Ever tried reading an obviously maths book in a pub? I read a ot of mths books, and I spend a lot of time in pubs. I like to combine the two. And I reckon I get adverse comments - from strangers - about 70% of the time. Hell, I've even had adverse comments for simply reading a book in a pub. Less in Cambridge than elsewhere, though. There's a definite seam of anti-intellectualism in the British psyche - hence the well-know phrase "too clever by half".

I'm reminded, of course, of Bill Hicks.

"I was in Nashville Tennessee last year. After the show I went to a Waffle House. I'm not proud of it, I was hungry. And, I'm alone, I'm eating, and I'm reading a book, right?
Waitress walks over to me. 'Hey, whatchoo readin' for?' Isn't that the weirdest fucking question you've ever heard? Not what am I reading but what am I reading for? Well, I guess you stumped me. Why do I read? Well...hmm...I dunno... I guess I read for a lot of reasons, and the main one is so I don't end up being a fucking Waffle House waitress."

Pubs are a slightly different case in that they're generally social gathering places, yet reading a book is a solitary activity. I have never had anyone come over and give hassle when a bunch of us have been down the pub discussing the finer points of operating system design. (Possibly because they wouldn't have been able to get a word in edgeways.)

Up to a point, Lord Copper. It's fair enough to think I'm a bit weird, but wyhy go out of your way to make sarcastic comments, or give me hassle about it?

"Lord Copper?" I feel like some kind of B-grade superhero of conductivity.

Anyway, yes, hassling people about it is just being a jerk. I'm just pointing out that reading a book in a pub is not just thinky, it's also solitary, which is counter to the general purpose of a public house.

I just said this the other day, so this is going to amuse several people, but no fair :) Whenever I say "Up to a point Lord Copper", someone always looks at me oddly, and then I try to explain, and then I add "...and it's really funny!" and they look at me.

The relevant excerpt, for anyone who might actually be curious, is:

Mr. Salter's side of the conversation was limited to expressions of assent. When Lord Copper was right he said, 'Definitely, Lord Copper'; when he was wrong, 'Up to a point'.

'Let me see, what's the name of the place I mean? Capital of Japan? Yokohama, isn't it?'

'Up to a point, Lord Copper.'

'And Hong Kong belongs to us, doesn't it?'

'Definitely, Lord Copper.'

I quite often read in pubs, particularly if I'm waiting for friends to show up. As a woman, sitting alone in a pub is usually an invitation for random men to approach and harass, so a book provides a shield to that behaviour, as it gives an obvious 'busy, do not disturb' signal.

It's also good for social anxiety issues - if I'm feeling 'alone in a crowd' I can drag out a book and read for a bit until I feel calm and confident enough again to dive back into the fray, which is much better than sitting there like a bunny in the headlights wondering why nobody wants to talk to me!

Right—both of these are, as you say, solitary; the first specifically intended so.

I'm not saying that reading books in pubs is bad. I'm just saying that, as an example of anti-intellectualism, it also entangles solitary behaviour in a social context. And thus isn't a great example.

Wait no, that was a very unfortunate choice of verb considering the recent important court case that just took place. Let's try again.

This doesn't seem to happen to me. I'm not sure why. Perhaps I give off an air of willingness to slap people if bothered.

Just quibbling about one particular word, not the whole point in general:

I think there's a special pejorative connotation to "clever" that isn't there for "smart", "intelligent", "intellectual" (that's not to say that the other words don't have their own specific negative connotations) and other words that imply effective use of the brain. At least the way some people use it.

The first specific negative, I think, is where "clever" is used to mean something like "cunning" - with the implication that it's all being used in a rather self-serving and slightly underhand way. Sophistry needs to be clever if it's going to work against non-stupid targets. The second negative is where the cleverness is being used in a conspicuous way; doing something complicated to show off rather than doing something simple that actually works/gets to the truth.

I've not directly experienced it, but I have some idea. My impression -- I'm not sure how accurate this is -- is that if it looked useful, it would be socially accepted more or less, but if it just looks for fun, it wouldn't be (obviously you can't really tell, of course). That is some people would just rag on you anyway, but that many people would be shocked you might simply be interested, but eg. if you were an academic, or doing an open-u course for mild career benefit, or something, they'd be surprised but sympathetic.

Dad told a story about a friend of his who was walking the coast of America. He said people were generally flabbergasted and even hostile that he would, just because. But when he started telling people it was for a bet, they were all smiles.

Actually, I have read maths (and science, and computer-related, and linguistics, and other technical-looking) books in pubs (and trains, and while walking along the street). I can't remember anyone ever even commenting on it, let alone negatively. I usually get hassled by strangers for some aspect of my appearance, if anything. But I believe you if you say it happens to you a lot - I wonder why the difference occurs?

This reminds me suddenly of an account posted recently by an OU astronomy tutor of his experiences watching a lunar eclipse:

Last year a group of my neighbours came out to look at the eclipse of the Moon. They enjoyed it and asked questions ranging from basic to quite complex.

Passers by were different.
One said that he had never seen anything like that before (the Moon was about 2/3 eclipsed). I pointed out that eclipses are not rare. He repeated his assertion more assertively. I pointed out that he would not have seen this one, but for turning to see what we were looking at, but he just repeated his assertion a third time.

Another asked me if the Moon would be alright soon?

Another passed by and loudly denounced us as a expletive deleted idiots.