03/18/2024 11:53:06 AM PDT by DallasBiff

That mean old clock on the wall doesn't tend to be particularly kind to leaders and entrepreneurs, so big surprise, companies that offer cliffs notes, abridged or otherwise easy-to-digest versions of books are soaring in popularity. These certainly aren't all bad, since they can help you quickly understand what the main point of a text is or let you jog your memory about it. They have their place.

But if you're going to read a book, please just read the real, whole book already, at least most of the time. There are valuable reasons not to skip even one word.

(Excerpt) Read more at inc.com ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature; Chit/Chat; History
KEYWORDS: cliffnotes; cliffsnotes; epigraphyandlanguage; godsgravesglyphs; homeschooling; pages
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Now everybody raise your hand, if you did not use Cliff Notes, when doing a book report in the 60's, 70's and 80's.?

Cliff Notes were the retro internet.

At least Cliff from Nebraska made a ton of money, and I am a capitalist.

Flame away

1 posted on 03/18/2024 11:53:06 AM PDT by DallasBiff
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To: DallasBiff
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2 posted on 03/18/2024 11:58:37 AM PDT by Cletus.D.Yokel (When I say "We" I speak of, -not for-, "We the People")
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To: DallasBiff

I had a teacher that would compare phrases used in any report to phrases used in Cliffs Notes. Many people were busted because they were too lazy to use their own words and add a few random other points.


3 posted on 03/18/2024 11:59:13 AM PDT by Codeflier (Don't worry....be happy )
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To: DallasBiff
Baby Boomers: "Cliff Notes got me through college."

Gen Z: "Who's 'Cliff' and why would I want to read his notes?"

4 posted on 03/18/2024 11:59:16 AM PDT by Yo-Yo (Is the /Sarc tag really necessary? Pray for President Biden: Psalm 109:8)
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To: Cletus.D.Yokel

There was a reason READERS DIGEST CONDENSED BOOKS AND PERIODICALS were so popular.


5 posted on 03/18/2024 12:00:22 PM PDT by Chickensoup
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To: DallasBiff

Could you give a CliffsNotes summary of this article? I don’t have the patience.


6 posted on 03/18/2024 12:03:42 PM PDT by rightwingcrazy (;-,)
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To: Yo-Yo

:: Gen Z: “Who’s ‘Cliff’ and why would I want to read his notes?” ::

Besides, I’ve already graduated collidge.


7 posted on 03/18/2024 12:05:54 PM PDT by Cletus.D.Yokel (When I say "We" I speak of, -not for-, "We the People")
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To: Codeflier

One of the English teachers at my high school would return papers cribbed from Cliffs Notes with yellow and black diagonal striping and a big red F on the first page.

If a teacher wants a paper based on Cliffs Notes, he’ll assign the students to read Cliffs Notes instead of the actual book. I don’t recall that happening even once.


8 posted on 03/18/2024 12:06:09 PM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: DallasBiff

Hand raised, I never understood the use of Cliff notes.

Something I learned in life is that most educated people didn’t actually read much and did use Cliff notes and that much of their intelligent sounding conversation about great books or great thinkers was short and shallow and was merely parroting what they heard during lectures.

A lot of conversations that seemed to involve well-read college grads was really just them sharing the exact same quotes with each other that they had all heard from lectures
in classes, it is very rare for one of them to know the material and be able to offer original thought on it or even quotes that aren’t repeated in college classes all over the nation.

They seem well read until you fall for their parrot takes and try to engage them in a true discussion of the materials, they are faking it.


9 posted on 03/18/2024 12:07:35 PM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: DallasBiff

At 77 years of age, and I have read hundreds of books in that time, I can truly say I have NEVER used a Cliff’s Notes or other notes. But then, many of those books probably had no Cliff’s Notes.


10 posted on 03/18/2024 12:08:38 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: DallasBiff

Call me crazy, but I didn’t like Cliff Notes. I was a nerd, and really enjoyed reading. I earned the grades I was given. I’m not a plagiarist like Joe Biden.

My husband, on the other hand, relied on them heavily.


11 posted on 03/18/2024 12:09:04 PM PDT by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TPetty)
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To: DallasBiff

Cliff notes were a staple in my education. I’m thankful I had them.


12 posted on 03/18/2024 12:10:17 PM PDT by napscoordinator (DeSantis is a beast! Florida is the freest state in the country! )
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar

OK, in High School I often used CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED.


13 posted on 03/18/2024 12:10:34 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: Cletus.D.Yokel
Besides, I’ve already graduated collidge.

...and I've got the student debt to prove it!

14 posted on 03/18/2024 12:11:26 PM PDT by Yo-Yo (Is the /Sarc tag really necessary? Pray for President Biden: Psalm 109:8)
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To: ansel12
Hand raised, I never understood the use of Cliff notes.

I believe you.

15 posted on 03/18/2024 12:15:49 PM PDT by DallasBiff (Apology not accepted.la is not the sharpest knife in the drawer)
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To: DallasBiff

Thank you, some of us actually read the books and have trouble understanding why someone would be not only dishonest but also want to avoid books.


16 posted on 03/18/2024 12:21:03 PM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: DallasBiff

I did not use Cliff Notes. I thought about it once in HS but after going through a couple I decided to shun them. I have always been an avid reader, anyway, and Cliff Notes seemed like thin tea when I was used to strong coffee.


17 posted on 03/18/2024 12:29:46 PM PDT by arthurus ( covfefe Yb)
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar

Ditto all of that and I will have my 78th birthday party in Việt Nam in June with two friends whose birthdays are one and two days before mine. Neither has ever used Cliff Notes. I don’t think there is a Vietnamese translation, anyway.


18 posted on 03/18/2024 12:35:56 PM PDT by ThanhPhero
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To: HartleyMBaldwin

I spent hours reading the book — never used Cliffs Notes. I can’t say it paid off — I spent far more time on English homework than any other subject. I didn’t know what I did right when I got an A and didn’t know what I did wrong when I got a C. Usually the paper topics were so bizarre that I can’t imagine that Cliffs Notes would actually help.

“Discuss the dramatic significance of the play within the play of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

I don’t remember what the book was but something like “Discuss the dramatic symbolism in Book X.”


19 posted on 03/18/2024 12:40:23 PM PDT by scrabblehack
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To: DallasBiff

You mean I wasn’t alone. If they had given me good books to read....like History Books, Books on Archealogy, Phorensic sciiece...oh no we had to read about books where the black cloak meant ???, the white rose meant....


20 posted on 03/18/2024 12:41:20 PM PDT by Sacajaweau
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