Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-28
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES +. TRACEW ELL.

! not willing TO make this choice now,
when Is he ever going TO do 1t?
These hot days and nights offer the
best opportunity of the year for dill
gent reading. There has come into un-
thinking acceptance a belief, or what
passes for a belief. that Summer Is the
time for light reading" whatever that
term may mean. A little thought will
convince any one, we feel sure. that
exactly the opposite Is true. Summer
has always been the period when dis
corning persons made the most of read
ing owing to the general lassitude and
the heat, and to make the most of
books implies that the best of books
will be read Of course there are some
lighter works that are equally famous
and worth while, but. generally speak
ing, the really great books cannot be
termed light" by any stretch OF the
language.
Personally, We go in for philosophical
works during the dog days and know
| of many other persons with a similar
bent of mind. Thank God, the mind is
not affected by the heat. One may
think as clearly when he Is hot as when
ne is cold. The thermometer is not the
measure of the brain. The ability to
j read and enjoy so-called heavy books
is at its peak on dull Summer eve
ming, when 1t is too hot TO stir around
mucn. Somehow. the mind, as if re-
sentful of the warmth and humidity,
which exercise such an unwholesome
influence on the body seems determined
to assert It's mastery. Such book as
Spinoza's Ethics" say, is its meat.
Try this difficult old work one of
these hot evenings. or preferably after
| noonS If you are so fortunate as TO
possess an afternoon off We would
especially recommend SpmoZa to Gov
eminent workers, who as a group thor
oughly understand and enjoy great
books. Almost any one, we feel sure,
can understand more OF Spinoza than
I we can, but that makes no difference
! the enthusiasm with which he attempts
to prove moral and ethical propositions,
according TO geometrical formulate, is
| positively thrilling The reader may
not exactly agree that he succeeds, but
the way he goes after it is beautiful in
the extreme If every one went TO work
with the same determination daily that
Spinoza approaches the mathematical
proposition that goodness Is better than
badness, there Is little doubt that this
old work "A day world would be made
over in jig time.
The history of the author of the
Ethics" is no less a Summertime
study. 1t will prove an inspiration to
any worker in any line of business.
And there are scores of other works
and histories of similar bent which viii
prove the very best Summer reading of
all Try it, Instead of sitting down
with some frivolous novel of the mo-
ment. that might just as we'll have been
left unwritten, almost, since 1t viii be
forgotten tomorrow, get out solid,
heavy If you wild book upon some
thing worth while, and maybe amaze
yourself at the rapidity and real enjoy
ment with which you go through 1t.
The belief that readers are too hot for
ANYTHING but light reading in Sum-
mer is mostly bunk There is grain
of truth in 1t, of course. as there Is In
most similar propositions. There is
more travelling. and travellers buy read
ing trifies. since books are commonly
mislaid or lost or borrowed on trains
and at Summer resorts. The home
stayer. however land this includes
most of us, at any one given timel,
NAV now make the most of the DAYS
by reading up on the good books of his
inclination Approach the thing in a
light handed manner, If you will: be
as cool and collected as possible, but
DIV all means approach IT, Remember,
that a heavy book is no more heating
in the hand than the highest" one
that was ever written. A good book
is a good book In Summer, Winter,
Spring and Fall Let us paraphrase a
song OF few years ago, and sing, Last
night on the back porch, read the
best of all