Before we start

• Link to the essay

Takeaways

This was a short essay, released by Schopenhauer in 1851 but I find that some of what he says still holds true today. Here are some takeaways I’ve had after reading it:

• We do not have time to read EVERY book we come across, know your taste to say NO to books that doesn’t suit your liking to create time for the books you like.
• Read books that are meant to educate / stood the test of time instead of the ones that is trying to earn your money i.e. bestsellers
• We will NOT remember EVERYTHING we read, and that is fine. Instead we reflect and remember the insights that we are interested in.
• Be wary of reading too much, after all you’re following the author thought process and not yours.
  • This a warning to passive consumption, if we read too much without reflecting we can be blindly lead by what we read. We need to step out of the trenches and reflect on what we’ve read to form our own opinions on it.

Quotes from the essay

When we read, another person thinks for us: we merely repeat his mental process

• The phrase: “we merely repeat his mental process” struck a chord in me as it highlights the dangers of passive consumption, especially with social media. When we do not second guess or be critical about the resources we consume, we’re being blindly led by it

But, in reading, our head is, however, really only the arena of someone else’s thoughts. And so it happens that the person who reads a great deal — that is to say, almost the whole day, and recreates himself by spending the intervals in thoughtless diversion, gradually loses the ability to think for himself

• We will lose our ability to think and be critical if we read too much and follow the thoughts of the author.

it is only by reflection that one can assimilate what one has read if one reads straight ahead without pondering over it later, what has been read does not take root, but is for the most part lost

• We’ll forget what we’ve read / the insights from the resource if we don’t pause and reflect on what we’ve gone through.

Nine-tenths of the whole of our present literature aims solely at taking a few shillings out of the public’s pocket, and to accomplish this, author, publisher, and reviewer have joined forces.

• Not all books are created to educate the reader, some only exist to take away your time and earn your money. So be careful of what you read.

Remember rather that the man who writes for fools always finds a large public: and only read for a limited and definite time exclusively the works of great minds, those who surpass other men of all times and countries, and whom the voice of fame points to as such. These alone really educate and instruct

• Instead of reaching out for books that are interesting in the current times, seek out books that have stood the test of time and aim to educate the reader.

One can never read too little of bad, or too much of good books: bad books are intellectual poison; they destroy the mind

• Develop your own taste. Read a ton to figure out what you like and don’t. Stop wasting your time on books that isn’t worth it.

To desire that a man should retain everything he has ever read, is the same as wishing him to retain in his stomach all that he has ever eaten. He has been bodily nourished on what he has eaten, and mentally on what he has read, and through them become what he is. As the body assimilates what is homogeneous to it, so will a man retain what interests him;

• Don’t be greedy, we’ll never remember all the things we’ve read. We’ll only remember parts which interest us upon reflection to incorporate it into our lives.