Word: trivia
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...Science 31, which covers everything from public speaking to behavorial psychology, is considered particularly worthwhile. Nevertheless, there is a consensus that many of the textbooks are filled with so much trivia that reading is often dull and unenlightening chore. Probably a representative opinion is that of cadet David B. McIlhiney '64, who said, "A great deal of the curriculum has not been and never can be directed toward the intellectual. Yet Harvard AFROTC would greatly benefit from a more academic approach...
Emphasizing that marriage is no quick cure or therapy, Smith pointed out that people approach marriage with "the unfinished tasks of childhood," their personalities encumbered by "all the trivia and deformation of twenty years of living...
...repel devotees of realism. It will equally certainly make Hermione Baddeley the most envied actress on the island of Manhattan, since she has been given another of the playwright's memorable roles for women, Flora Goforth, whom she portrays with blinding blistering brilliance. Playgoers inured to the calculated trivia of Broadway may be infuriated, touched to the quick, or turned stone-deaf at being asked, in all seriousness, to contemplate the state of their souls at the moment of impending death...
Fear of Being Taken In. To Keniston. who feels that "true politics" should indeed concern collegians, a key deterrent is campus politics. By dealing only with trivia, he says, student government subtly argues that only "omnicompetent officials" have the wisdom to make real policy decisions. Even more subtle is an echo from the McCarthy era-not fear of speaking out. but fear of being taken in. Given the abiding American fear of being a sucker, says Keniston. McCarthy's allusions to "unwitting dupes" still make collegians wary of offbeat ideas...
...bulk of the season's books appear to have been written in an afternoon, then printed early next morning. There are countless books filled with topical trivia, like Countdown for Cindy, the story of a blushing girl astronaut. There are stacks of books so eerily old-fashioned that their manuscripts must have been found in somebody's attic, like Susan Peck, Late of Boston. And there are mountains of dull and dutiful books dedicated to teaching children everything from fishing to fission. Mostly, there are far too many books whose size and gaudy color will no doubt divert...