Reading quality over quantity? What should you read? Schopenhauer's eye-opening theory of reading
On Reading" is a translation and publication of Schopenhauer's 1851 essay on reading in his "Afterword and Appendix.
I read "On Reading" in the Iwanami Bunko collection, translated by Saito Shinobu Zui.
Let's quickly look at the book's synopsis.
The diligent man who spends his whole day reading is gradually losing the ability to think for himself." The sharp quips and scathing aphorisms on reading by Schopenhauer (1788-1860), a leading writer and master of the Proverbs, are surprisingly fresh for us today, in the midst of a flood of publications.
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People who spend a lot of time reading lose the ability to think for themselves... This article begins with words that are suddenly very difficult.
Reading is about getting others to think about things. We who read are merely following someone else's thought process in a repetitive manner. It is like a student practicing calligraphy following the teacher's penciled lines with a pen. So when we read, we have little difficulty in thinking. This is why I feel a sense of relief when I quit my own work of contemplation and move on to reading. (omitted).
The diligent person who spends almost an entire day reading a lot gradually loses the ability to think for himself. If he always uses a vehicle, he will eventually forget how to walk.
Iwanami Bunko, "On Reading," p. 127-128, translated by Shinobu Saito, Zui.
Schopenhauer further describes reading a lot.
Too much spiritual food can also lead to the suffocation of the spirit due to excess. The more you read, the less of what you have read will remain in your spirit. (omitted).
Thus, what is read does not reach the point of being ruminated upon and pondered. But only through contemplation does what is read truly belong to the reader. Food nourishes us not by eating, but by digestion. On the contrary, if we only read constantly and do not reflect on what we read later, it will not take root in our spirit and much will be lost.
Iwanami Bunko, "On Reading," p. 12, translated by Shinobu Saito.
One does not acquire knowledge by simply reading a book in the dark. It is only by ruminating and pondering what one has read that it truly becomes one's own. Schopenhauer says that contemplation is the key.
A well-organized collection of books, no matter how rich in quantity, is of little use if it is not well organized, while a collection of books of limited quantity, but perfectly organized, has a great effect.
No matter how much knowledge you gather, its value is questionable unless you have thought it through yourself.
For even if one knows a single thing or obtains a single truth, it is necessary to combine and compare it with various other knowledge and truths, and only through this procedure can one's own knowledge be acquired in the fullest sense and be used freely.
We can only think thoroughly what we also know. To know, we must learn. But to know, in the true sense of the word, we can only know what we have already thought through.
Iwanami Bunko, "Shisetsu" (Contemplation), p. 5-6 in Saito Shinobu Zui's translation of "On Reading" (in Japanese).
Some line breaks have been made.
Knowledge is not acquired simply by ingesting it. Schopenhauer stresses the importance of thinking for oneself about the knowledge one has acquired. He also says, "Learn to know, and you will learn.
Schopenhauer does not deny reading itself, as he says, "You must learn in order to know. Without knowledge, there is no way to think.
So what to do, Schopenhauer states.
When reading, it is very important to have the skill of avoiding reading. This technique is to avoid reading what many readers are devouring at any given moment.
Iwanami Bunko, "On Reading," p. 133, translated by Shinobu Saito Zu.
Schopenhauer's message is not "how much you read," but "how much you don't read. It is a paradoxical but edgy statement, just like Schopenhauer.
He continues.
For example, do not touch political pamphlets, religious propaganda pamphlets, novels, poems, etc., which cause a great commotion in the reading world and go through edition after edition as soon as they are published. Such publications have a lifespan of one year.
Rather, we should contemplate the fact that authors who write for fools are always greeted by a multitude of readers, and we should always take certain short periods of time for reading, during which we should peruse only the works of the incomparably outstanding minds, the geniuses born of every age and every race.
There is no need to discuss the characteristics of their works. We need only say that they are good books, and that they are accessible to all. Only such works truly nurture us and enlighten us.
There is no such thing as reading too many bad books, and there is no such thing as reading too many good books. Bad books are a poison to the spirit and bring ruin to the soul.
The condition for reading good books is not to read bad books. Life is short, and time and power are limited.
Iwanami Bunko, "On Reading," p. 133-134, translated by Shinobu Saito.
Some line breaks have been made.
Don't read bad books, read good books.
Life is short. Don't spend your limited time reading bad books.
"Strive to read the ancients. Read the ancients, who truly deserve the name of the ancients. Words spoken of the ancients by people of today are even more meaningless."
Iwanami Bunko, "On Reading," p. 135, translated by Shinobu Saito.
It is the words of true genius, read throughout the ages, that nurture us.
Do not jump into new things unnecessarily.
So warns Schopenhauer.
In every age and in every country, there are geniuses of incomparable nobility. However, they are more inclined to read the commonplace trash that is published every day, and the number of such books increases like flies every year, in preference to the works of geniuses. The only reason for this is that they are newly printed, and the ink marks on them are fresh and attractive.
After two or three years, such a book will be discarded and scoffed at. And after that, they will be forever in a miserable state, merely used as fodder to ridicule the nonsense of a world that has gone too far. Therefore, we should take the same kind of abusive attitude immediately upon publication.
People do not pay attention to the best books of every age, but always read only the most recent ones, so that authors are ensconced in the narrow fence of popular thought, and the age is buried deeper and deeper in the muck of its own creation.
Some line breaks have been made.
Iwanami Bunko, "On Reading," p. 135-136, translated by Shinobu Saito, Sui.
Schopenhauer strongly criticizes the bad books that are mass produced every day.
You don't have to think about what is "immediately obvious" or "easy to understand" for the reader. It is easy to read because you do not have to think for yourself. However, no matter how much of such things you read in large quantities, it will never become true knowledge.
Worse yet, if what is written is not true, but rather entertaining bullshit, the more one reads, the more harmful it becomes. Schopenhauer expressed his anger at the abundance of such books in the world.
Schopenhauer does not say that "easy-to-understand" is a bad thing, but he strongly warns against the tendency to stop thinking for oneself. However, Schopenhauer strongly warns against the loss of thinking for oneself.
Repetition is the mother of research." Any important book should be read twice. This is because the second time, you will better understand the connections between the things and, since you already know the conclusions, you will correctly understand the important beginnings of the matter. Moreover, the second time you read the book, you will naturally read it in a different mood and get a different impression from the first time. In other words, we experience a subject as if we were looking at it in a different light.
Iwanami Bunko, "On Reading," p. 138, translated by Shinobu Saito.
He also states that true knowledge is cultivated through repeated reading and contemplation of good books.
This certainly makes sense to me as well.
I felt as if I was reading Dostoevsky's work for the first time and for the second time.
When I first read his debut novel, "The Poor," I had no idea what was so interesting or amazing about it. But when I read it again after learning about the various backgrounds, I found it to be truly something else. I was surprised at how interesting and profound it was.
It is often said that a classic masterpiece is interesting no matter how many times you read it. The more you read them, the more they seem to gain in flavor, and each time you read them, new discoveries and questions arise.
Schopenhauer said, "Don't read bad books, read good books. And when you read them, don't leave them as they are, but think about them carefully.
There are many other rather harsh opinions in the book that could not be presented here, but which are typical of Schopenhauer.
In addition to this article, "On Reading" also includes the articles "Contemplation" and "Writings and Style. These articles are also quite sharp and highly readable. Even if you are not a book lover, you will encounter words that will make you think about "reading books.
This is "Schopenhauer, On Reading - What is a Good Book? What Should We Read?
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