University of Kwazulu-Natal

Why Do We Read Hard Books Rockbridge Org

Bonisiwe Shabane
-
why do we read hard books rockbridge org

In our modern era of instant information and bite-sized entertainment, reading intellectually challenging material can seem like an unnecessary burden. Why struggle through a dense classic novel, a difficult philosophical treatise, or an intricate historical account when easier, more accessible options are available? However, those who embrace the challenge of “hard books” often find their intellectual lives enriched in ways that lighter reading simply cannot provide. In the context of classical education, where the cultivation of wisdom and virtue is paramount, reading hard books is not just beneficial — it is essential. Reading a difficult text requires patience, focus, and perseverance. When a book is challenging, the reader cannot simply coast through it in a passive way.

Instead, he or she must engage actively, rereading passages, looking up words, and considering complex ideas. This process strengthens the mind much like physical exercise strengthens the body. In an age where attention spans are shrinking, the discipline developed through reading demanding works is invaluable. A student who has struggled through The Republic by Plato, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, or The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer will develop the ability to sustain deep thought. This intellectual stamina prepares individuals for rigorous study in any discipline, whether in law, medicine, theology, or philosophy. Even more importantly, it enables them to engage with the weighty questions of life with clarity and insight.

Many of the greatest works of literature, philosophy, and theology do not provide easy answers. Instead, they invite the reader into a serious intellectual and moral struggle. Consider Augustine’s Confessions, where the author wrestles with questions of sin, grace, and divine providence. Or regard Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which raises profound questions about justice, revenge, and the meaning of existence. These works challenge us not just to understand but to engage, to debate, and to form our own reasoned conclusions. By reading hard books, we learn that truth is not always simple.

Life’s most significant questions — What is justice? What is virtue? What is the good life? — are not easily answered. Grappling with these texts prepares us for the complexity of real-world ethical and philosophical dilemmas. In middle school and high school, your teachers probably encouraged you to seek out primary sources, which are original accounts of a topic, as opposed to secondary sources, which are retellings or summaries of...

However, teachers often don’t acknowledge an important fact: Primary sources are really boring and hard to read. If they’re historical texts, they’ll have different writing conventions, which makes them much harder to parse. Or, if they’re from the present but are academic, they’ll use language that is uncommon outside of their field. Reading a modern account that summarizes the topic, such as a Wikipedia article, can help you understand a concept much more quickly than you would’ve by reading primary sources. With the advent of the internet, summaries have proliferated. It used to be that if you wanted to learn something, and your professor’s curriculum wasn’t working for you, the best way to learn was to go to the library and find a book...

But now we live in a more advanced world where challenging subjects have been summarized and popularized in YouTube videos and Wikipedia articles. Learning class material via YouTube isn’t bad by itself—I’ve certainly saved many hours by watching videos by The Efficient Engineer instead of reading my textbooks—but using YouTube as your professor won’t work forever for... First, as you continue to learn from the internet, you’re bound to notice diminishing returns. For example, there must be hundreds of thousands of videos, articles and websites out there that explain how to multiply and divide fractions or factor polynomials. Once you get higher up into mathematics and have to deal with concepts such as derivatives and Laplace transforms, though, things get trickier. There’s still information out there, but it gets much harder to find resources that will explain it better than the textbook you paid an extortionate amount of money for.

Eventually, once you reach math concepts that I’m not educated enough to know the names of, you will have to accept the sad truth that not all knowledge is free and easy to find... Some of it can only be gained from an expert in the field, which is why becoming a part of an academic community is useful. But, much more often, it’ll exist in a textbook or journal, completely unsummarized. If, up to that point, you’ve been avoiding textbooks like the plague, what happens then? Second, a person who relies on summaries can be abused by them. The act of summarizing itself involves making value judgments about what parts of a text are important, and the person making that video may not even be aware of the judgments they made.

More importantly, there’s active disinformation: Someone could simply lie about what’s in the text that they’re summarizing. How would you know that they’re wrong? This risk of misinformation isn’t just unique to us college students, though. Most people get their facts and opinions not from primary sources, but from news outlets or commentators that do the research for them. Obviously, if you relied solely on primary sources at all times, you’d spend all your time doing research and never come to any conclusion. But being a responsible agent of knowledge means that when your brain tells you that something doesn’t seem right, you have to do the research the hard way.

Still, being good at reading complex works is important in other ways. Being able to parse legal documents, tax forms or contracts can help you catch important points that you otherwise would’ve missed. “Good books are over your head; they would not be good for you if they were not. And books that are over your head weary you unless you can reach up to them and pull yourself up their level.” — Mortimer Adler I’ve just finished reading The Master and His Emissary by Iain McGilchrist. It took 10x longer than expected.

What slowed me down was the numerous moments I sat back in awe at what I’d just read on the page (it’s profound—you should read it). But also the fact that it’s not an easy read. It’s certainly not something you can leisurely scan through and gain an understanding of the concepts. Thanks for reading Sam Matla! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. And tt’s been a good reminder of the value of difficult books.

