In my Amazon review of John Lukacs terrific book I wrote:
If all historians wrote like Lukacs, more people would read history. Insightful and full of practical implications. I enjoyed my reread of this fine book as much as the initial time through.
So here are poignant and penetrating reflections from the author of one of my favorite books, Five Days in London: May 1940
https://www.amazon.com/Five-Days-London-May-1940/dp/0300084668
Below Ben Myers shares his different types of reading. His are different than mine, but there is some similarity. Mine roughly fit under the acrostic GROWTH:
GREATS (CLASSICS)
REVIEW (OR INTERVIEW)
OTHER (CATCHALL FOR THOSE THAT DON’T FIT IN THE OTHER CATEGORIES)
WORD (BOOKS RELATED DIRECTLY TO THE BIBLE LIKE COMMENTARIES)
TEACHING (BOOKS THAT RELATE TO SOMETHING I AM TEACHING)
HISTORY
I very much agree with this approach. I have used a similar method for many years. And yes, by all means, throw out your yellow highlighter! Get something more elegant. I like a red pencil along with a fine, black pen for marginal notes.
In the previous post I interviewed Dave Mahan on poetry. Dave mentioned a formative teacher in Peter Hawkins. Here is a short video where Hawkins talks about a number of things, but I want to draw your attention to “careful reading” and really falling in love with great texts.
My latest interview at Jesus Creed:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2017/11/11/christians-read-poetry/
From 2013 to 2016, print revenue climbed 5 percent, while e-book sales dropped 17 percent in 2016 alone. As the story put it, “Book publishers are giving an advance review of the industry’s future, and it looks a lot like the past.”
The rest is here: https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2017/10/the-persistence-of-print
Answer: Read poetry!
From Philip Yancey:
“I find that poetry helps. You can’t zoom through poetry; it forces you to slow down, think, concentrate, relish words and phrases. I now try to begin each day with a selection from George Herbert, Gerard Manley Hopkins, or R. S. Thomas.”
The rest is below (HT: Thomas Kidd’s email letter)
I came up with “Moore’s Law of Literature” about a year ago.
It is quite simple, and so far, always accurate.
Here’s how it works. I take the total number of pages a book has, so in the case of The Last Days of Socrates by Plato, we have 183. I divide this by 2 so 91.5. If the total of my marginal notes exceeds 91.5 then it is a formative book. In the case of The Last Days of Socrates I made 102 marginal notes.
Fortunately, even the modern books I’ve read this past year have all passed the test. If I went back over a lifetime of reading there would be many books that would not.
It’s no secret that reading is good for you. Just six minutes of reading is enough to reduce stress by 68%, and numerous studies have shown that reading keeps your brain functioning effectively as you age. One study even found that elderly individuals who read regularly are 2.5 times less likely to develop Alzheimer’s than their peers.
The rest is here: https://mic.com/articles/99408/science-has-great-news-for-people-who-read-actual-books#.fByIF4g1H
HT: Jesus Creed/Scot McKnight