{"id":4142,"date":"1970-09-01T01:00:00","date_gmt":"1970-09-01T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/september-1970-vol-51-no-9-culture-from-reading\/"},"modified":"2022-11-28T00:51:47","modified_gmt":"2022-11-28T00:51:47","slug":"september-1970-vol-51-no-9-culture-from-reading","status":"publish","type":"rbc_letter","link":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/september-1970-vol-51-no-9-culture-from-reading\/","title":{"rendered":"September 1970 &#8211; VOL. 51, No. 9 &#8211; Culture from Reading"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"layout-column-main\">\n<p class=\"boldtext\">Every man is worth just so much as the things                     are worth about which he busies himself, and culture is the                     most important fact about human beings. It makes the difference                     between brutish behaviour and that of a wise man.<\/p>\n<p> Man shares with all animals the first two stages of animal                     development: sensation and perception. It is the third stage,                     conception, that makes him human. To sense a thing and perceive                     it is commonplace: to read, witness or hear something and                     to come up with a conception is an accomplishment that belongs                     to man alone.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing more terrible confronts western man today than that                     he should allow his essential human culture to be smothered                     under mechanical things and methods.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone values books as sources of information on every                     known subject. But the forward-looking person does not stop                     there. He sees the possibilities in books of deepening his                     culture, and of learning to use his life in such a way as                     to increase his possibility of attaining happiness and fulfilment.<\/p>\n<p>Culture was described by the late Dean Joseph French Johnson,                     founder of the Alexander Hamilton Institute, as &#8220;a by-product                     of reading, of study, and of fine associations.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Culture is not merely for people of leisure but also for                     the busiest of people. No matter how well air-conditioned                     his office may be, the business man should keep a window open                     on the world.<\/p>\n<p>Some people, of course, may feel that the cultural subjects                     are unsuitable for workers, but to hold that view is to accept                     the most ruthless of class systems. It asserts that the majority                     of people are incapable of studies which will give them an                     intelligent idea of the universe and the greatness of the                     human spirit. In short, people who reject culture deprive                     themselves of knowledge of what life holds and of what they                     are capable of becoming.<\/p>\n<p>Self-culture requires intercourse with superior minds. A                     man who is never brought into contact with minds more advanced                     than his own will probably run the same dull round of thought                     and action to the end of his days.<\/p>\n<p>In books are to be found the ideas, beliefs, deeds, visions                     and passions of men of all human history laid out for the                     calm consideration of studious and reflective persons.<\/p>\n<h3>The time to start<\/h3>\n<p>When a person passes into his thirties he is entering upon                     a momentous period of experience. Life has hitherto been fettered                     by personal and emotional relationships, the normal passion                     and pressure of youth. But now there is a new play opening.                     He can set apart some time in which to observe life, to think                     about things, to discover something about other people and                     the truth about himself. Life becomes significant. He sees                     it as a whole.<\/p>\n<p>What is it that compensates for the loss of youth&#8217;s freedom                     and emancipates you from the limitations and constricted views                     of childhood and makes you fit to develop status and wisdom?                     Learning. You have an opportunity to break out of the net                     in which events and aimlessness have enmeshed you, and delight                     yourself in self-renewal. You will experience the thrill of                     learning something, of obtaining a wider view, and of understanding                     happenings and trends. That is culture.<\/p>\n<p>Achievement does not necessarily mean some kind of intense                     and vivid ecstasy. It is awareness of being fully alive. It                     is finding the answers to significant questions. The child                     asks &#8220;Where did I come from?&#8221; The youth asks &#8220;What shall I                     do?&#8221; Maturity asks &#8220;What shall I become?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In his book <em>The Outsider<\/em>, Colin Wilson, a young                     man of 24, puts a question so bluntly as to shock us into                     awareness that it must be answered: &#8220;How must I live my life                     so as not to have to consider myself a failure?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Attaining culture does not mean solving the great, burning                     questions of society and politics which seem to bear with                     them the bigoted alternatives &#8220;either &#8211; or&#8221; excluding                     all other shapes and shades of opinion and belief. It does                     help you to view them as from a distance so that you see the                     middle as well as the extremes.