Noah Porter, 1811-1892, was born at Farmington, Conn., and graduated at
Yale in 1831. He remained in New Haven as a school-teacher, a tutor in
college, and a student in the theological department until 1836, when he
entered the ministry. In 1846 he was recalled to the college as Clark
Professor of Moral Philosophy and Metaphysics; and in 1858 he also assumed
the duties of the professorship of Systematic Theology, for a period of
seven years. Upon the retirement of President Woolsey in 1871, he was
elected to fill the office, which he held until 1886, being the eleventh
president of the college.
President Porter's greatest literary work is entitled, "The Human
Intellect: With an Introduction upon Psychology and the Human Soul." It is
remarkable for the clear thought and sound judgment it displays, as well
as for its broad scholarship; and it has been pronounced "the most
complete and exhaustive exhibition of the cognitive faculties of the human
soul to be found in our language." His other important works are: "The
Sciences of Nature versus the Science of Man," which is a review of the
doctrines of Herbert Spencer; "American Colleges and the American Public;"
and the book from which the following selection is taken, namely, "Books
and Reading." Besides these he wrote numerous essays, contributions to
periodicals, etc. During his professorship he was called upon to act as
chief editor in the important work of revising "Webster's Dictionary." The
edition of 1864 was the result of his careful oversight, and the
subsequent revisions were also under his superintendence.
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In reading, we do well to propose to ourselves definite ends and purposes.
The more distinctly we are aware of our own wants and desires in reading,
the more definite and permanent will be our acquisitions. Hence it is a
good rule to ask ourselves frequently, "Why am I reading this book, essay,
or poem? or why am I reading it at the present time rather than any
other?" It may often be a satisfying answer, that it is convenient; that
the book happens to be at hand: or that we read to pass away the time.
Such reasons are often very good, but they ought not always to satisfy us.
Yet the very habit of proposing these questions, however they may be
answered, will involve the calling of ourselves to account for our
reading, and the consideration of it in the light of wisdom and duty.
The distinct consciousness of some object at present before us, imparts a
manifoldly greater interest to the contents of any volume. It imparts to
the reader an appropriate power, a force of affinity, by which he
insensibly and unconsciously attracts to himself all that has a near or
even a remote relation to the end for which he reads. Anyone is conscious
of this who reads a story with the purpose of repeating it to an absent
friend; or an essay or a report with the design of using its facts or
arguments in a debate; or a poem with the design of reviving its imagery,
and reciting its finest passages. Indeed, one never learns to read
effectively until he learns to read in such a spirit--not always, indeed,
for a definite end, yet always with a mind attent to appropriate and
retain and turn to the uses of culture, if not to a more direct
application.
The private history of every self-educated man, from Franklin onwards,
attests that they all were uniformly not only earnest but select in their
reading, and that they selected their books with distinct reference to the
purposes for which they used them. Indeed, the reason why self-trained
men so often surpass men who are trained by others in the effectiveness
and success of their reading, is that they know for what they read and
study, and have definite aims and wishes in all their dealings with books.
The omnivorous and indiscriminate reader, who is at the same time a
listless and passive reader, however ardent is his curiosity, can never be
a reader of the most effective sort.
Another good rule is suggested by the foregoing. Always have some solid
reading in hand; i. e., some work or author which we carry forward from
one day to another, or one hour of leisure to the next, with persistence,
till we have finished whatever we have undertaken. There are many great
and successful readers who do not observe this rule, but it is a good rule
notwithstanding.
The writer once called upon one of the most extensive and persevering of
modern travelers, at an early hour of the day, to attend him upon a walk
to a distant village. It was after breakfast, and though he had but few
minutes at command, he was sitting with book in hand--a book of solid
history he was perusing day after day. He remarked: "This has been my
habit for years in all my wanderings. It is the one habit which gives
solidity to my intellectual activities and imparts tone to my life. It is
only in this way that I can overcome and counteract the tendency to the
dissipation of my powers and the distraction of my attention, as strange
persons and strange scenes present themselves from day to day."
To the rule already given--read with a definite aim--we could add the
rule--make your aims to be definite by continuously holding them rigidly
to a single book at all times, except when relaxation requires you to
cease to work, and to live for amusement and play. Always have at least
one iron in the fire, and kindle the fire at least once every day.
It is implied in the preceding that we should read upon definite subjects,
and with a certain method and proportion in the choice of our books. If we
have a single object to accomplish in our reading for the present, that
object will of necessity direct the choice of what we read, and we shall
arrange our reading with reference to this single end. This will be a
nucleus around which our reading will for the moment naturally gather and
arrange itself.
If several subjects seem to us equally important and interesting, we
should dispose of them in order, and give to each for the time our chief
and perhaps our exclusive attention. That this is wise is so obvious as
not to require illustration. "One thing at a time," is an accepted
condition for all efficient activity, whether it is employed upon things
or thoughts, upon men or books. If five or ten separate topics have equal
claim upon our interest and attention, we shall do to each the amplest
justice, if we make each in its turn the central subject of our reading.
There is little danger of weariness or monotony from the workings of such
a rule.
Most single topics admit or require a considerable variety of books, each
different from the other, and each supplementing the other. Hence it is
one of the best of practices in prosecuting a course of reading, to read
every author who can cast any light upon the subject which we have in
hand. For example, if we are reading the history of the Great Rebellion in
England, we should read, if we can, not a single author only, as
Clarendon, but a half dozen or a half score, each of whom writes from his
own point of view, supplies what another omits, or corrects what he under-
or overstates.
But, besides the formal histories of the period, there are the various
novels, the scenes and characters of which are placed in those times, such
as Scott's Woodstock; there are also diaries, such as those by Evelyn,
Pepys, and Burton; and there are memoirs, such as those of Col.
Hutchinson; while the last two have been imitated in scores of fictions.
There are poems, such as those of Andrew Marvell, Milton, and Dryden.
There are also shoals of political tracts and pamphlets, of handbills and
caricatures.
We name these various descriptions of works and classes of reading, not
because we suppose all of them are accessible to those readers who live at
a distance from large public libraries, or because we would advise
everyone who may have access to such libraries, to read all these books
and classes of books as a matter of course, but because we would
illustrate how great is the variety of books and reading matter that are
grouped around a single topic, and are embraced within a single period.
Every person must judge for himself how long a time he can bestow upon any
single subject, or how many and various are the books in respect to it
which it is wise to read; but of this everyone may be assured, that it is
far easier, far more agreeable, and far more economical of time and
energy, to concentrate the attention upon a single subject at a time than
to extend it to half a score, and that six books read in succession or
together upon a single topic, are far more interesting and profitable than
twice as many which treat of topics remotely related. A lady well known to
the writer, of the least possible scholarly pretensions or literary
notoriety, spent fifteen months of leisure, snatched by fragments from
onerous family cares and brilliant social engagements, in reading the
history of Greece as written by a great variety of authors and as
illustrated by many accessories of literature and art.
Nor should it be argued that such rules as these, or the habits which they
enjoin, are suitable for scholars only, or for people who have much
leisure for reading. It should rather be urged that those who can read the
fewest books and who have at command the scantiest time, should aim to
read with the greatest concentration and method; should occupy all of
their divided energy with single centers of interest, and husband the few
hours which they can command, in reading whatever converges to a definite,
because to a single, impression.