Becoming a reader with a method

 Yesterday’s note was about the Committee on College Reading’s recommendations, which I picked up as a guide to my own reading almost 50 years ago.

It struck me how simple and straightforward the committee’s recommendations are for becoming a methodical reader. By the time my edition of Good Reading was published, the pamphlet had grown to a paperback with about 2,000 recommended books.

J. Sherwood Weber, the editor recommended this:

• Look over a section or two that interest you — I started with ancient Greece, philosophy and biological sciences — and put a checkmark by the books you’d like to read.

• Convert the checks into Xs as you finish a book.

• Set a goal. Weber recommended a book a week, although he said a well-read person would read more. This would be in addition to the required reading in college. (Bless him, he said this also would be in addition to a daily newspaper and several periodicals. I will never quite get over coming out of a building at a medical school in the company of a scientist whose research was widely recognize and hearing her ask, “Is there an election today?” Her work was and is important, but so is the beloved democracy.)

Basically, start with your interests. At some point, you will realize that you don’t know much about another field, and that ignorance will bother you. As a reader, you know what to do.