You cannot begin to deal with terms, propositions, and arguments – the elements of thought – until you can penetrate beneath the surface of language.
The possession of the truth is the highest goal of the human mind.
Think of yourself as a detective looking for clues to a book’s general theme or idea, alert for anything that will make it clearer.
Think of yourself as a detective looking for clues to a book’s general theme or idea, alert for anything that will make it clearer. Heeding the suggestions we have made will help you sustain this attitude. You will be surprised to find out how much time you will save, pleased to see how much more you will grasp, and relieved to discover how much easier it can be than you supposed.
It is traditional in America to criticize the schools; for more than a century, parents, self-styled experts, and educators themselves have attacked and indicted the educational system.
Reading well, which means reading actively, is thus not only a good in itself, nor is it merely a means to advancement in our work or career. It also serves to keep our minds alive and growing.
As Thomas Hobbes said, “If I read as many books as most men do, I would be as dull-witted as they are.
The art of reading, in short, includes all of the same skills that are involved in the art of unaided discovery: keenness of observation, readily available memory, range of imagination, and, of course, an intellect trained in analysis and reflection.
In short, we can only learn from our “betters”.
The mind can atrophy, like the muscles, if it is not used.
One of the most familiar tricks of the orator or propagandist is to leave certain things unsaid, things that are highly relevant to the argument, but that might be challenged if they were made explicit. While.
Read the book through, undeterred and undismayed by the paragraphs, footnotes, comments, and references that escape you. If you let yourself get stalled, if you allow yourself to be tripped up by any one of these stumbling blocks, you are lost.
Every book should be read no more slowly than it deserves, and no more quickly than you can read it with satisfaction and comprehension.
Perhaps we know more about the world than we used to, and insofar as knowledge is prerequisite to understanding, that is all to the good. But knowledge is not as much a prerequisite to understanding as is commonly supposed. We do not have to know everything about something in order to understand it; too many facts are often as much of an obstacle to understanding as too few. There is a sense in which we moderns are inundated with facts to the detriment of understanding.
The student can read as fast as his mind will let him, not as slow as his eyes make him.
Don’t try to resist the effect that a work of imaginative literature has on you.
Remember Bacon’s recommendation to the reader: “Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider.
To this day, most institutions of higher learning either do not know how to instruct students in reading beyond the elementary level, or lack the facilities and personnel to do so.
The beauty of any work of art is related to the pleasure it gives us when we know it well.
In judging a practical book, everything turns on the ends or goals.