Notice to the reader: When you see my yellow highlighter, it means that I’ve read something I don’t agree with. All passages in yellow grate on my nerves, and that’s a good thing.
Let me start by admitting that I’m a HUGE fan of Ralph Waldo Emerson. He’s the guy who advocated for self-reliance as a means of achieving your true potential. It’s a great message, and I love the Transcendentalist movement.
But I disagree with Emerson’s reading philosophy.
He was a quick reader with a huge library. The problem is that he saw reading as a potential harm to critical thinking. He would blaze through books to find the nuggets that could help him with his writing. He was not a fan of reading deeply.
When speaking with Charles Woodbury between 1865 and 1870, he said, “Do not attempt to be a great reader…read for facts and not by the bookful. You must know about ownership in facts. What another sees and tells you is not yours, but his.”
This is a very Emerson thing to say. He was worried that by reading too deeply, the author’s thinking would become your thinking, thereby taking away your self-reliance. For Emerson, you needed to take the time to think for yourself.
I highlighted this passage in yellow because I’ve found in my own life that reading deeply has helped me:
- Avoid common errors and fallacies
- Find a more efficient path
- Explore options through education
I don’t think our problem is losing ourselves to the thoughts of our authors; I think our problem is believing everything we see and read at face value.
The first step in reading deeply is to spend time with a book and thoroughly understand its message. The second step is to spend hours, days, or even years going for walks to determine what you think about that message. We’re missing the second step as readers.
Stop consuming constantly. Go for a walk and think about what you’ve read today.
Until next time, read slowly – take notes – apply the ideas.
-Eddy
