"What's the point of having countless books and libraries, whose titles could barely be read through in a lifetime? The learner is not taught, but burdened by the sheer volume, and it's better to plant the seeds of a few authors than to be scattered about by many."
~ Seneca, On Tranquility of Mind, 9.4
Ouch! This one hits home personally. Ryan Holliday's notes for this one also include the painful admonition, "You'll never come close to matching what's stored in the servers at Google Books or keep up with the hundreds of thousands of new titles published on Amazon each year." Yeah, thanks Mr. Holliday - but some of us can try! Seriously, though, I suppose the point is well-taken that one ought not to overwhelm a beginning learner in any subject, though I personally like to have as much reading available to me on any topic in which I take an interest.
No comments:
Post a Comment