- Nov 2024
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boffosocko.com boffosocko.com
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Conkin admonished students that for every hour they spend reading, they should spend an hour in reflection.
Paul Conkin 1929-2022 no wikipedia page, US historian suggested to graduate students to spend an hour reflecting for every hour read. Anecdotal quote from David Blight lecture (link to vid in post). There is a point here, wrt to keeping one's own pace and intent behind attention. [[Attention literacy and the value of slow learning 20211209063437]] [[Stuur aandacht met intentie 20220213080032]]
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www.zotero.org www.zotero.org
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billyoppenheimer.com billyoppenheimer.com
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“There is then creative reading as well as creative writing,” Emerson said. “The discerning will read…only the authentic utterances of the oracle—all the rest he rejects.”
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Emerson is, “I cannot remember the books I’ve read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.”
source?
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Emerson liked to identify four classes of readers: the hourglass, the sponge, the jelly-bag, and the Golconda. The hourglass takes nothing in. The sponge holds on to nothing but a little dirt and sediment. The jelly-bag doesn’t recognize good stuff, but holds on to worthless stuff. And the Golconda (a rich mine) keeps only the pure gems.
Where is the origin of this reading analogy?
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- Oct 2024
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www.reddit.com www.reddit.com
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Is "Scoping the subject" a counter-Zettelkasten approach?
Sounds like you're doing what Mortimer J. Adler and Charles van Doren would call "inspectional reading" and outlining the space of your topic. This is both fine and expected. You have to start somewhere. You're scaffolding some basic information in a new space and that's worthwhile. You're learning the basics.
Eventually you may come back and do a more analytical read and/or cross reference your first sources with other sources in a syntopical read. It's at these later two levels of reading where doing zettelkasten work is much more profitable, particularly for discerning differences, creating new insights, and expanding knowledge.
If you want to think of it this way, what would a kindergartner's zettelkasten contain? a high school senior? a Ph.D. researcher? 30 year seasoned academic researcher? Are the levels of knowledge all the same? Is the kindergartner material really useful to the high school senior? Probably not at all, it's very basic. As a result, putting in hundreds of atomic notes as you're scaffolding your early learning can be counter-productive. Read some things, highlight them, annotate them. You'll have lots of fleeting notes, but most of them will seem stupidly basic after a month or two. What you really want as main notes are the truly interesting advanced stuff. When you're entering a new area, certainly index ideas, but don't stress about capturing absolutely everything until you have a better understanding of what's going on. Then bring your zettelkasten in to leverage yourself up to the next level.
- Adler, Mortimer J. “How to Mark a Book.” Saturday Review of Literature, July 6, 1940. https://www.unz.com/print/SaturdayRev-1940jul06-00011/
- Adler, Mortimer J., and Charles Van Doren. How to Read a Book: The Classical Guide to Intelligent Reading. Revised and Updated edition. 1940. Reprint, Touchstone, 2011.
reply to u/jack_hanson_c at https://old.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/1g9dv9b/is_scoping_the_subject_a_counterzettelkasten/
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www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
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"You can see I have quite a lot notes I have to make."
This is a difference in mentality between Ryan Holiday and me (as well as Muhammed Ali Kilic)
@M.AKilic50
Our mentality (inspired by GTD and other standard productivity stuff, mostly Flow) is to avoid creating homework.
You don't HAVE to make notes on something. You select what you deem valuable and are interested in working with at the moment.
Because of the marginal gains effect I wrote about earlier, it doesn't matter if you don't make a lot of notes. Besides, you can always return later--especially with a proper bib card and potentially a custom index/ToC for a book.
A Zettelkasten is the lazy man's path to excellence.
(this is an ironic statement of mine because a Zettelkasten asks a lot of work over time. However, it doesn't have to be on a day to day basis. Plus you work only on what you want, hence it doesn't require that much discipline.)
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"If you do one or two positive contributions a day, it adds up." - Ryan Holiday
Perhaps this is the essence of both Zettelkasten and Commonplace books; Marginal Gains.
Exponentional Increase over time. Upon first glance, it seems linear (1+1 = 2)... However, the formula is different because, at least in Zettelkasten, a new note means N new possible connections as this new note can virtually be connected to all other notes. In a Zettelkasten this is explicit, in a commonplace book connections are implicit.
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www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
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Engaging in a Zettelkasten/Commonplace book in this way is equal to inherent spaced repetition and recall perhaps?
Especially if you allow some time of rumination... Read book, wait a few days to a few weeks before processing it. The book's contents remain in the back of your mind.
Then when processing you get engaged with the substance again and therefore interrupt the ebbinghaus curve.
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Perhaps I need to argue more with the authors and the content, as Adler & van Doren also recommend.
This might be a limitation in (the way I do) Zettelkasten. Because I am not writing in the margins and not engage in "tearing up" the book, I am less inclined to argue against/with the work.
Maybe I need to do this more using bib-card. Further thought on implementation necessary...
Perhaps a different reason is that I like to get through most books quickly rather than slowly. Sometimes I do the arguing afterward, within my ZK.
I need to reflect on this at some point (in the near future) and optimize my processes.
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libraryfutures.net libraryfutures.net
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www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
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How to Read a Book by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, Part 1
Amazing series by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf on Adler and van Doorns How to Read a Book. Part 2 is here: . How to Read a Book, Part 2 by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf
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library.scholarcy.com library.scholarcy.com
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The Periplus also describes the route from China to India, where silk was shipped by land via Bactria to Barygaza and then via the Ganges River to Limyrike. This passage provides evidence of connections between China and Rome during the first century of the Common Era. The trade links were significant, with many travelers focusing on trade, particularly silk, which formed an important part of the economies of several societies.
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Local file Local file
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The third reading should again be a slow reading,
relationship to Adler's levels of reading?
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IN this Chapter I shall try to summarise the main partof this work, so that those who have not the time orthe inclination to go right through it may at any rategrasp the general plan of it, and may be able to referto any particular Chapter or page for further informa-tion on any particular topic.
This chapter is essentially what one ought to glean from skimming the TOC, the Index, and doing a brief inspectional read (Adler, 1972).
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Local file Local file
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Very often the text gives no or no clear answer to this question about the otherside of its statement. But then you have to help it on its feet with your ownimagination. Scruples with regard to hermeneutical defensibility or even truthwould be out of place here. First of all, it's just a matter of writing things down,looking for something worth remembering, and learning to read
Learning and Intellectualism can both be found in the act of comparison, or more broadly, analysis. One must do this perpetually when reading to dissect and gain most (long-term) (syntopical) value out of it.
