Re: OT: 'Dry' textbooks (was: Re: CHAT: _Describing Morphosyntax_)

Quoting Carsten Becker <naranoieati@...>:

> I think it's just the style such things are written in --
> always explanatory, no action, quite densely written so
> that you must think about what you read. Like an entry
> in an encyclopedia. It's a lot more strenuous (sp?) than
> watching TV at least. Sometimes must I really force myself
> to read explanations about a grammatical feature such as
> the mails about the "Silindon Optative" word by word from
> the beginning to the end. The mails about Silindon are
> still unread, so are some discussions about ergativity.
I find most encyclopaedias more captivating than most TV shows. But then, I've
never fooled myself I'm a typical person.

                                               Andreas