A friend and I were discussing a book we had both read. We also mentioned other books we had read. Book talk.

Another person was present, but added nothing to the conversation. Then it was noted that one of the books being discussed had been made into a movie.

I opined that I rarely ever watched a movie adapted from a really good book.

Then the quiet one among us became enthused about discussing the movie, because movies were familiar territory to him.

And then he said, “Why would anyone read a book when you can watch a movie in an hour-and-a-half?”

My book reading friend and I just looked at each other. There just wasn’t any appropriate response to offer. Nor would we have done so if there had been.

All of which reminded me yet again of my “There are three kinds of people” classification I came up with a good while ago.

There are those who know. There are those who don’t know. And there are those who don’t know that they don’t know. The last group don’t read.

Now. Is my classification a bit of an over-simplification? Probably.

Does it seem a little condescending? Some would say so.

And do I think I am smarter than a non-reader? Absolutely not, as relates to I.Q.

But I do believe that those who do not read books don’t know that they don’t “know.” They can’t possibly “know.”

As Kurt Vonnegut Jr. would have written: “So it goes.”

And non-readers would say “Kurt who?”

APROPOS — “A man is known by the company his mind keeps.”

— Thomas Aldritch

“A great book should leave you with many experiences . . .You live several lives while reading it.”

— William Styron

“Never engage in heated different points of view (especially in politics) with a non-reader.”

— Moi