What percentage of books you own are by white authors?

[Oexmelin]

Selecting which science you read based on race feels fresh and modern, not like the 30s at all.

Whereas reductio ad hitlerum is the epitome of original thinking.

[Oexmelin]

So much "world literature" is culturally-specific; not all, but a lot--and how can you really appreciate, for example,  a non-western author like Khushwant Singh without at least a basic working knowledge of Indian society and culture, let alone its politics?  I would say, particularly when it comes to literature, you're doing yourself--and the author--a disservice in reading without context or competence.  That's just Ciff Clavenism.

True. Though there is an argument being made by some scholars (S. Brouillette) that the rise of global publishers have led to an increasing uniformity of a certain type of "English-language World Lit" with similar themes, speaking to similar globalized audiences. I don't read enough English language world lit to have a sense of the worth of that argument.

[CountDeMoney]

From derspiess' GoodReads profile--

[Oexmelin]

Identity politics has nothing with choosing book authors, unless your choice of authors is driven by identity politics. I choosey authors, like the vast majority of people, because what they write is enjoyable and thought-provoking.

Except it is not true, and there's enough research out there to establish it. We pick books out of a number of influences and forces which have nothing to do with one's sound independent mind. We pick books that are recommended by friends, by profs, in the classroom; books people we admire read, or have read; books we have heard about on TV, and books which we are told people like "us" should read - whether that "us" is based in class, race, ethnicity, national origin, what have you. We pick up books discussed on online wargaming forums; books from a certain editor we know and trust, and we therefore rely on that editor's own acquisition network; books which are reviewed in specialized press, and books which we think have something worthwhile to say -- and that a priori knowledge is pretty much the standard definition of prejudice - "prior judgment". It's not always a bad thing: we use it everyday to save time and classify and order things. But overcoming prejudice can only happen when one knows the process by which one arrives at judgment.   

[PDH]

Most of my books still lie in storage, but a fair number there are from American Indian authors.  The Medieval History is a lot of crusty white dudes, but they went into that area to get the chicks, so that's okay.

[Valmy]

I don't know. I very rarely get a picture of the author. I have an interest in Latin American history so I have lots of books on that topic but knowing which Latino person is supposed to be white or not I will leave to the race experts out there I can never keep that stuff straight.

[dps]

You do know that Uncle Tom's Cabin was written by a white woman, not a black person, right?

Of course, so is The Guns of August and Funeral Games on my bookshelves. So not only I have books by non-whites, but by women too. Gasp!

Identity politics has nothing with choosing book authors, unless your choice of authors is driven by identity politics. I choosey authors, like the vast majority of people, because what they write is enjoyable and thought-provoking.

Plus, philosophically I oppose the concept of "unconscious sinner".

I don't really disagree with you, but the way you worded your earlier post implied that you thought that Uncle Tom's Cabin was written by a black person.

As for the thread question itself, I don't know and have little interest in the answer.  Most of my books are either Fantasy/SF or history and I'd guess that the vast majority of them are written by white authors,

[Ed Anger]

From derspiess' GoodReads profile--

STOP READING MY WIFE'S LIBRARYTHING PAGE 

[DGuller]

What would positive change be in this context?

Trying something new? Discovering new authors? New thinkers?

An open mind is like a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded.

Your ideas are intriguing to me, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.  Unfortunately I'm already over my quota for white males. 

[Razgovory]

I honestly don't know.  I have a few books by authors I know are black such as Things Fall Apart, but I don't know about the rest.

[sbr]

In a quick glance around I have one book that I know was written by a non-white, The Autobiography of Malcom X (which is a really good story no matter how you feel about the real person).  The vast majority of the rest were written by whites (and 95% male), and there is a small group that I am not 100% sure of but am pretty sure they are white, but I haven't had the interest in finding out.

It is interesting though.  I saw something on Twitter recently about helping to donate books to black under-privileged kids.  The Tweets had pictures of the covers of a bunch of books, geared towards black children, that I had never seen or heard of.  Over the last 47 years I have been around a lot of kids who had parents that were interested in reading, but not only had I not seen any of these specific books but I don't remember any books that had even a minor African American character.

[The Brain]

Selecting which science you read based on race feels fresh and modern, not like the 30s at all.

Whereas reductio ad hitlerum is the epitome of original thinking.

Now that you mention it I think my physics books have an awful lot of Jewish science in them. I should probably let other voices be heard and open my mind a little.

[Josquius]

Most of them I guess?
Unless translations count for the original.Which in case of comics I guess is fair since the picture is most of the work. So....less.


Incidentally I hate it how coloured is becoming the used term again.

[Josephus]

Black people can write books?

[Savonarola]

Relax, Drakken, no one has accused you of being a racist.

It's interesting that you bring up "Uncle Tom's Cabin" as I think that's a good example of what Nalo Hopkinson was getting at.  "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is an account of slavery written by a white woman who lived in a free state.  You own that rather than an actual account of a slave, such as "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave."  Did you pick Harriet Beecher Stowe over Frederick Douglass because you're a white supremacist?  Of course not.  Did you choose her book because you subconsciously hate black people again?  Again, no.  Most likely you picked it because it's far and away the better known book.  It's not better written (in my opinion) and it's certainly not a more accurate depiction of slavery; but our society has made that the best known anti-slavery book.