7/10    I was talking to some of the other engineers in my group
        today and happened to mention that one of them reminds me
        of that luser Stephen Daedalus (sp?) (Portrait of an
        Artist). Not a single one of them had heard of Portrait or
        of James Joyce. I was shocked. Joyce, Hemmingway, and other
        "modernists" were required reading when I was in HS, but
        no one else had ever read a single book by any modernist.
        Was my HS just wierd (I went to school in the south bay)
        or are the other engineers in my group simply uneducated?
        \_ I was reading some post on the motd from some engineer today, and
           he happened to misspell a common word such as "weird."  I was
           shocked.  Learning how to spell was a requirement when I was in
           school, but apparently no one else uses a dictionary (or even the
           "dict" program).  Was my school just weird, or are these other
           engineers simply uneducated?
           \- well there's always a certain amount of ratcheting involved in
           these kinds of situations. i doubt most sloda users could tell you
           without context who stephen daedalus was ... and for all i know,
           neither could half the english majors. i suppose this is partially
           a consequence of not assinging "the classics" because for fear the
           students "cant relate" to the classics and instead assigning things
           like batman graphic novels and star trek novels [i am not making
           this up] in ucb english classes. i am surprised they havent heard
           of joyce, although not surprised they haent read him. these people
           are a major find however; it is fun to have conversations with
           them like "what do you think is the greatest novel of the 20th cent"
           i think you will find a good number of people out in the real world
           who dont read 3 books in a year. ok tnx --psb
        \_ how can anyone place joyce and hemingway in the same category of
           writers?
        \_ Actually most engineers have heard of Hemingway and Joyce.  Most
           have even read a book or two by Hemingway, and usually find them
           a little silly.  As for Joyce, he is just a good con artist with
           a very large vocabulary.  Engineers see through that right away.