"Why Read? by Mark Edmundson. Bloomsbury, 2004.

This little volume, picked up recently in a bargain bin for two little coins, is a beautifully strong surprise. Author Edmundson is passionate about the punches he pulls: What happens now and in the future if our most intelligent students never learn to strive to overcome what they are? What if aspirations to genius, and to contact with genius . . . become silly, outmoded ideas? What you're likely to get are more and more two-dimensional men and women (p. 139) who will live for the easy road of money and the status quo. This is the projected life without the passion to read and think, and not just gather information that our consumer consumptive culture is creating now thanks in part as this generation is glued to the web. The recipe of this book is heavily sprinkled with poetry, but Why Read? is also history, fiction, and more. As Edmundson poignantly states You can learn history from books, or life will teach it to you more intimately (p. 118).

Edmundson's passion is clear; that a liberal education has much to offer our children. That teachers have to transfer their love of reading to their students, a literary begatting in spirit if not in books (I they don't, their disservice should be noted). To open their minds to discover who they are and not how much money they can earn. A healthy respect for the written word is at least required. Quoting another author whose introduction to literature was tentative for sure: Some of these books at first rejected me; I bored them . But as I grew older and they knew me better, they came to have more sympathy with me and to understand my hidden meanings. Their nature is such that our relationship has been very intimate (p.46, emphasis added). Whereas in today's 'show me now' culture, the usual response to the introduction of literature is boooooring (p. 47).

Big things can be gained from small packages. Big thoughts from small books. Despite it's slim 140 or so pages Why Read? is in fact a very, very big book.

My number 0840.