As a young man, I once stood in a swamped lecture hall to hear Peter Brown, the British historian, talk about Augustine of Hippo.
Brown, now 88, has released a memoir, Journeys of the Mind: A Life in History.
• Arguments for buying and reading book: Michael Dirda, a critic I admire, says it’s exactly the kind of book I love. I think of ethics as the search for a good life, and it’s something you do, rather than theorize about. I was impressed by Brown’s thought. I would like to know how he lived.
• Arguments against: I like small books. This one is 736 pages.
Of course I’ll break down, eventually, and get it. In the meantime, I found Brown’s lecture “A Life of Learning.” It’s 20 years old, meaning that Brown gave the lecture when he was about as old as I am now.
He said many interesting things. I’ll mention just two.
Brown pointed out the role specific places play in an individual’s learning. He mentioned reading rooms at the Bodleian Library that were conducive to thinking.
He also mentioned the companionship of learned fellows who were not necessarily academics. He used to sit across from a clergyman who came to the library to pursue his own researchers. The fellow would listen as Brown told about his own studies and would offer constructive suggestions. Brown was young then and smiled that the old fellow wore carpet slippers to the library and sometimes dozed off.
“Environment” is a vague word. I try to avoid it. But I do believe in places, and some places — and the people who visit and occupy them — can influence your thinking.
Brown’s lecture was part of a series that I admire. But this note is already long. I’ll come back to that topic tomorrow.
• Source: Peter Brown, “A Life of Learning,” Charles Homer Haskins Lecture for 2003; American Council of Learned Societies Occasional Paper, No. 55. You can find it here:
https://www.acls.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Haskins_2003_PeterBrown.pdf
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