This week's mail brought a great book that I've been reading around in whenever I can get a moment: "Arguing Conservatism," an anthology of the best essays from the past 40 years of ISI's Intercollegiate Review magazine. It's full of excellent pieces on various aspects of intellectual conservatism, all from a more or less traditionalist standpoint. I've barely had time to get my feet wet in this thick volume, and already I've learned a lot and been given a lot to think about. But I knew as soon as I opened the envelope and saw the title that this was going to be a book I wanted to read. And it hasn't disappointed at all.
As a journalist and editor, I get lots of books in the mail each week unsolicited. The great majority of them I don't read, and can't read. There's just not enough time. Plus, there are always new books coming out that I don't get a review copy of, but that I want to read anyway. It seems that I've got three or four books going at any one time.
Which raises a question: How do you decide to read the books that you read? I mean, given the practically infinite number of choices available to readers today, how do you decide that this book is worth your time, but all the others aren't?
It's a question that Merlin Mann blogs about, and comes up with a useful list of questions to help the Constant Reader winnow down the pile. Lots of good points in that list, none better than the penultimate one:
Can you imagine a future in which closing this book on the last page will make you angry that you didn't just go back and re-read A Confederacy of Dunces instead?
Too right! My own list of questions I ask myself before deciding whether or not a book is worth my time includes some of Merlin Mann's, but also:
Is it fiction? Because if it is, chances are high (but not insurmountably so) that I'm not interested.
: Is it a policy book? Even if I should read it, I'm not about eating my peas.
Does it concern faith, morals or culture? I'm interested.
Does it have anything to do with history? I'm interested.
Is this a book whose purpose is to convince me that one political party and its followers are idiots, immoralists and enemies of the public good? Pass.
Is this book likely to either give me deeper and more intelligent understanding of the things I already believe are true (as distinct from merely reinforcing those beliefs)? I'll take a look.
If this book appears to challenge my beliefs, will it do so in a way that I'm likely to find trustworthy? In other words, is the author credible, or a partisan hack? If yes to teh former, then I'm intrigued.
Though this question takes in both of the previous two, I ask myself if I'm likely to reach the end of this book more acquainted with the truth of the way the world works? If yes, then I'm likely to read the book, even if I expect to be unsettled by it.
Is it well written? If after a couple of pages, I can't imagine spending hours with the voice of this writer, I'll pass, no matter how interesting the subject matter is.
Is the author of this book now or ever has been an American politician or television personality of the last half-century? You couldn't make me read it.
Every book that presents itself for my attention has to run that gantlet. Even if it passes all those tests, there are still more good books than I have time to read. So there's also an element of intangibility and intuition at work here.
How about you? What are the questions you ask before deciding whether or not a book is worth your time?
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"What are the questions you ask before deciding whether or not a book is worth your time?"
Did G. K. Chesterton write it?
Sig, I love your comments, and will keep a copy of your book recommendations. What you said about your father reminded me of my own father lambasting me as a teenager because I was reading the "Angelique" books (by Sergeanne Golon aka Serge and Anne Golon).
Today, I have every one of these wonderful books, all of which are out-of-print, but which I tracked down on-line or from visiting used bookstores.
One memoir I highly recommend to everyone here is "A Girl Named Zippy" by Haven Kimmel. I gave it to my brother for Christmas, and this is not his kind of book. He loved it, and immediately gave it to his wife to read, and she also loved it. I read during summer vacation last year.
Summer vacation is another way that I decide what to read - a period of time when I look for fun books, not heavy books.
Aren't/Weren't there monks who read at the table? Or was it always just the one monk reading from scripture or the Fathers while the others ate in silence? I can't recall.
One would have been reading aloud to the others. First of all, books were too rare and valuable to risk getting food on them. Second, there probably wouldn't have been enough books to go 'round. Third, don't forget that, despite our image of the monks in the scriptorium, not *all* of the monks would have been able to read and write.
The practice of having someone read aloud during mealtime was still common in Catholic seminaries and other institutions not too long ago. Maybe it still is in some places.
"What are the questions you ask before deciding whether or not a book is worth your time?"
Did G. K. Chesterton write it?
Jeez, Chesterton people are worse than Ayn Randers. : )
Besides all the heady stuff I read, I am always on the look-out for excellent writers who can craft a good story. David McCullough, Joseph Ellis, David Hackett Fischer, Nathaniel Philbrick, Erik Larson, and even the provocative Simon Winchester are among my favorites. They're the kind of writers that make you buy their books regardless of the topic in hardback the day you see them hit the bookstores because they are simply masterful storytellers.
I probably only have a few more decades on this earth, and I'm not spending them reading boring books!
Thanks,
Tony Williams
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