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he problem of reading scientific texts seems to lie in the fact that here one needsnot a short-term memory but a long-term memory in order to gain reference pointsfor distinguishing the essential from the unessential and the new from the merelyrepetitive. But one cannot remember everything. That would be memorization. Inother words, you have to be able to read highly selectively and pull out widelyinterconnected references. One must be able to understand recursions. But howdoes one learn this, if no instructions can be given; or at best aboutconspicuousness (as in the previous sentence for example “recursions”, but not“must”)?Perhaps the best method is to take notes – not excerpts, but condensedreformulations of what has been read. The re-description of what has already beendescribed leads almost automatically to the training of an attention for “frames”,for schemes of observation or even for conditions that lead to the text offeringcertain descriptions and not others. In doing so, it is useful to always consider:What is not meant, what is excluded, when something specific is asserted? Whentalking about “human rights”: What does the author distinguish his statementsfrom? From non-human rights? From human obligations? Or culturallycomparatively or historically from populations that do not know human rights andcan live with them quite well?
In other words, Luhmann is urging to engage in pattern recognition.
True intellectual work using the Zettelkasten demands pattern recognition when reading. Domain specific knowledge + pattern recognition = efficient reading; for it allows to distinguish signal from noise, value from trash.
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Another possibility is read texts on certain topics – liability fordefects in civil law, socialization theory, risk research, etc. – in parallel. Then onegradually develops a feeling for what is already known and knows the “state of theart”. New things then stand out. But you learn something that is mostly veryquickly outdated and then to unlearn again.
Is this a criticism by Luhmann on the conventional notion of syntopical reading in Adlerian terms? Probably without knowing Adler's work.
Because science/truth work (knowledge) is constantly in revision, conventional syntopical reading on a topic of science is without necessary value?
Perhaps unless stored and expanded upon in a ZK?
Further thought is required to disseminate this paragraph.
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Beginners, especially first-year students, initially find themselves confronted with asentence-ordered set of words that they can read sentence by sentence andunderstand according to sentence meaning. But what does it come down to?What is to be “learned”? What is important, what is merely incidental? After a fewpages of reading, one can hardly remember what one has read. Whatrecommendations could be made here?
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Beginners' courses or introductory texts are also designed in this way.What one does not or hardly learn, however, are conceptual contexts and, aboveall, problems to which the texts try to give an answer.
One must read analytically (cf Adler & van Doren) in order to grasp the meaning behind text. Or perhaps syntopically by default if one performs the Zettelkasten method.
Conventional Syntopical Reading is "immediate" and project-based, at least in Adlerian terms, that is.
However, when doing Zettelkasten work, one is perpetually reading syntopically and therefore I would call it Delayed Syntopical Reading
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When I read a book, forexample, I proceed as follows: I always have a piece of note paper at hand onwhich I write down certain ideas for specific pages. On the back, I write down thebibliographic information. When I have read through the book, I go through thesenotes and think about what can be evaluated for which notes that have alreadybeen written and how. So I always read with an eye to the possibility of writingnotes to the books. Maybe it is simply a collecting instinct I have.
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- Sep 2024
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www.curbed.com www.curbed.com
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A book is a complete discrete object, cut to fit and shaped for engaging reading, but thousands upon thousands of loose pages in their archival boxes constitute something else: a relay baton handed off to the future.
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- Aug 2024
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en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
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In psychology, the Stroop effect is the delay in reaction time between congruent and incongruent stimuli.
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zettelkasten.de zettelkasten.de
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Strange Loops: Reading a Book on How to Read a Book by [[Sascha Fast]]
Not quite sure of what Fast is getting at here. Language barrier perhaps?
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www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
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For true deep processing and learning, intellectualism, one must think beyond the single source they are consuming and think about everything they know. Although keep in mind selective attention for true learning and thinking.
This process is habitualized by means of Zettelkasten and further aided in tool like hypothes.is
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www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
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Unrelated to the song itself. It is interesting that different people interpret the song's meaning differently. Likely due to individual differences in perspective, history, culture, etc.
Makes me reflect. Is knowledge/wisdom contained solely in content and words? Or is knowledge/wisdom rather contained in the RELATIONSHIP, the INTERACTION, between past experience, previous knowledge (identity) and substance?
Currently I am inclined to go for the latter.
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www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
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When switching, do this only at the end of a chapter, not in media res (in the middle of action).
Also summarize the last thing that happened/got explained for an easy refresher the next time you get back.
Bib-Card? Potentially Marginaelia? Feeling more like a dedicated notebook for this. Need to work out.
Vashik does this summary of a chapter on index cards... Useful to do in a Zettelkasten, or too much effort?
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Vashik recommends to keep a list of books to read. I can do this on Obsidian, but I also keep a reading log like Parker Settecase recommends.
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For parallel reading, read multiple different genres/topics to prevent confusion and boredom.
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Due to this time/mood conundrum, you can read books that you do feel like reading.
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Cothran, Ann, and George E. Mason. “The Typewriter: Time-Tested Tool for Teaching Reading and Writing.” The Elementary School Journal 78, no. 3 (1978): 171–73. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1001415
No new results here, but a modest overview and literature review of research on typewriters in classrooms.
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One must wonder if the early use of typewriters to teach reading and writing research matches that of modern day use of computers and tablets in the same classrooms?
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One large study by Ben D. Woodand Frank N. Freeman in 1932 paved theway for acceptance in elementary schools.The study included 14,947 children ofelementary-school age in an experimenton the effect of the typewriter on class-room performance (3). The children whohad typing instruction actually spent onlyan hour or two a week at the typewriter,yet at the end of the first year they out-performed the nontyping pupils in read-ing.
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He recommends to read in the following order, because of thematic significance, I have to determine if I'll do the same.
Books: - A Defence of Classical Education, R. W. Livingstone - Weapons of Mass Instruction, John Taylor Gatto - The Republic, Plato - The Social Contract, Jean-Jacques Rousseau - The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis - Discourse on Voluntary Servitude, Étienne de La Boétie - The Road to Serfdom, F. A. Hayek - The Political Theory of the American Founding, Thomas G. West
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(~2:10)
Fascinating. Rob Pierri mentions that there had been a shift in education from the development of the soul to the development of monetizable skills... Keep society manageable.
The question that remains for me is, what will ultimately leave society better and advance it? In the end, what matters more, the material or the immaterial? Why?
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www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
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Useful tip to collect wise sayings; mark them in the book and write "Proverb" next to them, or a symbol...
Can also then write the page number on your bib card, or perhaps a dedicated index card to proverbs per book.
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www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
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According to Vashik Armenikus, reading and book collecting becomes an obsession/addiction when you do it indiscriminately, without thought, without taking into account the bigger picture.
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www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
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Fascinating and troublesome is the idea that older books are being edited to be less "offensive" in modern times. This alters the meaning of the past. Do not do this.
Keep it original.
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This person argues that one should cultivate a personal library, the tangibleness of the physical, to safeguard knowledge and prevent information control from falling to a single institution or person, so that they may never control the past.
I think he should go deeper into his argument, I do not fully understand what he means.
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www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
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( ~8:00 )
This explanation of why to read books in a certain order in dependency of each other is analogous to why a Zettelkasten (in Luhmannian sense) cannot be used collaboratively.
