Are You “Well-Read” in This Sense?

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1:25This is what it means to be well-read. Have you noticed in Marcus Aurelius' meditations that he quotes other writers dozens and dozens of times without explicitly stating who he is quoting? Presumably, considering he wrote most of Meditations in a tent on the battlefield, he didn't have his copies beside him when he was quoting Socrates or Epictetus or Homer or Plato. No, he was transcribing these quotes straight from memory. And this capacity for recall is indicative of the ancients' approach to reading. The philosopher Mortimer Adler talked about how the phrase well-read has gotten somewhat distorted in recent history.

2:08We hear someone being described as well-read, and we think it's characteristic of someone who has read widely, who has read lots and lots and lots of books. But the ancients would have used that phrase well-read to refer to someone who has read deeply, someone who has devoured a few books in their entirety. someone who is not just devoured, but understands important books. A person who has read widely, Mortimer says of the modern reader, but not well, deserves to be pitied rather than praised. And the early 17th century philosopher Thomas Hobbes joked similarly, if I read as many books as most do, I would be as dull-witted as they are.

2:50So paradoxically, great minds, the idea is that it's not about quantity. It's about quality. It's about actually understanding what you're reading. It's not about knowing a bunch of facts. It's not about having a massive reservoir of information. It's about developing a mind you can use, not at dinner parties and trivia nights, but in the real world. And that's why, as we talked about recently, reading and rereading a select few works of a select few authors is so powerful. The insights that come from their minds gradually get permanently implanted into ours. And now it doesn't matter if you're a philosopher or an entrepreneur, a teacher or a football coach.

3:34The goal of reading should be the same, to cultivate wisdom, a mind that helps you get better at what you do. So as Marcus would say, don't be satisfied with just getting the gist of something. Read attentively, he said. Read deeply. Read repeatedly. Aim for quality, not quantity. And as we told you earlier this week, the e-book of the Daily Stoic, 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living is$2.99 on Amazon right now. That's the cheapest that it will ever be. We do this the first of the year because we want to bring people in. You can check it out on Amazon or wherever you get your e-books.

4:13And if you do prefer the physical version, which is, of course, what I prefer, we have signed copies of The Daily Stoic at store.dailystoic.com. And we have a premium edition, a leather edition that should really stand the test of time. We make it in limited quantities. It's not a mass-produced thing. It's a handcrafted premium leather-bound edition. You can check that out as well at dailystoic.com slash leather.

4:48Transcription by CastingWords