Takeaway: The background to a book can be as interesting as the book itself (so read those epilogues and acknowledgements and introductions, they are often important.)
I really intended to re-read The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction this summer. I have lots of good intentions with my reading. But I often get distracted (squirrel!) with other books.
I also forgot that I bought Reverting to Type nearly 18 months ago, right after Jacobs released it. I stumbled on it again last week and read it on a quick Friday afternoon (it is only 32 pages).
The Pleasures of Reading is a very freeing book, focusing on rediscovering reading as a pleasure, not a chore. And Reverting to Type is more of a personal description of the same thing.
Jacobs is an English prof (25 years at Wheaton and moving to Baylor this fall). So after giving the reader a description of his family background in reading (involving lots of westerns, science fiction and detective novels). He talked about how he became a professor and began teaching. What was important for this essay (and related to the Pleasures of Reading) was that once when he was frustrated in grad school and again later as a professor he realized that the pleasure of the ‘genre fiction’ was valuable.
Like The Pleasures of Reading, Jacobs holds onto the value of reading according to your ‘whims’ while still seeking to encourage you to read widely and keep learning. This is a good (short) look at why reading outside your particular areas is important. This is not only important to fulfill your whims but to influence you to think broadly about your own particular areas of expertise by thinking differently about things that you are not expert in.
This is only $0.99. If you have already read Pleasures of Reading, you should pick this up. If you have not read Pleasures of Reading, you need to pick that up! (As of right now you can borrow my kindle copy of Pleasures of Reading .)
Reverting to Type Purchase Links: Kindle Edition
Related Bookwi.se Book Reviews
- The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction by Alan Jacobs
- A Visit to Vanity Fair: Moral Essays on the Present Age by Alan Jacobs
- Original Sin: A Cultural History by Alan Jacobs
