Words from the Wise and Otherwise, Part Six
Dear Reader,
I recently stumbled upon a conversation among academics about the anti-intellectual practices they make as a regular habit. It was not an encouraging discussion to observe, to say the least.
Among the anti-intellectual habits some of them boasted of was not reading any quoted material in an academic essay. The reason that one of the academics gave, a philosophy professor, was that he expected the writer to summarize it for him in the essay so he didn’t see the need to read the quote.
Now… there are reasons one might approach reading in this way—e.g., many academic quotations are there only as a sort of proof of “see, I read this work and I’m a serious intellectual.” That is, the quotation’s function is to signal the academic chops, but the quotation isn’t intended to have any other literary or argumentative function. Such writing is, of course, a failure of writing, but it is a common enough academic practice.
In this newsletter, I’ve learned to write for readers who are typically not clicking on links. As this is a newsletter and not an academic setting, people are welcome to read as they read and that’s perfectly acceptable. Not clicking on links and then reading the articles found therein, however, is much different than not reading quotes in the actual piece. If a person is skipping quoted material within an essay, that person has indeed made a judgment about whether that quote is intended to do anything in the piece they’re reading—and it’s a risky epistemological assumption.
(There’s also a very real question about intellectual honesty involved when the essay in question isn’t a casual newsletter like this, but rather an academic essay.)
Aside from the habit of skipping quotations existing very much in the “otherwise” bucket, the bit about skipping quoted material matters very much today because I will be relying upon your readerly good will even more than usual. You see, I’m going to link to two pieces and the first piece I will not even quote from (as it is itself merely a quote), and the second I will quote only briefly.
The first quote is from W.H. Auden, a poet I don’t very much like. I’m not certain I even like his quote’s thrust very much. (I’m nearer to hating it.) But it’s also an excellent, forcible stance on the reading life. And this newsletter isn’t here simply for me to propound my own thinking on reading comprehension. Reconsiderations must include lines from those whom we dislike and lines we dislike.
With no further preliminaries, let this quote on reading from Auden roll around in your mind for a bit.
I’ll simply say this in response: I dislike arbitrary boundaries. I think there’s a certain rightness to his assertion, but just as writers can change styles between the ages of 40 and 80, I think readers can change then as well.
Still, Auden’s quote pairs marvelously with this new piece from a newish psychology publication, Psyche. As we are nearing the changeover to fall, and seasonal changes influence activities, I thought this piece might prove useful for some advanced planning.
It’s a particularly useful essay for those trying develop a deeper reading habit, starting with its title “How to Read More Books.” The piece opens with this pleasant welcome:
Modern life can feel too frantic for books. Use these habit-building strategies to carve out time for the joy of reading.
I can handle joy!
The piece itself is a light read—excellent for those of you who’d like to further develop your reading habits. And perhaps useful to share with others you know who’re hoping to develop more regular reading habits.
Happy reading to you,
Kreigh
P.S. Here is one set of thoughts on reading for research that some of you might find useful. (If I were keener, I’d probably incorporate that system instead of printing off megadocuments and hating my life. Admittedly, I do save a few on the old computer in a haphazard filing system. Certain aspects of my research methodology I can commend, but not my organizational system. Thus the above link as one possibility.)
P.P.S. For those who enjoy my continued rants on confirmation bias and other such defeasible realms of psychology, you might appreciate this completely readable postscript from a doctoral dissertation in behavioral science. (Oh, and if you happen to be one of my current students, every piece I’ve linked to in this newsletter is required reading this week…)