In order for someone else to understand your notes (not meant to be published), they would have to understand both the source text you are referencing and the implicit references you make. Things you understand instinctively and do not need to write down.
Because others do not have your experiences and worldview, it is more difficult for them, perhaps impossible, to completely comprehend your Zettels, your notes.
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( ~5:00 ) Reading Aids should be used after initial interpretation. This is to prevent framing bias.
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( ~1:40)
Suggested to train analytical reading in high school.
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he two groups making most use of librarieswere “students and housewives” (women users outnumbered men by twoto one), but neither group was well served; and among employed men,6 percent of whites borrowed books, but only 0.1 percent of Black min-ers.18 These were dreadful numbers.
reading as a leading indicator of cultural shift to help provide power to women and non-whites.
Was the Great Books idea being pressed towards "men" a means of pushing back against this in some sense?
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- Jul 2024
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OLDaily exists because of my practice of paraphrasing anything I read
For over 2 decades I struggle with this. Because my paraphrasing is mostly unsuited for my blog, regularly because it is mixed language and often bc it contains words that serve as shorthand. A blog is more performance, written for not-me, while annotation is for me, and after editing might be publishable for not-me. Annotating publicly here in .h, even if the readership is highly limited, introduces a level of performance-awareness for me. At times I've done annotated link blogging, but it never became a practice as with [[Stephen Downes]].
Tags
Annotators
URL
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danallosso.substack.com danallosso.substack.com
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www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
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Lucy Calkins Retreats on Phonics in Fight Over Reading Curriculum by Dana Goldstein
Not much talk of potentially splitting out methods for neurodivergent learners here. Teaching reading strategies may net out dramatically differently between neurotypical children and those with issues like dyslexia. Perceptual and processing issues may make some methods dramatically harder for some learners over others, and we still don't seem to have any respect for that.
This example is an interesting one of the sort of generational die out of old ideas and adoption of new ones as seen in Kuhn's scientific revolutions.
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www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
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A ‘Science of Reading’ Revolt Takes on the Education Establishment by [[Sarah Mervosh]]
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danallosso.substack.com danallosso.substack.com
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https://danallosso.substack.com/p/science-of-reading-meeting-1<br /> Science of Reading, Meeting 1
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Johns, Adrian. The Science of Reading: Information, Media, and Mind in Modern America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2023. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo183629196.html
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www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
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( ~ 6:25-end )
Steps for designing a reading plan/list: 1. Pick a topic/goal (or question you want to answer) & how long you want to take to achieve this. 2. Do research into the books necessary to achieve this goal. Meta-learning, scope out the subject. The number of books is relative to the goal and length of the goal. 3. Find the books using different tools such as Google & GoodReads & YouTube Recommendations (ChatGPT & Gemini are also useful). 4. Refine the book list (go through reviews, etc., in Adlerian steps, do an Inspectional Read of everything... Find out if it's truly useful). Also order them into a useful sequence for the syntopical reading project. Highlight the topics covered, how difficult they are, relevancy, etc. 5. Order the books (or download them)
Reminds me a bit of Scott Young's Metalearning step, and doing a skill decomposition in van Merriënboer et al.'s 10 Steps to Complex Learning
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www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
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Hello Mr. Hoorn, How great to have a fellow Antinetter. Thank you for your kind greeting. I used the sticky notes because I wanted to be able to show you certain pages that caught my interest when I was pre-reading. After recording my podcast I took them all out. I should have mentioned that. Thank you for pointing that out.
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I notice you put sticky markers into the book... Two questions. A) Does this not take too much effort/time for an inspectional read a la Adler? B) What is the purpose of the sticky markers? Warm regards, Mr. Hoorn -- Fellow Antinetter
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( ~ 10:20)
Kathleen recommends as part of an inspectional reading to find out who the author is. This is valuable and I believe not something Adler & van Doren mentioned in their book.
Knowing who the author is gives more context to the book and potentially some information about credibility.
Will implement this.
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(~5:40)
It appears she put some sticky notes at important points/structure references while reading inspectionally...
Does this not take too much effort/time for an inspectional read a la Adler?
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www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
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( ~ 10:45)
This is basically layered learning and making use of the creation of prior knowledge.
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(~10:00)
It's not just about your domain knowledge on a subject, it's also about your reading skill in general and how difficult a book is written.
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This video tells me I need to spend more time actually reflecting on the table of contents and title. As well as with the pigeonholing; classify in the mind in what categories this book falls.
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( ~1:55)
Interesting sentiment. Library Lin supposes that most people who do not like reading don't like it because of bad reading habits and that when they improve on their reading habits, they will start liking it.
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www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
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Very fascinating. Substance meaning can change depending on linguistics. For ancient thought, it's best to know the true original language.
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songmeanings.com songmeanings.com
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"Some of the smartest dummies Can't read the language of Egyptian mummies" points to the notion of paradoxes, dualism, where even the most knowledgeable, creative, innovative, intelligent and academic can't interpret or make sense of ancient wisdom, the pun "language of the Egyptian mummies" refers to the language of the spiritual - life after death wisdom. the divine, infinite and eternal.
I will call the guy who gives a full theoretical analysis of this song, Mr. X.
Well, I wonder where Mr. X got all his analysis from first of all. Is it his interpretation? Or what is his source for the meaning of the song?
Is it therefore objectively true to the artist's intent or is it merely a (good) explanation that seeks to provoke thought?
I don't know how accurate this claim is as I have not yet dived deeply into ancient knowledge and compare it to modern interpretations of it, but I do feel like this hits a nail... Either Mr. X does or the artists.
It is quite logical that it is difficult to interpret ancient wisdom as wisdom often assumes the student or reader is familiar with common knowledge... However, what was common in ancient times might be rare currently, or even forgotten or used in different ways, making it very difficult to interpret and parse such texts without a high degree of mastery of background knowledge.
It's even harder for certain ancient times where everything was rooted in oral tradition without writing. People back then could've been generally wise, but without texts to refer to as primary sources it is virtually impossible to make sense of it.
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gemini.google.com gemini.google.com
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The song criticizes the tendency to rush into judgment without fully understanding the underlying problems. It also emphasizes the value of research and seeking out the truth from various perspectives.
This is basically critical thinking. Which is also my goal for (optimal) education: To build a society of people who think for themselves, critical thinkers; those who do not take everything for granted. The skeptics.
See also Nassim Nicolas Taleb's advice to focus on what you DON'T know rather than what you DO know.
Related to syntopical reading/learning as well. (and Charlie Munger's advice). You want to build a complete picture with a broad understanding and nuanced before formulating an opinion.
Remove bias from your judgement (especially when it comes to people or civilizations) and instead base it on logic and deep understanding.
This also relates to (national, but even local) media... How do you know that what the media portrays about something or someone is correct? Don't take it for granted, especially if it is important, and do your own research. Validity of source is important; media is often opinionized and can contain a lot of misinformation.
