As much as I have written in the past about reading and studying, you might find it surprising that I would entitle an article “Stop Consuming Books.” I am not saying do not read, but I am saying do not consume them like a novel pastry.
I speak from experience. I now realize some of my reading of great works of philosophy has been in vain, since I can hardly summarize or argue from what I have read. What good is reading the Metaphysics if you cannot glean much useful information from it?
(As an aside, I believe many people will critique great writers of any subject based on their own lack of apprehension. It is easy to slander Plato when you do not comprehend him.)
We Need Tiers
Firstly, we need to discuss the quality of books. Some books require little concentration to fully absorb, others require tremendous focus, and others cannot be absorbed at all on first reading.
Tier 1
This is your easy reading. Modern novels read mostly for the narrative and other easy reading fit in this tier. If you feel like you are breezing your way through the book, its probably a Tier 1 book.
Furthermore, don’t moralize on what you are reading. Don’t say to yourself, “I should be reading Scripture or Plato,” when you are reading something that’s purely for enjoyment. Its okay to read David Baldacci or Stephen King novels every now and then. Sometimes we read just for fun, and that’s okay. You don’t always need your nose stuck in ancient philosophy or deep literature.
Tier 2
Not easy reading. Technical manuals, more difficult classical novels (think Tolstoy, Frankenstein and other classics), and easier philosophy and theology fit into this category. These works can be comprehended first read, but only with diligent attention.
For this tier and the next, you may want to start taking notes. I will lay out a notetaking system later.
Tier 3
Hard reading. Unless you are the next St. Thomas Aquinas, you are not going to grasp these works on the first read. Go ahead and buy them, read them, put them back on the shelf, and read again in six months or a year. Seriously, rereading makes all the difference.
What fits into this category?
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Difficult philosophy: more nuanced works of Plato like Theatetus, or Laws. Basically all of Aristotle, but most especially his Prior Analytics, Posterior Analytics, and Metaphysics. I would include the Physics but that book kills with boredom, not difficulty (you should still read parts of it). St. Thomas Aquinas, similarly to Aristotle, is difficult philosophy and theology in light of the Christian revelation. Even heathen philosophers like Nietzsche fit this bill.
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Very technical works: scientific studies and similar works.
How to Not Read in Vain
We can pass on Tier 1; seeing as it is easy reading, it does not necessitate serious study. But Tier 2 and especially Tier 3 require a change of mindset and strategy in order to conquer these books with something to show for it.
First of all, with these tiers, you are now studying not reading. You need to study on your vehicle’s service manual, not passively consume it like television. You do not read weird novels like The Picture of Dorian Gray, because the plot is great (you will be disappointed if that is what you are looking for). No, these works require slow, attentive, subvocal reading. Glossing over on the vehicle service manual, for instance, could have disastrous consequences.
Forget “speed-reading.” Study isn’t a race. Just because you read Plato’s Laws from beginning to end doesn’t mean you understand it in the slightest. You must engage in the study, and that is where a good notetaking system comes into place.
My Note System
You don’t need to follow my system, but use it as a guideline for your own. I once said that I never took notes on the books I read; that has changed.
I set my nose to the grindstone and read through the entire Catechism of the Catholic Church (first edition). About 100 paragraphs in, I realized this mammoth of a book would require a diligent, studying attitude, and a notetaking system. The CCC spoils us: every paragraph in the book is numbered, so notetaking and referencing it is the easiest thing in the world. All I did was write the paragraph number in the margin of a notebook, and then my note/comment/direct quote in the regular space.
Now I am rereading Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and my notetaking system had to adapt a little. I have a Hackett edition of the NE that spoils me: it nicely labels Books, Chapters, and even adds subsections to help you reference and organize it. I decided to start color-coding my notes to help them stay clear.
I bought one of those Bic four color pens and made a color system that I can follow. Use it as a guideline:
- Blue. Organizational. Labeling where the notes come from. Ex: Book II, Ch. 3, Paragraph 7
- Black. The body of the note. I use this one the most. I take note of anything that jumps out at me, or bolsters or defeats various arguments.
- Green. Direct quotes. If a sentence sounds really important, I’ll write it down verbatim in green.
- Red. Questions/objections/personal insights. Sometimes reading something will awaken in me an insight I had never considered. I write that down in red. Other times, a book might put forth something I still have questions about or flagrantly object to. These also get put in red.
