Great article! I love the idea of monitoring how often our attention is hijacked. The first step to change is the awareness of the problem.
I first read Infinite Jest (one of my all-time favorite books--and yes, I agonized with Gately over his gunshot wound and his heroic decision to forgo painkillers) when I was a high school English teacher and routinely putting in 65-hour weeks. I decided to read the book over one month, giving it the attention it deserved. I don’t know what my excuse is these days, when I have so much more free time, for avoiding the more challenging great books that are out there. You are inspiring me to pick up Bleak House again!
I would say in your defense that many of the “great books” really aren’t all that great. Too many classics are so only because of fashion it seems, while others are neglected gems.
That said, I absolutely agree with the virtue of spending time to really dig into a tough book, to read, reread and wrestle with the content. Not all struggles are worth it, but some really are great.
The conflation of 'popular' with 'classic' is always going to lead to disappointments.
People raved about Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go until I couldn't resist picking it up. The 'twist' was obvious from the get-go, the supposedly profound theme was thinly explored, at best, and I finished it more from a sense of early sunk costs than anything else.
Thanks Mike for this essay, that I particularly enjoyed, as I struggle myself sometimes between the inevitable lure of social media and traditional reading that brings so much more peace of mind.
It also reminded of an essay I published earlier this year on my Substack on the rapid evolution of mediums. If you or your readers are interested, see link below.
I enjoyed your piece and confirm that Fareed Zakaria describes how I feel about my philosophy degree, whose legacy has been to help me see the difference between how to think and what to think.
Thanks Mike for drawing my attention to your piece! Your perspective on deeper reading adds texture to the points that I made in my post. The powerful shaping influence of books that act, "like a therapist inviting less reaction and more reflection", is being replaced with staccato one-line reactions that demonstrate lack of nuance or understanding of the issue at hand. Reading books, in addition to saving our mind, could do much to assuage the raging culture wars. If you read N.S. Lyons and Kingsnorth, you may be interested in my husband's recently released novel Exogenesis (Ignatius Press), which lays bare the choice we face in a world divided between machines or creatures. See https://schooloftheunconformed.substack.com/p/exogenesis-bladerunner-meets-the. Sometimes stories move us more than abstract articles, exactly because they invite "less reaction and more reflection."
Excellent post. A couple of what are probably obvious observations about Twitter.
1) I can’t think of any other medium where people feel they need to “take a break” for the benefit of their own sanity.
2) Most of the info I worry about missing out on (if it’s serious enough), I’ll get in Spectator, Times or a decent substack, which are calmer mediums and have additional quality content
I often struggle with the temptation to force my eldest daughter to read The Wind in the Willows or The Hobbit or something. At 8 years she reads constantly, but primarily modern drama diary books for girls. I worry a bit about the quality, but then part of me thinks that if she reads enough that a trip to the library for refills is necessary every week it can’t be too bad.
Yea I might try reading aloud to her along with her sisters again. Her complaint with the books isn’t that they are hard but that they are boring, which... grow some taste? I don’t know, girls’ preferences are a mystery to me :)
Great article! I love the idea of monitoring how often our attention is hijacked. The first step to change is the awareness of the problem.
I first read Infinite Jest (one of my all-time favorite books--and yes, I agonized with Gately over his gunshot wound and his heroic decision to forgo painkillers) when I was a high school English teacher and routinely putting in 65-hour weeks. I decided to read the book over one month, giving it the attention it deserved. I don’t know what my excuse is these days, when I have so much more free time, for avoiding the more challenging great books that are out there. You are inspiring me to pick up Bleak House again!
I'm in awe at anyone who can read IJ in a month !
Bleak House is a keeper too.
I would say in your defense that many of the “great books” really aren’t all that great. Too many classics are so only because of fashion it seems, while others are neglected gems.
That said, I absolutely agree with the virtue of spending time to really dig into a tough book, to read, reread and wrestle with the content. Not all struggles are worth it, but some really are great.
The conflation of 'popular' with 'classic' is always going to lead to disappointments.
People raved about Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go until I couldn't resist picking it up. The 'twist' was obvious from the get-go, the supposedly profound theme was thinly explored, at best, and I finished it more from a sense of early sunk costs than anything else.
The next time someone complains that I wrote a wall of text that exceeds all reason, I am linking this wonderful essay.
Embarrassingly nice comment to receive - thanks.
Thanks Mike for this essay, that I particularly enjoyed, as I struggle myself sometimes between the inevitable lure of social media and traditional reading that brings so much more peace of mind.
It also reminded of an essay I published earlier this year on my Substack on the rapid evolution of mediums. If you or your readers are interested, see link below.
https://thenomadhistorian.substack.com/p/the-downward-spiral-of-public-discourse
I enjoyed your piece and confirm that Fareed Zakaria describes how I feel about my philosophy degree, whose legacy has been to help me see the difference between how to think and what to think.
Thanks Mike for drawing my attention to your piece! Your perspective on deeper reading adds texture to the points that I made in my post. The powerful shaping influence of books that act, "like a therapist inviting less reaction and more reflection", is being replaced with staccato one-line reactions that demonstrate lack of nuance or understanding of the issue at hand. Reading books, in addition to saving our mind, could do much to assuage the raging culture wars. If you read N.S. Lyons and Kingsnorth, you may be interested in my husband's recently released novel Exogenesis (Ignatius Press), which lays bare the choice we face in a world divided between machines or creatures. See https://schooloftheunconformed.substack.com/p/exogenesis-bladerunner-meets-the. Sometimes stories move us more than abstract articles, exactly because they invite "less reaction and more reflection."
Excellent post. A couple of what are probably obvious observations about Twitter.
1) I can’t think of any other medium where people feel they need to “take a break” for the benefit of their own sanity.
2) Most of the info I worry about missing out on (if it’s serious enough), I’ll get in Spectator, Times or a decent substack, which are calmer mediums and have additional quality content
Gold star about to be awarded for this comment.
I often struggle with the temptation to force my eldest daughter to read The Wind in the Willows or The Hobbit or something. At 8 years she reads constantly, but primarily modern drama diary books for girls. I worry a bit about the quality, but then part of me thinks that if she reads enough that a trip to the library for refills is necessary every week it can’t be too bad.
Yea I might try reading aloud to her along with her sisters again. Her complaint with the books isn’t that they are hard but that they are boring, which... grow some taste? I don’t know, girls’ preferences are a mystery to me :)
Oh yea she has those down already. Even I remember reading those as a sprog.