See also Simone Weil's thoughts on media, especially where she says misinformation spread must be stopped. It is a vital need for the soul to be presented with (factual) truth.
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substack.com substack.com
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The Early History of Counting is a great article focusing on how long humanity has been offloading its brain, which makes me feel way less awkward about taking so many notes and using fancy tools like calculators and LLMs. Ancient philosophers like Socrates complained about books making people lazy because of not doing oral memorization anymore, which solved into people complaining about computers. Stone Age cavemen probably complained about people offloading their number sense onto tally sticks.
makes me think of tools that extend parts of ourselves. terms like "second brain" or "pkms"
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substack.com substack.com
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substack.com substack.com
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When I was a teenager, I used to cart an entire duffel bag of books with me whenever I went on vacation. I have a particularly vivid memory of a ski trip with friends in college; one green duffle full of books, and a matching red duffle (borrowed from my parents) full of clothes. I couldn’t imagine going on vacation without books, and for a week away I needed at least twelve.
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www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
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Kurutz, Steven. “Now You Can Read the Classics With A.I.-Powered Expert Guides.” The New York Times, June 13, 2024, sec. Style. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/13/style/now-you-can-read-the-classics-with-ai-powered-expert-guides.html.
Tags
- suicide
- Clancy Martin
- artificial intelligence for reading
- Friedrich Nietzsche
- William James
- read
- John Kaag
- Rebind.ai
- Elaine Pagels
- Margaret Atwood
- John Dubuque
- John Banville
- chatbots
- great books idea
- philosophy
- Martin Heidegger
- Laura Kipnis
- Great Books of the Western World
- The Great Books Movement
- Marlon James
- reading practices
- Roxane Gay
- John Muir
- James Joyce
Annotators
URL
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substack.com substack.com
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Someone once said that at least one in five people are writing a novel. I barely know anyone who isn’t. It is still a prestigious form. And so, despite social media – the junk food of communication – literature continues to adapt to the contemporary mood. Where there is digital overload, people are returning to this more relaxed, nutritious analogue mode - reading words on a page.
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- Jun 2024
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www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
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There are 3 types of Reading Projects: 1. Doing a research project. Having a well-defined research question and answering it through means of reading. 2. Reading a set of books or a genre in itself or even author; finding out the types or history of it... Mostly applicable to fiction. 3. Becoming more engaged with a specific author or thinker; Reading as much as possible about a specific author (primary, secondary)
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There is a value in reading a lot.. But it's not in the number, it is more in the concept of Exploration vs. Specialization. Some form of exploration is highly useful.
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Number of Books Read has nothing to do with substance learned; enlightenment gained. It is a vanity metric.
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www.reddit.com www.reddit.com
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I like the Penguins just fine, and have to confess to enjoying the look of their matte-blank ranks on a shelf when stood all together. I wish they were still priced at the same as a pack of cigarettes, but I guess Allen Lane couldn't have predicted the sorry state of our world. As far as alternatives go, the Oxford World's Classics imprint offers comparable breadth and (often) superior critical material. They're also willing to print interesting variants; one example of this may be found in their offering of both the widely-known 1831 single-volume edition and the original 1818 edition, which contains significant differences. Two other imprints for which to watch out: The Norton Critical Editions are distinctive in all their colourful, oversized splendour, but they offer some of the best value for money if you're seeking an edition of a classic work that also includes a host of useful supplemental documents, critical writings, timelines, and other things that may be of use to those seeking a wider context. This can admittedly get a bit ridiculous in its scope (though I wouldn't have it any other way; the Norton edition of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darknessis around 500 pages long, for instance, with maybe a fifth of that being accounted for by the novella itself. Similarly to the above, the Broadview editions (put out by a Canadian company of the same name) tend to have extremely in-depth supplementary materials. They're also known for offering just as serious and useful editions of comparatively obscure works as they are for well-known classics.
Publishers that are good in general, for older material: * Penguin Classics * Oxford World Classics * Norton Critical Editions * Broadview Editions
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Awesome! I will look into Oxford and the New York Review of Books lines. I have a couple Norton Critical books from school, (one of which is Heart of Darkness, as a matter of fact) and they are crazy good if you are looking for a wide slice of criticism and analysis (thus the critical edition moniker, I guess). For me though, it's really too much for a book you just want to read. I like informative introductions and frequent notes on the personal or literary context (these were great for Monte Cristo), but any more than that begins to weigh things down.
Some publishers can be too much for certain works (depending on the goal for reading)
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docdrop.org docdrop.org
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In Chicago, one catalyst for that growth—as a kind of public sym-bol and tacit approval from the business community—was “the FatMan’s Class,” which had begun meeting in 1942–1943 at Chicago’sUniversity Club. The moniker derived, according to some, from thegroup’s “affluence rather than the girth of its members.” Membersof this class included Chicago notables such as Harold and CharlesSwift, Marshall Field, Jr., Walter Paepcke, Hermon Dunlap Smith,William Benton, Hughston McBain (president of Marshall Field andCompany), and Laird Bell. This group caught the “fancy” of thepopulace, causing the University of Chicago’s University College topartner with the Chicago Public Library in 1944 to set up great bookscourses around the city.43
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An anonymous review in The Atlantic touched on the samesnobbish fear addressed by Barzun:Mr. Adler’s notion that “almost all of the great books in every fieldare within the grasp of all normally intelligent men” seems to usto need a deal of sifting. We do not know what he means by “nor-mally intelligent,” but if he means the average run of intelligencein our population, or in the student body of our schools and col-leges, we believe he is deplorably wrong. So also . . . the book’s sub-title, “The Art of Getting a Liberal Education,” savors strongly ofquackery. 39
Compare this with the ideas of intelligence and eugenics of the time as well as that of class in Isenberg's White Trash.
Presumably this anonymous author would have been seeing things from a more dominant eugenics viewpoint at this time period of 1940.
See also: The Eugenics War (American Experience) https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/eugenics-crusade/
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Dr. Harry McNeill’s June 1940 assessment in Interracial Review
Interesting commentary here on conversion of African-Americans to Catholicism as well as self-help nature of reading for improvement. Analogizes African-Americans without Catholicism to Mortimer J. Adler as a Jew.
Possible tone of colonialism to assimilate African-Americans into Western Culture here? Though still somehow some space for movement and growth.
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akkartik.name akkartik.name
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gigamonkeys.com gigamonkeys.com
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www.millersbookreview.com www.millersbookreview.com
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Knowledge is a web of associations. If kids don’t have enough facts to work with, they can’t grasp what they read.
Argument for general knowledge vs. specialistic knowledge?
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jaredhenderson.substack.com jaredhenderson.substack.com
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But consider a new narrative. Imagine instead that books offer us a way to enter into a prolonged conversation across generations. We might even call this the Great Conversation. Imagine instead that authors have generally meant well, and so when they produced difficult works it is because the subject matter is a difficult one. Imagine instead that the past is a kind of mirror for the present, and that history is a guide to the future. New associations are encouraged by this narrative. New works are continuous with old works; both new and old works have something to teach us; difficult works might be more insightful because they engage with the complexity of the world.
