Being a (truly) good reader requires being more than a reader.
I have long lamented the way(s) in which the CM Community often breeds bad readers, often by disdaining modernity and hyper-focusing on “classics” without equipping readers with the ability to develop distinguish taste for the goodness of books old and new.
Even more specifically, I’ve recently connected the dots between this and a corresponding disdain for literary analysis and criticism.
By telling readers that older is better and then also making them fearful or disdainful of literary criticism, CM social media is churning out an army of readers that have undeveloped taste.
If you believe that old books are inherently better AND you believe that analyzing books will ruin them, then you have no ability to discern or distinguish goodness in every place that it is found.
Yes, books can be over-analyzed.
But the antidote for the improper application of a tool isn’t to discard the tool- it is to instead learn to use the tool well.
Books can be analyzed to death. This is a fact.
Books can simply be read, experienced, and enjoyed without analyzing. This is a fact, and should be a reality in every reader’s life.
Also a fact is that the best readers know how to read AND how to think critically about books.
Some books can simply be enjoyed, and others can be enjoyed AND analyzed.
It is not only *possible* to think critically about books without “ruining” the experience, but the skill and practice of doing so is also *vital* to being a distinguishing reader.
It is through thinking thoroughly and well about books that good taste is developed, and it is through good taste that a reader can see and fully appreciate goodness from every age, in every form, of every type.
The best readers are more than readers; they are also:
Thinkers
Critics
Communicators
Reviewers
Analyzers
Debaters
Observers
💡 In this month’s Beyond Reading workshop we will be discussing the art of becoming more than readers through Examining and Evaluating books. You can preregister in the shop.
I have long lamented the way(s) in which the CM Community often breeds bad readers, often by disdaining modernity and hyper-focusing on “classics” without equipping readers with the ability to develop distinguish taste for the goodness of books old and new.
Even more specifically, I’ve recently connected the dots between this and a corresponding disdain for literary analysis and criticism.
By telling readers that older is better and then also making them fearful or disdainful of literary criticism, CM social media is churning out an army of readers that have undeveloped taste.
If you believe that old books are inherently better AND you believe that analyzing books will ruin them, then you have no ability to discern or distinguish goodness in every place that it is found.
Yes, books can be over-analyzed.
But the antidote for the improper application of a tool isn’t to discard the tool- it is to instead learn to use the tool well.
Books can be analyzed to death. This is a fact.
Books can simply be read, experienced, and enjoyed without analyzing. This is a fact, and should be a reality in every reader’s life.
Also a fact is that the best readers know how to read AND how to think critically about books.
Some books can simply be enjoyed, and others can be enjoyed AND analyzed.
It is not only *possible* to think critically about books without “ruining” the experience, but the skill and practice of doing so is also *vital* to being a distinguishing reader.
It is through thinking thoroughly and well about books that good taste is developed, and it is through good taste that a reader can see and fully appreciate goodness from every age, in every form, of every type.
The best readers are more than readers; they are also:
Thinkers
Critics
Communicators
Reviewers
Analyzers
Debaters
Observers
💡 In this month’s Beyond Reading workshop we will be discussing the art of becoming more than readers through Examining and Evaluating books. You can preregister in the shop.
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