There’s something you get from reading hard books that you don’t get from easy books. And that something is what I want to explore in this post. There’s value in learning to read hard books. Perhaps the best way to explain this is with a ridiculous fitness metaphor. Sidenote. Yesterday, I talked about the hedonic treadmill of reading.

I must subconsciously be trying to get ready for my summer bikini body. I love going to the gym. I’m a powerlifter, which is a fancy term for a “person who likes to lift heavy stuff.” The program is simple; consistently try to increase how much I can lift in the squat, bench... Today, I had an insightful gym session. I squatted close to 500 pounds, so it was a very heavy workout. I don’t like talking about this side of my life because it feels boastful, but there’s a point to be made which is that heavy weights act differently from light ones.

I struggle to have good form when there’s no weight on the bar. In a squat, you want that bar to go straight down and then back up in a perfect, vertical line. If you watch the lifter from the side, the end of that barbell shouldn’t zig-zag forward or backward at all. If there is movement, then the weight on your back becomes much heavier since it’s extended away from your center of gravity. Think of holding a bowling ball with your arms outstretched, rather than close to your chest. The position changes how heavy it feels.

Books, particularly novels, have many different purposes. Some may aim to transport us to a different country, world or universe. Others help us to relax at night after a particularly harrowing day or to provide an alternative perspective on life. This ‘aim’ as such, is decided by the author, and they strive to write the novel in a manner that will accomplish their aim. On more than one occasion, I have picked up a novel that tested me, it fought me on every page. Every sentence, every word, every three-page long paragraph tested my perseverance and quite often I’ve finished the novel full-heartedly believing that the author aimed to break my spirit and rob me of my love...

However, In the last year, I have uncovered a newfound respect and even perhaps a tentative love for these challenging books, and in doing so I have broadened my horizons beyond anything I ever... Therefore, I intend to convince you that it is unquestionably worth the initial pain to read these infamous novels, which are some of the most difficult novels that I have ever attempted to read. “It's been a prevalent notion. Fallen sparks. Fragments of vessels broken at the Creation. And someday, somehow, before the end, a gathering back to home.

A messenger from the Kingdom, arriving at the last moment. But I tell you there is no such message, no such home -- only the millions of last moments . . . nothing more. Our history is an aggregate of last moments.”

Gravity’s Rainbow has a reputation for being impenetrable, many have warned me that it is impossible to read and therefore I shouldn’t even try. When researching the hardest book to read, out of curiosity, I found that this novel is one of the first to pop up and, in a sense, these naysayers were right. In the first 100 pages alone you meet a talking dog, an octopus trained in combat and a man who chased said dog through the ruins of a building with a toilet bowl stuck... Large amounts of the novel are designed to be incomprehensible to the average person, you will find quantum mechanics and random formulae littering the pages. You may emerge from the wreckage at the end of the story without having a single clue what as to what it was about. To be completely frank, I don’t think Thomas Pynchon entirely understood what he was trying to say.

People Also Search

In Our Modern Era Of Instant Information And Bite-sized Entertainment,

In our modern era of instant information and bite-sized entertainment, reading intellectually challenging material can seem like an unnecessary burden. Why struggle through a dense classic novel, a difficult philosophical treatise, or an intricate historical account when easier, more accessible options are available? However, those who embrace the challenge of “hard books” often find their intelle...

Instead, He Or She Must Engage Actively, Rereading Passages, Looking

Instead, he or she must engage actively, rereading passages, looking up words, and considering complex ideas. This process strengthens the mind much like physical exercise strengthens the body. In an age where attention spans are shrinking, the discipline developed through reading demanding works is invaluable. A student who has struggled through The Republic by Plato, The Scarlet Letter by Nathan...

Many Of The Greatest Works Of Literature, Philosophy, And Theology

Many of the greatest works of literature, philosophy, and theology do not provide easy answers. Instead, they invite the reader into a serious intellectual and moral struggle. Consider Augustine’s Confessions, where the author wrestles with questions of sin, grace, and divine providence. Or regard Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which raises profound questions about justice, revenge, and the meaning of exis...

Life’s Most Significant Questions — What Is Justice? What Is

Life’s most significant questions — What is justice? What is virtue? What is the good life? — are not easily answered. Grappling with these texts prepares us for the complexity of real-world ethical and philosophical dilemmas. In middle school and high school, your teachers probably encouraged you to seek out primary sources, which are original accounts of a topic, as opposed to secondary sources,...

However, Teachers Often Don’t Acknowledge An Important Fact: Primary Sources

However, teachers often don’t acknowledge an important fact: Primary sources are really boring and hard to read. If they’re historical texts, they’ll have different writing conventions, which makes them much harder to parse. Or, if they’re from the present but are academic, they’ll use language that is uncommon outside of their field. Reading a modern account that summarizes the topic, such as a W...