Interesting. Using Mortimer J. Adler's concept of Syntopical Reading to produce motivation, in a good way, for diving into books.
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And this is what I believe is happening with students and reading, at least in part. They have convinced themselves that they aren’t readers. They have convinced themselves that reading old books, especially difficult old books, is just too arduous, too boring, too pointless. They have convinced themselves that even if the books are good and soul-enriching, there are better things to be doing with their time.
Fixed mindset. Self fulfilling prophecies. Ignorance.
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Gatekeeping Ourselves
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I sometimes see this in YouTube comments. When I recommend Plato to beginners in philosophy, I am told that I am being irresponsible, because Plato is too difficult for a beginner. It would be better to recommend a comprehensive survey of philosophy explicitly written for beginners, the critics say, so that people don’t get overwhelmed. But then I see other comments, sometimes on YouTube but often elsewhere, from people who had never read any philosophy, stumbled on one of my videos, and read Plato. Sometimes these are high school students, sometimes college graduates who did not study philosophy, sometimes mid-career adults who didn’t bother with college. The message is remarkably similar. They were previously convinced that philosophy would be too difficult to them, and reading Plato helped them see that they were wrong.
Self-fulfilling prophecy?
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www.linkedin.com www.linkedin.com
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Wonderful article by the philosopher Jared Henderson, who I regularly watch on YouTube.
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The more inventive and fecund a great mind is, the more it will shape thelanguage it uses to fit its thought. To express a new idea or insight, a new word isinvented or an old word given a novel meaning. Sometimes in the development ofhis own characteristic vocabulary, a great writer uses a new word for an old ideawhich he has appropriated and assimilated to his own thought. Sometimes theopposite occurs; the traditional word is appropriated or borrowed, but the ideawhich it long expressed is replaced either by a totally new, or at least by a variant,conception.
Language is essential for the expression of thought, be it novel or ancient.
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The foregoing examples illustrate various forms topics take according to thedifferent kinds of subjects they propose for discussion. Some deal with the natureof a thing or its definition, some with its qualities or attributes, some with itscauses, and some with its kinds; some deal with distinctions or differences, andsome with comparisons or contrasts; some propose a general theory for considera-tion, some present a problem, and some state an Issue. Some— such as the lastthree above —are difficult to characterize by any formula.
The complexity of the topic is determined by the content of the discussion the topic is about.
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It is easier to say what a topic is not, than what it is or should be. If it mustalways be a less determinate expression than a sentence, and if it must usually be amore complex expression than a single word or pair of words (which are theverbal expression of terms, such as the great ideas), it would seem to follow thatthe proper expression of a topic is a phrase— often, perhaps, a fairly elaboratephrase involving a number of terms and signifying a number of possible relationsbetween them. This general description of the grammatical form of a topic docsnot, however, convey an adequate notion of the extraordinary variety of possi-ble phrasings.
To me, it seems that Adler et al., are arguing that a topic should be stated as a phrase with varying degrees of complexity, determined by ?
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For example, “The ideal of the educated man’"(Education la) is a simple topic; “The right to property: the ownership of themeans of production” (Labor 7b) is a complex topic; and “The use and criticismof the intellectual tradition: the sifting of truth from erroi; the reaction againstthe authority of the past” (Progress 6c) is a more complex topic.
Some examples of topics that are formulated and used in the original syntopicon.
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A topic, in short, must have greater amplitude than any other logical form ofstatement. The familiar grammatical forms of the declarative or interrogativesentence, or even the complex sentence w'hich expresses a dilemma, arc there-fore inappropriate for the statement of topics. Since it must be able to includeall these and more, the statement of a topic must be less determinate in verbalstructure.
A topic should never be suggestive, for it would not be a topic in that way.
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A topic is essentially a*sub)ect for discussion. The Greek word topos from which**topic^’ is derived literally means a place. Its literal meaning is retained in suchEnglish words as “topography” and “topology,” which signify the study ofphysical or geometrical places. The conception of a topic as a subject for discus’-sion is a metaphorical extension of this root meaning. A topic is a logical place; itis a place where minds meet to consider some common problem or theme.The minds may agree or disagree; they may argue the matter from differentpoints of view; they may contribute to the discussion in a variety of ways — byoffering examples, by proposing definitions or hypotheses, by stating analyses orarguments, by debating what has already been said, or by advancing a new view.But whatever form each contribution takes, it must be relevant, though it neednot be relevant in the same way or to the same degree. The various contributionsare relevant to each other through their relevance to the common theme orproblem, and this gives unity to the variety of things being said.A topic, then, is a place where minds meet through being relevant to a commonsubject of discussion. It is a place at which an intelligible exchange of thought,insight, or opinion can occur.
A topic is a place where minds meet for discussion.
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The topics are the basic units of the Syntopicon. They perform a doublefunction. The Outline of Topics in each chapter is the analysis of a great idea,setting forth its various meanings, its themes and problems; and the individualtopics serve as the immediate headings under w^hich are assembled the referencesto the discussion of each particular subject in the great books. The topics are themajor subdivisions of the discussion in the sphere of each of the great ideas, as theideas are the main divisions of the whole discussion in the great books. As eachidea represents a general field of discourse— a domain of learning and inquiry—covering a variety of related themes and problems, so, under each idea, the varioustopics represent the themes and problems which are the particular subjects ofdiscussion in that field.
It seems as though an idea is very broad and a "sub-topic" is more granular, though also determined based on the overall content and related to the primary idea.
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The two mfasi^rfs of intrinsic greatness — scope and significance
It seems that most of the ideas were chosen based on scope and significance.
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The reason which operated against such multiplication of chapters was(as already stated) the desire to avoid excessive duplication among topics andreferences.
Adler et al. operated from a state of efficiency in the sense that they did not want the book to become too long (even though, or maybe because of, the fact that the end result became already two volumes each more than a thousand pages)
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Both the great books and the great ideas were chosen to represent the unity andcontinuity of the tradition of western thought. The great l^ks are those whichdeal imaginatively or intellectually with the ideas which arc fundamental through-out this whole tradition. Any important work -ancient, mediaeval, or modern-will necessarily be concerned with these ideas in some uay. What distinguishes thegreat books is the originality, the profundity, and the scope of their treatment ofthese ideas. Other books, important in some special field of learning, may havethese qualities with respect to one idea or even to several related ideas, but thegreat books possess them for a considerable range of ideas, covering a variety ofsubject matters or disciplines; and among the great books the greatest arc thosewith the greatest range of imaginative or intellectual content.
Adler explains the distinctive factor determining which authors and works were included in the list of the Great Books of the Western World.
Basically, they were works that were influential, written excellently, and had applicability to a considerable amount of ideas processed by the whole.
