Books or Magazines

‘Welcome, Ladies and Gentlemen, real and imaginary, to the Mount Ida Union, a place where dreadfully clever characters of the mythological persuasion debate the great issues of the day, especially those that relate to self-directed education. Tonight, Euterpe, Muse of Philology, will defend the proposition This House Holds that Reading Books Does a Mind More Good than Reading Magazines. Terpsichore, Muse of Perspective, will oppose the motion.’

‘Thank you, Calliope, Muse of Good Writing, for that kind introduction.

One might argue … indeed, my esteemed opponent may soon tell us … that a book looks a lot like a very long article, or, at times, a series of articles that happen to be written by the same author. If this thesis speaks truth, then the difference between books and magazines lies chiefly in the realm of quantity.

Let us, for the sake of this discussion, to entertain that proposition. Allow me, moreover, to begin that visit by quoting the very bad man (one of the worst, Clio tells me) who famously said that quantity has a quality of its own.

So, how does this apply to reading, and, in particular, for the sort of reading that folks do, with ambition aforethought, for the sake of improving their minds?

For one thing, a book-length work gives a writer far more scope for the elaboration of his ideas. He can explain his thesis in greater depth, marshal more evidence, offer more examples, and deal, at leisure, with both doubts and exceptions. In doing this, moreover, he provides the reader with an idea that has been worked out in a multitude of dimensions, what our sister Urania might call n-space geometry.

Better yet, the link between an elaborated idea and a single, concrete object provides the reader with a handy way to store that thought in the warehouse of his mind. This, in turn, makes it easy for him to retrieve it, share it, and relate it to others of its ilk. Better yet, if he owns the book in question, the reader can use his bookshelf as a means of organizing his own thoughts, and, especially, of making a map that allows him to travel, so to speak, from one realm others.

So, to wrap up my remarks, I would like to share a tale told by our Aunt Aphrodite about the editor Extra Muros, the premier journal of self-directed learning on Planet Earth. Mr. Muros, it seems first laid eyes on the future Mrs. Muros in a book store, and has been smitten with her ever since. Now, ladies and gentlemen, mortal and mythological, can you imagine a legendary love story like that beginning at a news stand?’

‘Thank you, Euterpe. You have made a powerful case for the value of proper books. Now, to offer a different point-of-view, I call upon Terpsichore, Muse of Perspective.’