The American Scholar

Emerson feels sketchy about reading. But only because reading is abused. Or, more accurately, because thought has been abandoned by so many readers. He says that "books are the best of things, well used; abused, among the worst" (printed, p. 4 of 12). Though I think that there are worse things in life than misread books (it is the failure to think, not the general misreading of books, that I believe Emerson means), I agree with Emerson in that knowledge means almost nothing without the ability to analyze. Unless you know the right questions to ask, the answers will have little meaning.

This reminds me of one of my favorite books, Waterland, by Graham Swift. Unfortunately I don't have the book with me, so I will have to wing this quote, since Google served me poorly. ~"Children, be curious. Nothing is worse, that I know, than when curiosity stops. Curiosity weds us to the world."~ In the story, the narrator's wife, Mary, grows up an ever curious girl until infertility causes her curiosity to die (she also goes crazy). The narrator implores his audience--both the readers and the classroom he is teaching--to never stop asking questions, and that it is in the questions, the mystery, and the unquenchable thirst for such, that life has meaning.

Emerson might strike many as overly romantic, but I don't think he ever implies that reading itself is a bad thing (if he says that he is usually referring to reading without thinking). And our system of education is so developed now, probably much different from what his was--all my classes ask for responses from the individual, from personal engagement, and not for a formula-essay. So. Generally, I'm cool with Emerson.