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The great majority of terms eliminated were those which did not appear to ,receive extensive or elaborate treatment in the great books. They were terms thatdid not seem to have a lively career —a continuous and complex developmentthroughout the three-thousand-year tradition of the great books.The editors usedthe actual content of the great books as the test whereby to separate a small set oftruly great ideas from a much larger number of important concepts or notions.The reader can apply this test himself by comparing the 1800 concepts listed inthe Inventory of Terms, with the 102 ideas that are treated as the principalterms in the Syntopicon.
The ideas were chosen on the basis of coverage within the Great Works.
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THE PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OFSYNTOPICAL CONSTRUCTION
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www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
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One point for having many unread books is to show the extent of ignorance and develop intellectual humility.
As Confucius already said: "True knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance."
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Umberto Eco recommends to have as much unread books in your personal library as your financial means allow.
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For an intellectual, the library is not there to simply collect books, but rather to serve as a tool for research.
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Tsundoku = Japanese for the art of buying more books than you can read.
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www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
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(~11:00) I am getting inspired to create my own "Syntopicon" of Education and Learning. Obviously this will be a lifelong endeavor and great undertaking, bound to change with every single reading... As I am not a team of 501 people.
I think I will do this. But how? I am not sure yet. Let's think about it.
I will probably build it out in the open. Perhaps I will even build this syntopicon of education using Obsidian's networked thought system... Instead of a formal linear book. A network of notes is much easier to navigate and will get me where I want to be. Also much easier to edit throughout the process of doing research.
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Is Syntopical Reading not the same as meta-analytic research? In what ways does it differ? In what ways is it the same?
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(~3:00) Syntopical Reading requires building a map of the topic across sources (coming up with one's own terms) in order to find out what each author is saying.
How does one do this if the process of syntopical reading is the process by which one comes up with the knowledge? I believe the answer lies in a high skill level of Inspectional Reading
Obviously, one cannot make a perfect map from the get go, and this should not be the intention (defeat perfectionism)... However, a rough sketch or map is far more valuable than none at all.
I believe this is also the point of Dr. Justin Sung's prestudy... Building the barebone structure of the mindmap, finding the logic behind it all; the first layer.
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( ~1:40) Syntopical Reading is about making one's own mind up.
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- May 2024
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docdrop.org docdrop.org
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for - Brehon Laws - of early Ireland - etymology - glossary - reading between the lines - adjacency - Brehon Laws - Indyweb - reading between the lines - glossary
adjacency - between - Brehon Laws - Indyweb - reading between the lines - etymology - glossary - adjacency relationship - Brehon Laws of early Ireland emerged from the people themselves over many generations - and were not imposed by some authority - For a long time, these laws were orally transmitted and memorized - When writing emerged, the style of writing used by the early Irish was to write with many gaps in between written verses of text - for the purpose of readers to be able to be writers and contribute to the text with their own perspectives - In other words, they were early annotators! - The etymology of the world glossary comes from "gloss" from the practice of writing meaning between the lines - "Glosses were common in the Middle Ages, usually rendering Hebrew, Greek, or Latin words into vernacular Germanic, Celtic, or Romanic. Originally written between the lines, later in the margins." ( https://www.etymonline.com/word/glossary)
source - Zoom meeting this evening with Paul and Trace, as Paul introduced from his understanding of his Irish roots
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www.linkedin.com www.linkedin.com
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Alan Clark Agreed...also; learning = change in behaviour, is another widely held belief.
Reply to John Whitfield: I think that one is mostly a semantic issue. In some definitions of learning, learning does equate to a change in behavior. In parenting for example, how is learning measured? If the behavior is changed. Therefore, for parenting, learning is a change in behavior.
I'd argue for many books the same is true, what is the use of a book if the knowledge is only in your head. Application, thus changing one's behavior, is essential for the proper use. Obviously this is not for everything the case, but I am highlighting a few scenarios where it would be accurate to say that learning is a change in behavior.
Nothing is ever black and white, it is quite simplistic to say such things, often there is a lot of nuance going on.
Link for Hypothes.is context: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7197621782743252992/?commentUrn=urn:li:comment:(activity:7197621782743252992,7198233333577699328)&dashCommentUrn=urn:li:fsd_comment:(7198233333577699328,urn:li:activity:7197621782743252992)
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www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
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(~6:30)
I think the major point here is that Adler points out our minds, and thus our thinking, changes over time. Therefore, when a book is read at a later point in time, our notes are different.
Perhaps his argument to "think again as to make the thought more current" is antithetical to Luhmann's Zettelkasten, which principles upon continuing previous lines of thought, even decades later.
(future note, about half an hour later)... I think in the Zettelkasten the problem is dealt with adequately, since you actually can make new notes expressing why your thought changes... So in this sense it is even more expanded upon the point that Adler makes even though at first sight it seems the complete opposite.
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(~8.55)
It is argued by Mortimer Adler and Charles van Doren that to fully grasp a book (part of analytical reading), one should make their own analytical table of contents, outlining not just the chapters but also the content. I need to look into how to make those.
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www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
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"The great books are the inexhaustible books. The books that can sustain a lifetime of reading."
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"The great books are the books that never have to be written again. They are so good no-one can try to write them again."
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"The great books are the books that everyone wants to have read but no-one wants to read."
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What did not stand out to me before while reading the book, but does now when watching this, is the fact that the greatest books are subjective to each individual... Meaning my list might not be the same for others.
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Very fascinating thought experiment. Out of the 140+ books I have read so far only a few, less than a handful, would fit the list of "growth" books; the greatest, that I would take to the deserted island for 10 years...
- The Bible
- Antonin Sertillanges' The Intellectual Life: Its Spirit, Method, Conditions
- Marcus Aurelius' Meditations
No other book, to my mind, that I have read so far would cut it to my list.
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luhmann.surge.sh luhmann.surge.sh
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Perhaps the best method would be to take notes—not excerpts, but condensed reformulations of what has been read. The re-description of what has already been described leads almost automatically to a training of paying attention to “frames,” or schemata of observation, or even to noticing conditions which lead the text to offer some descriptions but not others.
Summarization. Building of cognitive schemas.
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Learning How to Read
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Theoretically interested readers should therefore follow the advice of learning as many languages as possible in such a way that they have at least passive mastery of them and thus can read and understand them.
Interesting, Luhmann recommends to know many languages so as to prevent the pitfalls of translational errors in conveying meaning when it is to read translated books. So read books in their original language.
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docdrop.org docdrop.org
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Or, you may say that this business of marking books is going to slow up your reading. It probably will. That's one of the reasons for doing it. Most of us have been taken in by the notion that speed of reading is a measure of our intelligence. There is no such thing as the right speed for intelligent read-ing. Some things should be read quick-ly and effortlessly, and some should be read slowly and even laboriously. The sign of intelligence in reading is the ability to read different things dif-ferently according to their worth.
As Luhmann would say, it is foolish to think that things are black and white; in most scenarios there is nuance... So too is it with reading speed, it must be relative or else it is not accurate. Even speed within books can differ.