<\/p>\n<h3>What is culture&nbsp;?<\/h3>\n<p>Because of the many shades of meaning given the word &#8220;culture&#8221;                     it is as well to determine what sort of culture is being discussed                     in this <em>Letter<\/em>. Culture is not a dress or a suit                     you buy off the rack. It is made to measure. Culture is not                     manifested in a fastidious and patrician search for strange                     refinement, or the jealous cultivation of a rank or caste                     as something making us different from common men. It is not                     merely behaviour, but is also a set of thoughts and beliefs,                     a builder of anticipations and expectations.<\/p>\n<p>Culture is that intelligence and sensibility which distinguish                     civility from barbarism. As a great 19th century essayist                     and scientist, T. H. Huxley, said: &#8220;Perfect culture should                     supply a complete theory of life, based upon a clear knowledge                     alike of its possibilities and of its limitations.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The culture that can be acquired by mature people through                     reading is an habitual way of thinking, feeling and acting,                     chosen out of an infinite number and variety of potential                     ways of living, so as to be happy, progressive and productive.                     It means being able to discriminate the qualities of thoughts                     and events, not merely their quantity.<\/p>\n<p>Such culture is the fruit of a balanced development. One                     man may feel too much, another may think too much, a third                     may act too much. Feeling is like mercury: in skilful hands                     it is one of the most powerful and excellent elements in the                     world, but in unskilful hands it can be the most mischievous.                     Thinking, too, is to be governed so that it does not dominate                     life. Clear thinking is needed by anyone who seeks to be successful,                     but thinking alone achieves nothing. Willing and acting are                     the evidences of vitality as opposed to stagnation. Reading                     widely will provide the essential base of a balanced life                     in which feeling enlivens interest, thinking provides direction,                     and action completes the synthesis which is culture.<\/p>\n<p>A person&#8217;s culture is satisfactory to him if it is evolved                     within himself by directed effort leading to a desired harmony                     with life.<\/p>\n<p>Countless people besides Willie Loman (in <em>Death of a                     Salesman<\/em>) feel that they no longer exist as individuals.                     Through reading directed toward culture they can become self-renewing                     men, touching life at many points, enlarging themselves into                     the full measure of humanity, and attaining some magnificence                     of mind.<\/p>\n<p>When a person reads thoughtfully, he is by some degree more                     than he was before. One or two happy finds, one or two heroic                     examples, one or two flashes of insight, one or two instances                     of inspiration to new thought: these experiences in reading                     will take a man out of the crowd and make him an individual.<\/p>\n<p>It is not necessary to read all books: to contemplate that                     task would dishearten anyone. It is not necessary to read                     all of any book ravenously. A man who was Lord Chancellor                     of England in 1618 wrote: &#8220;Some books are to be tasted, others                     to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It is not necessary to read a book at one sitting: you can                     read two acts of <em>Hamlet <\/em>or twenty pages of Churchill&#8217;s                     <em>A History of the English-Speaking Peoples <\/em>on the                     morning or evening train or bus.<\/p>\n<h3>Reading for knowledge<\/h3>\n<p>Reading for culture has many roles to play in enabling people                     to cope with life. It is a way of preparing to do one&#8217;s job.                     More vitally, it provides the material upon which to base                     sensible decisions. When people around you say of something                     you have done &#8220;What luck!&#8221; you know that what you did was                     made possible by your good judgment based upon the wealth                     of knowledge stored in your mind.<\/p>\n<p>To know more about anything means being better able to distinguish                     the better from the worse, and this is the basis of all reasoning.                     &#8220;I am what I know,&#8221; said Alan W. Watts in <em>The Wisdom of                     Insecurity<\/em>. This does not mean merely knowing for the                     sake of being able to answer questions, but knowing for the                     sheer pleasure of knowing.<\/p>\n<p>Few of us are so hardy as to be able to digest all the fruits                     of the tree of knowledge, but we can taste and appreciate                     many sorts. The British Museum, the single most important                     library in the world, the richest repository of Eastern and                     Western culture on the planet, is constantly besieged by seekers                     after knowledge. It wrote asking scholars at 162 leading world                     universities to stay away this summer, because the reading                     rooms are swamped, and the staff of 400 cannot cope.