Sterling Terrell

smart ideas from books

  • Home
  • About
    • Work With Me
    • My CV
    • Series
  • Newsletter
  • Advertising
  • Tools
You are here: Home / Potpourri / A Great Reading Exercise

A Great Reading Exercise

A Great Reading Exercise

What if a great intellectual reading exercise is to simply read as widely as possible?

Reading from an eclectic mix of topics from different time periods…

You might follow up a Churchill biography, with a book on humor, and then circle back to a text on writing, followed by a text on religion and pilosophy.

Just keep it moving, if you ask me.

I mean, who wants to read only a handful of topics by only a handful of authors?

Thank goodness that whole printing press and internet thing finally took off.

Try it out maybe, it’s just an idea. 

Rarely has education been about teaching children, adolescents, or young adults how to read lengthy and complicated texts with sustained, deep, appreciative attention—at least, not since the invention of the printing press. When books were scarce the situation was different: the North African boy who later became known to history as St. Augustine spent countless hours of his education poring over, analyzing word-by-word, and memorizing a handful of books, most of them by Virgil and Cicero; this model was followed largely because no one had many books, so each one was treated as precious. Augustine’s biographer Peter Brown has commented that some of Augustine’s intellectual eccentricities are the product of “a mind steeped too long in too few books”—something that can be said of almost nobody today.

-Alan Jacobs, The Pleasures Of Reading In An Age Of Distraction

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: PotpourriTagged With: #Focus, #Reading

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Privacy Policy

Connect

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Free Weekly Newsletter:

Search

Recent Posts

  • When One Spouse Is More Religious
  • The Three Virtues Of A Programmer
  • It’s Broken In Production
  • This Sounds Like Home
  • Don’t Kill Your Darlings?
  • This Wisdom, Power, And Love
  • You Can Move To Save
  • Random Thoughts – 284
  • But I Am At Work Somehow
  • The Week In Review – 261
  • Turning Pro, By: Steven Pressfield and Shawn Coyne
  • COVID Vaccine
  • Leaving For College Feels Like This?
  • The Warren Buffett Investing Strategy
  • Coffee And Grumpy Day For You
  • When A Summer Camp Counselor Has The Day Off
  • How Texas Country Is Texas Tech
  • Messy Head Of Hair Back To
  • The Most Important Job in The World
  • Fine Day But Who Cares For
  • Fun Where One Finds It
  • 5 Things I Learned Reading: 300 Arguments, By: Sarah Manguso
  • Redeeming What Cannot Be
  • The Week In Review – 260
  • Random Thoughts – 283

Top Posts & Pages

  • The Tricky Lily Pad Riddle (You Probably Can't Solve)
    The Tricky Lily Pad Riddle (You Probably Can't Solve)
  • 31 Persuasion Tips That I Learned From Scott Adams
    31 Persuasion Tips That I Learned From Scott Adams
  • My Notes On, The Applause of Heaven, By: Max Lucado
    My Notes On, The Applause of Heaven, By: Max Lucado
  • My Notes On, In the Eye of The Storm, By: Max Lucado
    My Notes On, In the Eye of The Storm, By: Max Lucado
  • Mastermind, By: Maria Konnikova
    Mastermind, By: Maria Konnikova
  • Government Shut Down
    Government Shut Down
  • Another Great Riddle For You To Try
    Another Great Riddle For You To Try
  • When One Spouse Is More Religious
    When One Spouse Is More Religious
  • Can You Solve The Bat And Ball Riddle?
    Can You Solve The Bat And Ball Riddle?
  • Just Edit Out The Boring Stuff?
    Just Edit Out The Boring Stuff?

Copyright © 2021 · Generate Pro On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in