"how do you insert the gods into a movie without it being goofy to a modern secular audience?"
I was gonna cite The Avengers as a counterexample, but the gods in the MCU are very clearly just aliens with superpowers.
Maybe if a Japanese studio did an adaptation. Especially an animated work. Greatly as religion has declined in Japan, they still have a pagan sensibility -- actual paganism, not that hippy Earth-worship bullshit people pretend is paganism -- that Westerners have a much harder time wrapping their heads around.
One addendum I'd stick on #5 is that if it's non-fiction and not hooking you in the first 20-30 pages (but written for a popular audience), try skipping to the next chapter and going from there. I really enjoyed Charles Morris' "Dawn of Innovation" about the British and American industrial revolutions, but the first chapter of the book is a long chapter on the conflict of the Great Lakes in the War of 1812 that I found really tedious to read. I eventually skipped it and found the rest of the book much more interesting.
I find reading several books at the same time to be life-saving advice. Also, read the books your favorite authors like to read, and don't have social media on your phone.
This is really good
"how do you insert the gods into a movie without it being goofy to a modern secular audience?"
I was gonna cite The Avengers as a counterexample, but the gods in the MCU are very clearly just aliens with superpowers.
Maybe if a Japanese studio did an adaptation. Especially an animated work. Greatly as religion has declined in Japan, they still have a pagan sensibility -- actual paganism, not that hippy Earth-worship bullshit people pretend is paganism -- that Westerners have a much harder time wrapping their heads around.
One addendum I'd stick on #5 is that if it's non-fiction and not hooking you in the first 20-30 pages (but written for a popular audience), try skipping to the next chapter and going from there. I really enjoyed Charles Morris' "Dawn of Innovation" about the British and American industrial revolutions, but the first chapter of the book is a long chapter on the conflict of the Great Lakes in the War of 1812 that I found really tedious to read. I eventually skipped it and found the rest of the book much more interesting.
Don’t forget to take notes on what you have read and, if possible, to incorporate what you have learned into your writings.
This is to the benefit of us readers but also for yourself. There is no better way to truly learn something than to explain it to others.
I find reading several books at the same time to be life-saving advice. Also, read the books your favorite authors like to read, and don't have social media on your phone.
Point #11 is probably the most important but also the most difficult.
A few of these are very similar to what I wrote about a few years ago: https://www.mondayeconomist.com/p/reading.
> listen to podcasts from reviewers you trust
who are reviewers you trust?