<\/p>\n<p>How fortunate is the family that is building its own private                     library! Every home should have a place filled with books,                     whether it be a small bookcase or a shelf-lined wall. Edmund                     Waller, who knew of his own experience what he was saying                     &#8211; he was a politician, a poet and a revolutionary in                     the days of Cromwell ( wrote: &#8220;In my study I am sure to converse                     with none but wise men; but abroad it is impossible for me                     to avoid the society of fools.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>When you have a small collection of books, and sit down                     beside them, you are in noble company. You can turn to them                     for comfort, amusement and illumination. They speak to you,                     or answer when you ask questions.<\/p>\n<p>Your widening interests will create ever new demands to                     be met out of bookstands, bookstores, and second-hand stores.                     Before long you will be assured of having always at hand a                     book that fits your humour or your need.<\/p>\n<h3>What sort of books&nbsp;?<\/h3>\n<p>A bookman will have nothing to do with books that are fancied                     up on the outside for purposes of interior decoration of a                     room. What is important is what is inside the books.<\/p>\n<p>Make sure that the author has done his homework; that he                     has researched his subject. Skim through the pages of the                     book before buying it: does the author&#8217;s<\/p>\n<p>manner give you confidence, does he show that he has walked                     around the subject so as to see its &#8220;cons&#8221; as well as its                     &#8220;pros&#8221;? Some modern authors fit the description of Hugh Kelly                     by Dr. Samuel Johnson: a man who has written more than he                     has read.<\/p>\n<p>Consider the circumstances under which the book was written.                     <em>The Prince<\/em>, which has given rise to use of the name                     of its writer as a synonym for cunning and crafty action,                     was written by Machiavelli for the sole purpose of enlisting                     a strong man to rescue the Italian people from foreign aggression                     and political corruption. Machiavelli wrote in a letter that                     he spent four hours a day in his library, the &#8220;ancient courts                     of the men of old&#8221;, where, being lovingly received, he did                     not hesitate to speak with the authors and to ask the reasons                     of their actions. He added: &#8220;I have noted down what I have                     gained from their conversation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Books have been written by men and women who believed that                     they had something of value to pass along as the result of                     their experiences in life. They should not be ignored in the                     building of a home library, because they present techniques                     which have been found by someone at some time to be successful                     in meeting situations and solving problems that are in essence                     very like our own.<\/p>\n<p>As a sampling, consider these: Samuel Smiles wrote <em>Self-help                     <\/em>in 1859, and it is still readable; <em>Acres of Diamonds<\/em>,                     a lecture by Dr. Russell H. Conwell, founder of Temple University,                     first given in 1870, was repeated more than 6,000 times to                     millions of people, made into a book (John C. Winston Company                     printed a <em>de luxe <\/em>edition in 1959) and put on a record                     produced by the Success Motivation Institute, Inc. in 1962;                     as recently as 1965 there was published a book called <em>Here&#8217;s                     How by Who&#8217;s Who<\/em>, in which Jesse Grover Bell collected                     56 inspirational messages from men prominent in business,                     education, politics and the church.<\/p>\n<p>It would be ridiculous to suppose that one can take any                     of these writers and apply his lessons indiscriminately to                     the circumstances of every individual in business and society                     today. But the alert and intelligent reader will glean from                     them thoughts and principles to help him in drawing up his                     own plans.<\/p>\n<p>Books of collected essays provide stimulating reading. You                     may pick up a volume and read one essay, complete in itself,                     in fifteen or twenty minutes. The essayist does not attempt                     completeness, but touches upon various aspects of his topic                     as they have appealed to his mind. If he succeeds in rousing                     an interest which stimulates the reader to seek more information;                     if he provides a sentence which helps a reader to solve a                     problem or surmount a difficulty, then he has succeeded in                     what he set out to do.<\/p>\n<p>Some books of essays, like Carlyle&#8217;s <em>Sartor Resartus                     <\/em>and Ruskin&#8217;s <em>Sesame and Lilies<\/em>, may appear obscure                     or too scholarly, but they repay in depth and quantity of                     usable philosophy anyone who wishes to give them attention.                     Their refined and cultured use of language makes them enjoyable                     to read.<\/p>\n<h3>Judging books and authors<\/h3>\n<p>Do not judge all books by the same standard. Books are like                     horses entered in entirely different races. Get them in the                     right stables so that you do not chastise a perfectly sound                     trotter for not galloping with the style of a Queen&#8217;s Plate                     winner. Survey the table of contents or the chapter headings                     to make sure that you are at the right track.