The progress., 1905-03-04
BOOKS AND SUCCESS
HABIT or MUCH SUPERFICIAL
READING LEADS TO HALF
DOING OTHER THINGS.
lmpaira Mental Power-Great Think
ers Always Thorough Readers
-Macaulay's Rule for
Concentration.
By Or. orison SWEET Marden.

Srultor success Magazine, New York;
"pEWARE of the man Of one book.
- said DR.. Johnson. Beware o
the man who knows one thing well. H,
is dangerous antagonist"
ThorOughness is the foundation O
worthy achievement in any direction
In reading it is foundation, solid con
tents, apex-eveything
A smattering of books. no matte
how extensive, will never strengthen
the intellect or enlarge the mind. TIL,
mere book faster is as ignorant of lit
erature, as unappreciative of the tru,
riches of books as the globe trotter !!
Of the countries through which hi
rushes, merely to be able to say thai
he has been in them.
Mental Dissipation.
Life may be crippled by habit o.
superficial or desultory reading. fol
such reading weakens the mind, i'm
pairs the memory, undermines the pow
ers Of application and persistence, ant
destroys that desire for completeness
for wholeness of life. which is thu
crown of character.
People who read with half a mind
who turn from one book to another
sllimming here and there, and not read
ing any thoroughly or to the close, will
soon begin to half do other things OF
leave them unfinished. The habit will
manifest itself in every phase of thelI
lives.
The temptation TO reading of this
kind is greatly increased by the enor
nous recent multiplication of ltera
ture, and is menace to depth of cul
ture, especially to dwellers in cities
Anxious to be able to say that they
have read the latest "best-selling hooks
of the month";" and desirous of being
regarded as aufait in literary matters,
many people are silly enough to try to
skim through a hundred books and
in month, without any
effort or wish to appropriate and make
their own the thoughts they contain
that is any of them that contain a
cannot be said of many of our "best
selling books"
This is the worst sort of mental dis
sipation and the most pernicious in it's
results. 1t is the kind of "multifa-
rious reading which Rev. F. w. Rob-
ertson says "weakens the mind more
than doing nothing, for it becomes a
necessity at last, like smoking, and is
an excuse for the mind to lie dormant
while thought is poured in, and runs
through clear stream. over unproduc-
tive gravel, on which not even MOSES
grow"
No superficial reader ever became an
exact or great scholar or an authority
on any subject. No matter how many
school and college diplomas you may
hold, if you are not educated, for 1t is
in reading that gives
breadth and solidity to education, as it
Is thoroughness in work that gives
strength and stability to character.
Desultory Reading Bad.
One good book thoroushly road, ai
yested and assimiIated until it becomes,
ike the iron atoms in our blood, part
Of ourselves, is worth more to a reader
han the thoughtless skimming over of
thousands of volumes.
Edward Everett Hale says that if
person will take up some subject and
study 1t thoroughly he will have a better
of il in one month than any
)ne else but a specialist. So, if you alb
;orb and make apart of your life few
great books, instead of squandering your
line and demoralizing your mental fac
llties by attempting to swallow, with
,ut digesting, every volume that comes
n your way, you will be better read
nan or woman than any but specialist
n literature.
Probably not one reader in a hundred
o-day could give an intelligent synopsis
If book he has just read. The matter
les confused heap, and underlined
lebulous mass in his mind.
Whatever is taken into the mental
without any attempt at classi-
cation or systematic arrangement.
merely induces mental dyspepsia. After
! while the mind becomes so cloeged
With unassimilated material that it is un-
lble to act with quickness or certainty
t losses confidence and elasticity. The
cry power to think actively and de.
initely is destroyed by the habit of su-
erfcial reading.
1t is to many an unpleasant task, after
eading a book or listening to sermon
t lecture, to write out an analysis of it.
Iut it is by the expercise of such pains
aking thoroughness that the Websters.
he Choates, the LincolIs, the Clays and
he Gladstones are made.
Make Notes as You Read.
Those who have gotten the most out of
ooks have not only read and re-read
hem with eager, absorbing attention,
ut have also made copious notes on the
Margins, on the fiy-leaves, between the
nes, or else in notebooks kept for the |
urpose.
OF course it is troublesome, and some |
luto lhNOhfChiNhtf " otoP iCdulH6 W |
lake notes, but it is the price famous
'riters, orators and scholars have paid !
,r their accumulated knowledge.
The libraries of many great men show
hat their books were their quarries. |
heir reservoirs of thought, their ma
,rial for future use, for they are full OF |
otes, and in some cases blank leaves |
ave been inserted for remarks, sugges-
ons and criticisms.
Much of what we admire. as unusual
alent is but an infinite capacity for TAX
g pains, and most of us, by taking
aims with our reading, as well as with
ther things, could double and treble our
over and usefulness.
Taking copious notes, reading and re-
eading, with a mind entirely free from
istracting cares or thoughts. never
aving an obscure passage until it has
scome perfectly clear, never passing
ord whose meaning or pronunciation
e do not know without consulting die
onary. and if possible. committing
)me of the finest passages to memory
lis is the only way TO read with profit.
Many will object that such method
ould take too much time. But even the
hail a. Oh