site banner
PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   1651 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 1, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

1
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

YA SF recommendations wanted!

The Mini-STEMlord of this thread is 10 this week and we are still trying to get him to read books. Based on the films and TV he likes, his preferred genre of fiction is SF, with a mild preference for harder SF. He has asked for the books of Dune and The Martian after watching the movies, but found them too difficult.

Apart from going old school and introducing him to the Heinlein juveniles, I have no idea what SF is out there for younger readers. Mini-STEMlord has a reading age of at least 14 and can handle science concepts at an A-level to first year undergraduate level. (In terms of maths, he has mastered algebra but hasn't started trig or calculus. He was able to follow a 1st-year undergraduate biochem course on MIT OpenCourseware when he was healthy and rested but not when he was tired or had a cold). But he has no reading stamina - with one exception the longest thing he has read is a Wikipedia article. I don't know if that means anthologies of short stories would be better than novels.

Any advice appreciated.

he has no reading stamina

I stand by my previous recommendations, but after some thought ... it might be worthwhile to focus on stamina-building reading before worrying about quality reading. If my kids hadn't gotten into the habit of devouring guilty-pleasures series when they were younger, they probably wouldn't have been up for more thoughtful things to read when they were 10. "Can read at a high level" and "can read without noticing any effort" are two different virtues, and there are all sorts of voluminous book series designed to make sure kids develop the latter. My oldest daughter's favorite was probably "Warrior Cats". I think mine was "Choose-Your-Own-Adventure" back in the day. Don't even sneer at comics! "Calvin and Hobbes" has something to think about at every level. "FoxTrot" was my kids' gateway to Star Trek TNG. Even "Garfield" (okay, you can sneer at this one, but sneer respectfully when around the kid) isn't worthless if it gives the kid motivation to binge read something for hours on end.

"Calvin and Hobbes" has something to think about at every level.

My grandparents had a bunch of the collections when I was a kid, and I used allowance money to buy the rest. I couldn't even estimate how many times I read them. Those and The Far Side collections probably explain much about how I am now (perhaps not a ringing endorsement of the comics).

Are you me??????

I bet, well actually I know, there are a number of people on here with bizarrely similar biographical details. There is a distinct type of late Xer/first millennial that is drawn to the Motte like moths to flame.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats