Why I Read Old Books

Graphic from http://www.djedwardson.com/quote-old-books-new/

I don’t completely follow Lewis philosophy. I probably read one old book to every 5 or perhaps 10 modern books. But I still try to punctuate my modern reading with selections from the past.

A few summers ago, I stumbled on the Well Trained Mind reading list that I’m slowly working through. I'm finished with the novels (except for 1,000 Days of Solitude, which I'm still working myself up to). I’m currently on Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography in the Biography list and plan to read Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl next. I don’t read every book, because there are a few I couldn’t get through or have already read. I particularly like this reading list, because its selections are not just your typical classics.

But why even bother? Aren’t Moby Dick and War and Peace just a waste of time?

Here are a few reasons I’ve tackled those books and others.

1.  It’s a challenge. I can’t say that I loved every minute of Moby Dick, especially the chapters on whale biology and the whaling industry. Old Books require more concentration than modern books, because you don’t get as “caught up in the story.” But finishing an old book feels like completing a marathon--its own reward.

War and Peace is not on the Well Educated Mind list--but it's one of my favorite old books that gets a bad rap.

2.  I form my own judgments. It’s interesting when you look at this list, what you think you know about these books. A lot of these books have been banned for various reasons. But if you read the book yourself, you get to decide if this book is as dangerous or boring as everyone says it is.

3. People haven’t changed.  This particular struck me when reading Augustine’s Confessions, maybe because it was so focused on his thoughts. It was hard to believe this man was writing in the 300s. Except for some differences in cultural mores, his thoughts were not that different from a person of our day.

4.  It keeps me humble. If you read the whole of C.S. Lewis’ quote, you find this is the reason he advocates for old books. We all have blind spots, and the problem with reading only contemporary writers is they have the similar blind spots as your own. If you read from the past, you will definitely find many errors in their thinking, but that helps me remember that I probably have errors in my thinking too.

5. Reading old books is participating in a long, ongoing conversation. Lewis talks about reading modern books as entering into a conversation at eleven o'clock that’s been going since eight o'clock. Every time I read an old book, I am acutely aware of what a privilege it is. If I had lived at the time of many of these books were written, I wouldn’t have been able to read them, considering that a classical education was rare for women. By reading old books I am giving myself the education I never had—and getting to listen and converse with intelligent thinkers throughout the ages. I can’t see how that doesn’t inform the conversation I am building through my own books and stories.

“Those who can’t remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana

Do you ever read old books? Have they changed your outlook on modern books?