<\/p>\n<p>Authors are to be judged by what they write, not by their                     personal idiosyncrasies. Balzac had his seemingly frantic                     methods, justified by, for example, the superb crescendo of                     <em>Le P\u00e8re Goriot<\/em>. He spent days and nights in                     concentrated effort in a darkened room, drinking coffee incessantly.                     G. B. Shaw had a retired spot at the end of a garden path.                     It was a microscopic room, crammed with books, a desk and                     a heavy fur covering for his feet. Stephen Leacock liked to                     do his writing in a little loft over the boats in his boat-house.<\/p>\n<p>The important thing about a writer is not his personal appearance                     or his habits, but that he is a good writer. Few authors are                     equal to their books. All the best products of their mental                     activity go into their writing where their thoughts arrive                     after being filtered and separated from the mass of inferior                     products with which they are mingled in daily life. It is                     unfair to expect that the man who compiles a concordance of                     a poet shall be lyrical or that a war historian shall be a                     great general.<\/p>\n<h3>Best books<\/h3>\n<p>Every reader will compile his own list of books, choosing                     for himself those that are &#8220;best&#8221; or &#8220;great&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>As a general guide, consider what Theodore Roosevelt wrote:                     the great books are those &#8220;that the general agreement of cultivated                     and sound-thinking persons has placed among the classics.&#8221;                     A great book is not one that calls forth your admiration but                     one that rouses your mind and your spirits and gives you inspiration.<\/p>\n<p>In 1887 Sir John Lubbock, who was head of the banking house                     of Robarts, Lubbock &amp; Co., a member of parliament, and a pioneer                     in the study of the life histories of insects, wrote an interesting                     little book called <em>The Pleasures of Life <\/em>in which                     he listed &#8220;100 Best Books.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Will Durant, a United States educationalist and lecturer,                     author of <em>The Story of Philosophy <\/em>and many other                     widely read books, made a list of &#8220;One Hundred Best Books                     for an Education.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It is interesting to note the 35 books which appeared on                     both lists, 45 years apart. The authors are: Aeschylus, Aristotle,                     Bacon, Boswell, Byron, Chaucer, Cervantes, Carlyle, Dante,                     Dickens, Darwin, Emerson, Euripides, Gibbon, Goethe, Herodotus,                     Homer, Milton, Marcus Aurelius, Montaigne, Moli\u00e8re,                     Plutarch, Plato, Sophocles, Shakespeare, Spinoza, Swift, Adam                     Smith, Thucydides, Thackeray, Virgil, and Voltaire.<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Bible <\/em>is, of course, listed by both Lubbock                     and Durant.<\/p>\n<p>It is possible to be made fearful of tackling a book because                     of its title or its subject. Take metaphysics as an example.                     The word means &#8220;after physics&#8221; &#8211; a subject incapable                     of being dealt with by physical science. Alfred North Whitehead,                     mathematician and philosopher, wrote in <em>Adventures of                     Ideas<\/em>: &#8220;Apart from metaphysical presupposition there                     can be no civilization.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Metaphysics has no terror when you realize that its three                     aspects of &#8220;being&#8221; are: the True, the Beautiful and the Good.                     In a mechanized world we need more than ever something to                     believe in, and even though there remains a mystery about                     the heart of things we can make some part of life intelligible.                     You will find many a book illuminating depths within you that                     you were not conscious of.<\/p>\n<h3>A reading plan<\/h3>\n<p>There are so many things in which it is desirable to be                     interested that you may be puzzled about where to start.<\/p>\n<p>You may begin reading anywhere, like sailing out on exploration                     from a point midway in space, but from there on it is useful                     to navigate so as to touch at the right ports or planets.<\/p>\n<p>No one can prescribe a course of reading for another. You                     cannot tell what a given book may be worth to a given man                     in an unknown mood at a certain time. But any plan of reading                     for culture should have these two imperatives: read to get                     wide views, and avoid becoming a one-author or one-topic reader.                     Princess Victoria wrote to the King of the Belgians: &#8220;I like                     reading different authors, of different opinions, by which                     means I learn not to lean on one particular side.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Here is a plan of cultural reading devised by a 35year-old                     man who had no formal education beyond public school. He wished                     to get an over-all view of life, the sort that is at the command                     of a university scholar. But what plan could be of service                     to a man who had no curriculum and whose only reading time                     was on the bus, at the lunch table, and in evenings at home?                     