By reading well. Nothing too complicated about that. As with many good habits, the challenge is not that performing the habit is too hard, but that it is not easy enough. That is, we don’t like to exert ourselves. As with exercise, though, we know exertion reaps benefits that couch potatoes know not of. We could do it if we would do it. Here are four suggestions on how to whip that mind into shape.
1. Read good books. This could be three suggestions. First, read. I’ll agree that audio books knock the stuffing out of no books, but reading is better still. Fewer distractions for starters.
Second, good. There are many books that are fun, easy and not terribly helpful. There are many books that are boring, hard and terribly useful. But there are actually a fair number of books that are fun, easy and terribly useful. Read these. There aren’t enough hours in a life to slog through brilliant minds attached to dusty writers. Here’s a lightning quick list right off the top of my head of those who are both profitable and a joy to read- CS Lewis, GK Chesterton, RC Sproul, JRR Tolkien, PG Wodehouse. And that’s just from the initials section of the library.
Third, books. It’s all well and good to read journals, blog pieces. But books are better. As one great writer once told me, “Son, articles can change your day. Books can change your life.”
2. Read widely, in theme and time. Which brings us back to “good.” I’ve read wonderful books about climbing Mount Everest, the University of Washinton rowing team, Area 51, America’s first serial killer and the rise of the twelve tone scale in music. Not because I knew anything going in. Not because I hungered for more knowledge on these things. But because the writers could write like really great writers.
CS Lewis’ essay, “On the Reading of Old Books” which is found in his collection of essays, God in the Dock, and as the introduction to Athanasius’ On the Incarnation makes an excellent case for escaping the water we swim in by visiting the waters of other eras. Reading beyond our contemporaries exposes the blind spots of our own age.
3. Read fiction. I read my fair share from the fun, easy and not terribly useful pile. These are mostly disposable who-done-its, some cozy and some creepy. But there are plenty of fine fiction writers that contribute to shaping the mind. The aforementioned Wodehouse is the absolute master of the rhythm of writing. And reading him feels like summer vacation. Literary classics tend to be high in both value and ease of reading. Give Hawthorne a try, Anthony Burgess, John Updike. Many of the prep-school classics fit in here. The Old Man and the Sea, Lord of the Flies, Brave New World, The Count of Monte Christo, A Tale of Two Cities.
4. Take your time. This isn’t a crash diet, but a change in lifestyle. Develop the habit. Going somewhere you know you’ll be waiting? Bring a book. Having trouble sleeping? Pick up a book. Is it raining when you planned to mow the lawn? Pick up a book. Remember that the goal is not to stoically take up another duty but to learn to enjoy.
I’d love to hear in the comments books/authors or themes you’d suggest.