Reading - Quotes
Learning is rooted in repetition [...], meaning that the reading of a single text twice is more profitable than reading two different things once, provided of course that said text has some depth of content.
Our present swarms with traces of our past. We are histories of ourselves, narratives. I am not this momentary mass of flesh reclined on the sofa typing the letter a on my laptop; I am my thoughts full of the traces of the phrases that I am writing; I am my mother`s caresses, and the serene kindness with which my father calmly guided me; I am my adolescent travels; I am what my reading has deposited in layers in my mind; I am my loves, my moments of despair, my friendships, what I`ve written, what I`ve heard; the faces engraved on my memory. I am, above all, the one who a minute ago made a cup of tea for himself. The one who a moment ago typed the word "memory" into his computer. The one who just composed the sentence that I am now completing. If all this disappeared, would I still exist? I am this long, ongoing novel. My life consists of it.
It is always the case, with mathematics, that a little direct experience of thinking over things on your own can provide a much deeper understanding than merely reading about them.
I hope no one reading this book thinks that "The exception proves the rule" means that if you have an exception, it means the rule is true. That`s just bugnutty. I had it explained to me as "The exception tests the rule." Also not true. The exception does not test the rule - it disproves the rule.
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.
When you`re reading or skimming argumentative essays, especially by philosophers, here is a quick trick that may save you much time and effort, especially in this age of simple searching by computer: look for "surely" in the document, and check each occurrence. Not always, not even most of the time, but often the word "surely" is as good as a blinking light locating a weak point in the argument.
If you`re not reading - with your heart as well as your brain - you will be one stupid grown-up. Even worse, you`ll be missing out on one of the best experiences you can possibly have. Nowhere will you meet more interesting people than in books. I`ve met a lot of people, I`ve read a lot of books, and that`s the absolute truth.
You see, one of the best things about reading is that you`ll always have something to think about when you`re not reading.