The Dewey Decimal Classification, which is used by most libraries                     in Canada to shelve books so that they can be readily found,                     offered him a system.<\/p>\n<p>This arrangement divides all knowledge into ten classes:                     (0) General Works, such as encyclopedias and collected essays;                     (1) Philosophy, which includes psychology, metaphysics, logic                     and ethics; (2) Religion, covering doctrines, history, and                     the sacred writings of all faiths; (3) Social Sciences, made                     up of politics, economics, law, welfare, education and commerce;                     (4) Philology, with a division for every language; (5) Pure                     Science, with a wide scope including mathematics, astronomy,                     physics, chemistry, biology, botany, and zoology; (6) Applied                     Science, which has within its field medicine, engineering,                     agriculture, business, and the mechanic trades; (7) Arts and                     Recreation, covering landscape and civic art, architecture,                     sculpture, painting and music; (8) Literature, divided by                     national boundaries; (9) History, including geography, travel,                     biography, ancient, modern and world history.<\/p>\n<p>The plan is to read consecutively a book in each class,                     so that having passed through the list once the reader has                     a conspectus, or comprehensive survey, of all the field of                     knowledge and belief. This becomes widened and deepened by                     every succeeding passage through the list.<\/p>\n<p>To keep no track of what one learns from reading is as wasteful                     as to till and seed one&#8217;s land with great effort and make                     no plans for reaping the harvest. It is necessary to develop                     a paper memory, to make notes in margins, and to jot down                     points, phrases and passages. Making notes on small cards                     has the big advantage that you are putting the thoughts of                     writers and your own thoughts into a file where you can get                     at them readily.<\/p>\n<h3>On reaching excellence<\/h3>\n<p>Culture can be attained by the acquisition of appropriate                     knowledge, but this requires appropriate application. John                     Ruskin, who had preached with golden words the theory that                     art had something to do with daily life, was accepted as the                     authority in all questions concerning culture. But the people                     were confused when he linked culture with work.<\/p>\n<p>The reader must not sit back and expect the writer to do                     all of the work. To read with enjoyment and profit makes necessary                     the reader&#8217;s use of his powers of concentration, sensibility                     and sympathy.<\/p>\n<p>Archdeacon Hare, a nineteenth century author, remarked:                     &#8220;Every writer is entitled to demand a certain amount of knowledge                     in those for whom he writes, and a certain degree of dexterity                     in using the implements of thought.&#8221; And Sir Arthur QuillerCouch,                     professor of English Literature at Cambridge, approved this                     thought: if a person would really master the ninth book of                     Milton&#8217;s <em>Paradise Lost <\/em>(the story of the temptation                     and fall of man) so as to rise to the height of its great                     argument and incorporate all its beauties in himself, he would                     at one blow, by virtue of that alone, become a highly cultivated                     man.<\/p>\n<p>Reading makes a person complete. It helps him to become                     all that he can become. It provides a step toward excellence.                     It gives him delight in his search for culture.<\/p>\n<p>Why should we be content to live in a workaday world, bare                     of the charm of good language, fine thoughts, and any meaning                     beyond that of immediate needs and their fulfilment by mechanic                     aids? The world of books is one where a man&#8217;s mind is free                     to expand along lines he himself decides.<\/p>\n<p>Who knows? You may be one of the fortunate readers who strike                     profound spiritual depths, reach the real poetry of things,                     and touch the fringe of an ultimate and fundamental reality.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[1],"rbc_letter_theme":[],"rbc_letter_year":[50],"class_list":["post-4142","rbc_letter","type-rbc_letter","status-publish","hentry","category-uncategorized","rbc_letter_year-50"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.7 (Yoast SEO v26.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>September 1970 - VOL. 51, No. 9 - Culture from Reading - RBC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/september-1970-vol-51-no-9-culture-from-reading\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"September 1970 - VOL. 51, No. 9 - Culture from Reading - RBC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every man is worth just so much as the things are worth about which he busies himself, and culture is the most important fact about human beings. 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It makes the difference between brutish behaviour and that of a wise man. Man shares with all animals the first two stages of animal development: sensation and perception. 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