Note: This is a raw riff. It’s barely edited and I’m sure grammatical and spelling errors exist. These pieces are part of my bookclub, featuring an experimental aspect. The first bit is available to everyone, then, as you’ll see, the rest is for paying members. I’m hoping to get these out weekly, but a family situation back in Boston has made that tricky.
Paid members, there is no video. That may be on hold since my phone can blow up off the hook at any time like it did the last two days.
Go down the rabbit hole.
If you pick up a work of fiction and the author connects, then buy another one of his works and read it next. In fact, buy a bunch of them and read them in a row if you’d like.
If you’re curious about a topic, say the Roman Empire, order a few books and read them. Read them in a row, but if you find yourself a bit burned out, perhaps you read a massive doorstop of a book, take a break with an easy book or two, then jump back in. Or come back to it after maybe a few books.
I’m not sure if there is already a cool name for this concept of curating books on a topic and reading them, or riding the wave of an author, fiction or nonfiction, for a few books. But it’s simple: go with an author or go with a topic for a while.
I’ll focus on looking a topic for this riff and at some point will discuss reading one author for a while.
Right now I’m reading A Patriot’s History of the United States: From Columbus’s Great Discovery to America’s Age of Entitlement, by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen, for my book club. It’s the second work I’m reading for this topic. The first was The Last King of America: The Misunderstood Reign of George III by Andrew Roberts. Mortimer Adler said that the Great Books of the Western Canon have a way of talking with each other. I’d add that other great books have a way of talking to each other. Sometimes the style changes, like how the fashions change with music. At other times, it’s ideas fleshed out and then other ideas conceptualize it further or counter it for various reasons. Regardless, one can see a discussion or an influence. And if you curate books for a topic, a conversation between each book often surfaces.
Walking it down to a less abstract level, another good reason to read a few books on a topic is that it helps you remember things better. Dates, names, battles, all that fun stuff that maybe overwhelmed you while reading the first book begins to look more familiar in the second book.
I’ve currently read the introduction and am now a few pages into chapter 4 of A Patriot’s History. Already I’m seeing it converse with The Last King of America and I’m getting more familiar with a few names, dates, and goings-on.
Andrew Roberts throws an exhaustive amount of events at you, and expands on them, but it’s naturally tricky to remember it all. As I go through A Patriot’s History I recognize events, names, and so forth. I’m gaining familiarity with America’s beginnings. Now the goal isn’t remembering everything you read, but getting familiarity on a topic is satisfying. Satisfying on a simple end of, “Hey! I recognize this.” And on the other deeper end, “Oh I remember this now, and this is why or around when it happened.” It’s fun when you feel you start to have a handle on a topic. It offers some enjoyment and it makes the topic a little easier to navigate.
On the more abstract end, I’ve spotted a place where Roberts counters a claim regarding King George III and the king’s intelligence. And, while reading The Last King I kept remarking about Britain and the king not grasping the American spirit. In A Patriot’s History the authors explicitly lay out the driver of that spirit: American Exceptionalism. Furthermore, the authors name four components of American Exceptionalism:
Christian Tradition
Common Law
Property Rights
Capitalism
Britain and King George misunderstood the Americans and what had developed in the colonies for about a hundred years. Seeing each book address certain sides adds understanding and depth.
That abstract end, where maybe it’s more philosophical or making a connection, shows stronger familiarity on topic. It shows getting nuance and perspective. Will it make you an expert on it, no. But getting that nuance, that depth, means when you come across the topic elsewhere, say a book or podcast or documentary or movie, you can converse with it better and you can cultivate convictions on it. Or perhaps one view you held, new evidence comes to light or an argument, and your position changes. Regardless, it has some depth. And maybe best of all, when you hear or read a true expert on it, you can better understand and navigate what he says or writes.
Let’s take a look at the Introduction up to chapter 4 of A Patriot’s History.