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I use the end-pa-pers at the back of the book to make a personal index of the author's points in the order of their appearance.
I will start doing this too, but on the associated bib-card.
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1. Underlining: of major points, of important or forceful statements. 2. Vertical lines at the margin: to emphasize a statement already under-lined. 3. Star, asterisk, or other doo-dad at the margin: to be used sparingly, to emphasize the ten or twenty most important statements in the book. (You may want to fold the bottom cor-ner of each page on which you use such marks. It won't hurt the sturdy paper on which most modern books are printed, and you will be able to take the book off the shelf at any time and, by opening it at the folded-corner page, refresh your recollection of the book.) 4. Numbers in the margin: to indi-cate the sequence of points the author makes in developing a single argu-ment. 5. Numbers of other pages in the margin: to indicate where else in the book the author made points relevant to the point marked; to tie up the ideas in a book, which, though they may be separated by many pages, be-long together. 6. Circling of hey words or phrases. 7. Writing in the margin, or at the top or bottom of the page, for the sake of: recording questions (and perhaps answers) which a passage raised in your mind; reducing a complicated dis-cussion to a simple statement; record-
I might actually use a system similar to this myself to aid with the dissection of a book in its fullest; to keep track of arguments and points, I am in need of this. Combine the bib-card with the Marginalia to enhance my reading process.
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ment, doubt, and inquiry. It's like re-suming an interrupted conversation with the advantage of being able to pick up where you left off. And that is exactly what reading a book should be: a conversation be-tween you and the author. Presumably he knows more about the subject than you do; naturally, you'll have the prop-er humility as you approach him.
This is the entire point of an Antinet or Zettelkasten, and it is far more advanced/useful for this purpose than just Marginalia. Sorry Adler, but you should have spoken to Luhmann in this regard. Both of you are heroes of mine, but in this round, Luhmann takes the crown.
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To set down your reaction to important words and sen-tences you have read, and the ques-tions they have raised in your mind, is to preserve those reactions and sharp-en those questions.
I need to do this more often myself. Too often, at least when reading physical books, I am doing the thinking in my head instead of writing on my bib-card what I actually think.
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conscious; I mean wide awake.) In the second place, reading, if it is active, is tliinking, and thinking tends to ex-press itself in words, spoken or writ-ten. The marked book is usually the thought-through book. Finally, writ-ing helps you remember the thoughts you had, or the thoughts the author expressed. Let me develop these three points.
I agree on these three points, which I usually do through the bib-card method or annotating on hypothes.is if I read digitally. I keep the physical book mostly clean.
However, I am looking for a way to keep track of points and arguments in works, and I hypothesize that marginalia are the way to do this the best.
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There are two ways in which one can own a book. The first is the prop-erty right you establish by paying for it, just as you pay for clothes and fur-niture. But this act of purchase is only the prelude to possession. Full owner-ship comes only when you have made it a part of yourself, and the best way to make yourself a part of it is by writing in it.
Apparently, the real ownership of a book, to make it a part of oneself, you need to mark it up. To make use of marginalia, according to Adler that is.
I personally don't like Marginalia, as I want to keep my books clean, which is why I use Luhmann's bibliography card method, but perhaps Adler can convince me of the opposite. We shall see.
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Confusion about what it means to own a book leads people to a false reverence for paper, binding, and type —a respect for the physical thing—the craft of the printer rather than the genius of the author. They forget that it is possible for a man to acquire the idea, to possess the beauty, which a great book contains, without staking his claim by pasting his bookplate in-side the cover. Having a fine library doesn't prove that its owner has a mind enriched by books; it proves nothing more than that he, his father, or his wife, was rich enough to buy them.
Adler makes a valid point here, books in its own have no worth. Owning a book, or even having "read" it don't serve any purpose. One must read properly in order to this, analytically or syntopically as Adler would call it.
What he is wrong at, in my opinion, that Marginalia are the key to doing this... Yes, they might be helpful, but other techniques, such as Luhmann's bib-card method and learning methodologies like GRINDEmapping could perhaps be even more useful for this purpose.
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- Apr 2024
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www.reddit.com www.reddit.com
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So, how do you actually transfer a book with a systematic theory into your ZK/Evergreen notes?
reply to u/judugrovee at https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/1cb1s8j/so_how_do_you_actually_transfer_a_book_with_a/
Others here have written some good advice about the note taking portions, but perhaps some of your issue is with your reading method. To reframe this, I recommend you take a look at How to Read a Book: The Classical Guide to Intelligent Reading (Touchstone, 2011) by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren and Adler's earlier article “How to Mark a Book" (Saturday Review of Literature, July 6, 1940. https://www.unz.com/print/SaturdayRev-1940jul06-00011/)
The careful reader will notice that they recommend a lot of the same sorts of note making and annotation practices as Ahrens does (and by extension Luhmann), though their notes are being written in the margins and in the front and back pages of the book. On the reading front, you may be conflating some of the reading/understanding/learning work with the note taking and sense making portions. If instead, you do a quick inspectional read followed by a read through prior to doing a more analytical read you'll find that you have a stronger understanding of the material conceptually. Some of the material you took expansive notes on before will likely seem basic and not require the sorts of permanent notes you've been making. Your cognitive load will have been lessened and you'll instead spend more productive time making fewer, but more useful permanent notes in the end.
On the first reads through, reframe your work as coming to a general understanding of what is going on while you're creating a quick-and-dirty personal index of what is interesting in the work. On subsequent focus, you can hone in on the most important pieces of what the author is saying with respect to your own interests and work. It's here that the dovetailing of good reading method and good note making method will shine for you, and importantly help cut down on what may seem like busywork.
It's not often discussed in some of the ZK space, but reading method can be even more important than note taking method. And at the end of the day, your particular needs and regular practice (practice, and more practice) will eventually help hone your work into something more valuable to you over time. Eventually you'll more quickly rise to the level of what C. Wright Mills called "intellectual craftsmanship" (1952).
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www.cwu.edu www.cwu.edu
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One helpful supplement for this approach is the use of “Events” in the course calendar. Events show in thesyllabus and can enforce non-assignment materials (such as readings or topics)
I need to investigate this.
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augmentingcognition.com augmentingcognition.com
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I began reading it quickly, almost skimming
Superficial Reading.
For better reading tactics, refer to Mortimer's How To Read A Book
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Local file Local file
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Adler, Mortimer J. “How to Mark a Book.” Saturday Review of Literature, July 6, 1940.
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Full owner-ship comes only when you have madeit a part of yourself, and the best wayto make yourself a part of it is bywriting in it.
ownership [of a book]
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www.reddit.com www.reddit.com
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Do you annotate your books?
https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/1c3rszm/do_you_annotate_your_books/
A great repository of annotation practices from book readers via Reddit (r/books).
