What's striking to me most is the decline of reading among the intellectual class. I had a conversation once with a well known "public intellectual" from an Ivy League university. He told me he doesn't read books because usually the author writes an article about it, and he just reads the article to get the gist. During the course of our conversation, I connected what he was saying to something I had read in Plato's Republic. He was stunned that I was reading Plato, like, for fun. I was stunned that he travels all around the world, speaking as an intellectual, and doesn't read books.
Thank you for sharing, Ryan. I am a bit torn on this.
I strongly believe in the value of studying the Western Canon (or high quality stuff of any kind) and think today's Humanities instruction has largely lost its way. However, I also think that a great deal of the nonfiction publishing sector can be eliminated and/or condensed. There are a lot of books where reading a long-form essay version is sufficient. These books tend to be fluffed up with anecdotes or other types of filler. The incentives are to turn whatever thesis one has into a book.
Now, I also think we need more people doing more long-form, sustained reading. So reading these fluffed up books isn't such a bad thing compared to the alternatives. However, I think we also want to press for greater rigor and density in the reading selections people make. I am not perfect on this front at all. I read a great mix of things.
What's striking to me most is the decline of reading among the intellectual class. I had a conversation once with a well known "public intellectual" from an Ivy League university. He told me he doesn't read books because usually the author writes an article about it, and he just reads the article to get the gist. During the course of our conversation, I connected what he was saying to something I had read in Plato's Republic. He was stunned that I was reading Plato, like, for fun. I was stunned that he travels all around the world, speaking as an intellectual, and doesn't read books.
Thank you for sharing, Ryan. I am a bit torn on this.
I strongly believe in the value of studying the Western Canon (or high quality stuff of any kind) and think today's Humanities instruction has largely lost its way. However, I also think that a great deal of the nonfiction publishing sector can be eliminated and/or condensed. There are a lot of books where reading a long-form essay version is sufficient. These books tend to be fluffed up with anecdotes or other types of filler. The incentives are to turn whatever thesis one has into a book.
Now, I also think we need more people doing more long-form, sustained reading. So reading these fluffed up books isn't such a bad thing compared to the alternatives. However, I think we also want to press for greater rigor and density in the reading selections people make. I am not perfect on this front at all. I read a great mix of things.