On Reading

There is a trite truth I have come to realize over years of reading. The best books don’t just change what you think, they change how you think. The best teachers and professors don’t fill you up with knowledge, as if pouring water into some vase, but rather train you how to think fluidly and effectively, as if giving you the tools to mold yourself into an ever-changing vessel. The best books and the best teachers provide you the tools to sculpt yourself.

Our worldview is a product of our own interpretation. There is an objective reality, I contend, but it will always be passed through our subjective interpretation mechanisms; through our own lens. Insofar as books give us new mental models, not only do they help us remold ourselves, they also offer a new perspective on the world itself.

The best books I have ever read have not just given me insightful and fascinating new information (though they often do), they have helped me develop new mental models, or heuristics, for interpreting my world. As Bacon once said, “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few are to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.”