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theconversation.com theconversation.com
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Learners who knew all their letters at the end of grade 1 were on track with their reading by the time they reached grade 4. Learners with very limited letter-sound knowledge at the end of grade 1 were three years behind, only reaching grade 4 reading fluency levels in grade 7.
CRUX - if I need to keep the UX design clean and simple I must make sure I focus on on the letters. The alphabet game I have in mind is perfect for that. And it would be feasible to translate to the other languages IF I GET EXPERTS in each language to help.
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Reading comprehension is one of the skills that South Africa needs most. It will be in short supply until basic reading skills are taught correctly.
no reading skills no comprehension.
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Children are struggling to master the most basic reading skills in their home language in the foundation phase (grades 1-3).
My app addresses this I hope - or assists in some way to address this.
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When decoding is a slow, laboured process this places demands on cognitive processes like working memory. By increasing speed and accuracy in reading, cognitive resources are freed and the child can begin to comprehend what they are rea
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theconversation.com theconversation.com
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children can talk long before they can read and write. E
Find research that backs this up.
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ater lessons are multilingual and focus at the same time on reading for meaning and learning a target language. For most learners, the target language is English. Learners listen to sentences in one language and must reproduce a translation textually. The app currently incl
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www.researchgate.net www.researchgate.net
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HOW TO IMPROVE TO MOTHER TONGUE LEARNING Begin literacy teaching in mother tongueA curriculum, rooted in the child’s known language, cultureand environment, with appropriate and locally-developedreading and curriculum materials, is crucial for earlylearning success. Using the home language in the early stagesof schooling in multilingual contexts supports child-centricpolicies. It starts with what is familiar and builds in newknowledge. It creates a smooth transition between home andschool; it stimulates interest and ensures greaterparticipation and engagement. This prepares children for theacquisition of literacy and encourages fluency andconfidence in both the mother tongue and, later, in otherlanguages, where this is necessary. Ensure availability of mother-tongue materialsChildren need to be engaged in and excited about readingand learning and this can only be done if the materials areones which they will understand and enjoy. In mostdeveloping countries, the only reading material children seeare school textbooks, which are often in very short supply.Other materials to support learning are hardly everavailable. Without access to good materials, children struggleto become literate and learn. In most low- and middle-income countries, the majority of primary schools have nolibrary, and books are luxuries which families cannot afford.For children from minority language communities, thesituation is even more dismal. Textbooks are rarely availablein local languages. Provide early childhood education in mother tongueLiteracy development starts early in life, and the homeenvironment is an important factor in children’s learningachievement. It helps build the knowledge and skills childrenneed for learning to read. Where parents and the communityare supporting literacy development, results show a markedimprovement. The earlier children are exposed to stories thebetter their reading is: reading for only 15 minutes a day canexpose children to one million written words in a year,thereby helping them to develop a rich vocabulary. Childrenwith access to materials at home are more likely to developfluency in reading
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www.researchgate.net www.researchgate.net
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An interesting new extension of this work is Pretorius and Spaull(2016), who undertook the first large scale analysis of oral reading fluency inEnglish. Regardless of the assessment tool, the majority of South African childrenperform extremely poorly in reading, writing and mathematics in the early phasesof primary education (Fleisch, 2008; Spaull, 2013b, 2010; Taylor and Yu, 2009;van der Berg, 2008). Beyond the low results across the system, it is characterisedby a stark bimodal distribution (Fleisch, 2012; van der Berg, 2008; Taylor and Yu,2009; Spaull, 2013a.) The wealthiest quintile of schools is producing some readingresults, while the remaining schools are strikingly non-productive. The wordbimodal is used to suggest that the current system of public education representstwo distinct universes of schools – a small universe serving 20% of the nation’schildren and a vast universe of schools serving the remaining childre
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www.readingbarometersa.org www.readingbarometersa.org
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apitalise on the opportunities that digital reading offers for free reading material distribution. It is however not areplacement for making print reading materials accessibleDBE, NLSA, Civil society, Department ofSports, Arts and Culture, NECT, Nal’ibali,Publishing and reading materialsdistribution industry2 Support digital reading by• Recognising that all forms of reading can co-exist• Encouraging the linkages between reading types• Rolling out public wifi, reducing the cost of data, and zero-rating websites with educational and readingmaterials• Shifting the narrative about people not reading due to social media and digital devices and recognising thatreading to communicate (digitally) can co-exist with and reinforce other forms of reading, such as readinglonger texts in printNLSA, Civil society, Department of Sports,Arts and Culture, NECT, Nal’ibali3 The majority of South Africans read to communicate via social media and WhatsApp. Use these existingcommunication channels to make reading attractive and share information about where to access other readingmaterialsNLSA, Civil society, Department of Sports,Arts and Culture, NECT, Nal’ibali
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www.sciencedirect.com www.sciencedirect.com
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An exception is a recent study showing that children’s listening comprehension was uniquely related to text reading fluency after accounting for list reading fluency for first graders. However, this unique relation appears to depend on children’s developmental level of word reading proficiency such that listening comprehension was uniquely related to text reading fluency only for skilled word readers but not for average word readers in first grade (Kim et al., 2011). Thus, a certain level of word reading proficiency might be needed for listening comprehension to play a role in text reading fluency. These results lend support to the verbal efficiency theory (Perfetti, 1985, Perfetti, 1992), which posits that children’s word reading proficiency influences the consolidation of fluency component skills. For readers with slow and nonautomatic word reading, word reading will constrain meaning construction processes in text reading fluency and reading comprehension. For children with skilled word reading, cognitive resources are available for meaning construction (i.e., comprehension), thereby allowing listening comprehension to be related to text reading fluency (Kim et al., 2011).
I need to look at whether stories or lists are better for my age group. Or both?
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reading prosody is an important aspect of reading fluency
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Numerous studies have shown strong correlations between oral reading fluency and reading comprehension
(e.g., Fuchs et al., 2001, Kim et al., 2010, Kim et al., 2011, National Institute of Child Health, 2000, Ridel, 2007, Roehrig et al., 2008) - studies that have shown correlations between oral reading fluency and reading comprehension.
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text reading fluency (oral reading fluency and silent reading fluency)
Text reading fluency which is both oral reading fluency and silent reading fluency
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text reading fluency was uniquely related to reading comprehension in Grade 2, but not in Grade 1, after accounting for list reading fluency and listening comprehension.
Text reading fluency related to reading comprehension in Grade 2
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reading fluency
reading fluency was uniquely related to reading comprehension in Grade 1, but not in Grade 2,
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www.woman-of-letters.com www.woman-of-letters.com
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Great Books tend to arise in the presence of great audiences. by [[Naomi Kanakia]]
Kanakia looks at what may have made 19th C. Russian literature great. This has potential pieces to say about how other cultures had higher than usual rates of creativity in art, literature, etc.
What commonalities did these sorts of societies have? Were they all similar or were there broad ranges of multiple factors which genetically created these sorts of great outputs?
Could it have been just statistical anomaly?
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