Read Aloud
Seriously. Just like when you were first learning to read. You don’t have to do this constantly, but it helps considerably with more difficult sentences. If you don’t grasp the meaning with silent yet subvocal reading, you probably will if you read it a second time aloud.
I suppose I should define subvocal reading. By subvocal, I mean elevating your inner reading voice. Let that inner voice actually follow punctuation and let it emphasize particular words in the sentence as if you were speaking them. Make a hard stop at periods, a breath at a comma, a longer breath with a semicolon, and a list/answer at a colon. Treat the sentence as if the author were sitting across from you speaking. If you gloss over it, you are bound to miss something important.
When subvocal doesn’t cut it, read it out loud like a child.
Take a Break
Reading Tier 3 books is mentally exhausting. Don’t force yourself to read beyond your own stamina, or else you’ll be wasting your time. If your stamina is 30 minutes, then don’t push beyond that. If you spend enough time with these kind of works your stamina will grow some, but you’ll likely never sit down for hours on end reading Aquinas. And again, this is not a race; we are talking about absorbing the great works of the world; you can’t do that in a hurry. When you are tired, quit, do something else for a while especially something physical, and come back later. Your comprehension will thank you.
A Reading Sanctuary
Ideally, you should have a spot in your home or elsewhere where you can definitely read in peace. This might be your bedroom, a local library, or maybe a nice place in the woods. Tier 3 books demand your entire attention span; don’t even bother trying to read the Metaphysics while the rest of your family watches television.
Come Back and Try Again
For the hardest books, you are simply going to have to read them again. Nobody grasps the Bible on the first pass, and while Scripture is a difficult read, its not as difficult as some of the works I have mentioned so far. That is why I encourage you to buy these more cerebral books and put them on your shelf permanently. They will sit there and silently remind you that there is still more to gleaned from them. Eventually, your curiosity will be overcome, and you’ll read them again.
Do you want to know how many times I tried to read Aristotle’s Metaphysics? I tried and failed three times, giving up somewhere in the middle. On my fourth pass though, I understood all of the early parts of the book and only had to contend with the last few books within. I made it to the end, but I know I’ll have to reread it yet again at some point.
This is an area where a study version of the book could be quite helpful. Ongoing notes from someone versed in the work can be quite helpful. There’s the independent and intellectually arrogant moron in me that says, “I don’t need any help,” but the fact of the matter is we cannot be well-versed in everything. True, an “expert” could have his own agenda in his interpretations, but unless the reader is totally daft he should be able to spot ulterior motives.
An Aside for Scripture
Many people have read the Bible all the way through. Many people that have read it all the way through also don’t have a clue what they are reading or talking about. Don’t be like them. Grab the Ignatius Study Bible. With its incredible amount of detail and plain old RSV translation, it really cannot be beat at this time. That scene when Noah curses his son Ham unclear, for instance? How about that wild part in Exodus 4 when God attempts to kill Moses and Zipporah responds by performing an on-the-spot circumcision on their son? I don’t know about you, but footnotes help with ludicrous scenes like these.
I’m sure you have heard of the reddit atheist that says something like this: “I read the whole Bible when I was 12, and I thought it was ridiculous, pre-scientific mumbo-jumbo.” Besides being arrogant, no one person has full grasp of the Scriptures. The Scriptures are not even easily apprehended by the most intelligent people, much less the average person. Get a study Bible, don’t try to “interpret it for yourself” with a non-study Bible. You will fail. Consider leaning on the Church which has been studying and interpreting it for nearly 2000 years.
A Zibaldone
A zibaldone, or “heap of things,” is a sort of notebook of your personally collected knowledge. I keep one separate from my reading notebook. If you need to write down a big idea you just discovered in a book, you should probably put it in your zibaldone for future reference.
The reason is your reading notebook is going to grow huge with notes eventually, and navigating it will be cumbersome. In a zibaldone, you’ll collect the most important ideas and you can argue with yourself within it. You should categorize it as well so it will be an organized heap.
My philosophy zibaldone is organized by large categories like ethics, metaphysics, and theology.
Furthermore, use a 3-ring binder for this. You’ll want to insert pages here and there.
Why?
Why even bother with all this? Isn’t this a lot of trouble? Are these books so good that they demand serious study like you’re back in school? These questions are questions of personal value: if you don’t value these books, then this is a lot of trouble; if you do value these books, this is the bare minimum needed to actually read and comprehend them.
I implore you: do not treat serious philosophy or religion like a dime novel. You will either walk away confused or unjustifiably indignant due to lack of apprehension. Don’t waste entire years of reading as I have.