The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-11-29
The Science of Reading.
New York Commercial.

New York Commercial.
Five recognized standard works were
named by James Russell Lowell as neces-
sary to be read by any one pretending TO
literary culture. These were Homer, Shak-
speare, Dante, Cervantes and Goethe's
Faust Many suggestions have of late
years been made as to the best lone hun
dred books in the worlds literature Such
lists may serve a useful purpose as guides
to the books that, by the general consensus
of mankind, are recognized as masterpieces
and essential to all readers who wish to be-
come acquainted with the great classics OF
ancient and modern times. But the ordi-
nary reader will do well to make his own
selection, in his own way; what interests
one is not attractive to another. The whole
world of literature lies open to everybody,
either through the personal possession of
books or through libraries; and so let each
one gauge for himself, along the lines most
pleasing to him.
Works of pure literature must be studied
be read slowly, be thought about; but in
general literature the best way is to adopt
shorthand" method of reading. This is
not difficult to acquire and improves with
practice like everything else. In its high
est form 1t is the art of the reviewer, who
by even the most cursory reading often
gets at the kernel of a book. and almost
by intuition alights its merits and its
defects, and especially anything that is
original, exceptional or worthy of particu-
Ancient Mariner" had the gift in ex-
traordinary degree of being able to tear
the heart. so to speak, out of book. His
ton for literary food so perfect that he
rapidly made his own the best that was
in the book and. having assimilated that
like bee sucking the fiower-he went on
TO another: and, as result, his erudition
and master of detail were phenomenal.
1t is astonishing how much reading can
be accomplished by awaiting ones self Of
ode NOR aanfc nv in he oh nlrc %
Two hours day run into seven hundred
In the course of year. This means three
months of an eight-hour day! The differ
ence between a busy man and an idle man
or rather purposeless man-is that the
former knows and the latter knows not the
value of odd minutes The one uses them
advantageously, the other neglects them.
| The man with no object in reading, except
to pass away time, fritters his energies in
desultory reading, and with no benefit to
himself or TO others. This units him for
any reading that requires thought and men,
tai application and, instead of wisely as
Stimulating knowledge as he CLEANS 1T here
and there, his mind becomes a lumber
room in which rubbish is stored with things
of worth and with no possibility of dis
eliminating in the selection of the good
from the bad. In other words, his read
ing gives him only a mass of ill-digested
facts and data that, If properly assimi-
lated, would be of use; but, lacking this,
they only burdensome.
In almost every book there is good deal
of verbiage-or, as it is sometimes called,
padding" The experienced reader will
recognize and skip" this. He will be on
the alert only for new facts, novel deduc-
tions, original thoughts and viewpoints.
and will thus garner in a rich harvest,
without overcrowding his mind with a
mass of worthless stupble. Approaching a
book with a broad spirit of receptivity and
freeing his mind of bias and dogmatism,
he will grasp the criss-cross threads of
knowledge as they are spread before him
by the meanings of many minds. and, view
ing things with wide horizon, will get the
| best from all that he reads, and thus find
reading not WEAKNESS but a delight.