MEPX
Chapter 10 of 10All chapters

Chapter 10 of 10

Reading well

A practical habit.

Getting more from a book

Read difficult work slowly and reread the openings. Annotating, even lightly, turns passive reading into attention you can recover later.

  • Translations differ substantially; the translator is a co-author.
  • Abandoning a book you dislike is allowed and usually correct.

Why it lasts

Literature survives when it keeps rewarding rereading in new circumstances. That is a better test of a classic than any list.