A PERSONAL VIEW ON: “In The Lonely, Good Company of Books” by Richard Rodriguez
The piece of literature brings out efforts and struggles in reading tough or difficult books. From Rodriguez’s experience which tells us that reading difficult books for a sense of self-achievement is not a good way to read. On his part, Rodriguez just reads for a sense of accomplishment as it brings him confidence after helping him to conquer the awkward silence during reading time. The idea that “books will make [him] ‘educated’” helps him “to overcome [his] fear of silence” while reading. He never knew what kinds of books were most interesting to him. He blindly followed the book list without even realizing what he needed. What Rodriguez was enthusiastic about was never the content of the book but the ability to claim that he had finished it. He mocks the experience by ironically describing his feeling after reading with “in a ceremony of great pride”.
The writer drew our
attention to the fact that, when reading, we must read for knowledge and
understanding. We should focus on the content rather than rushing to finish
without any knowledge or making any meaning. Sadly, that has become the
attribute of many readers, especially students. Reading is accomplishing when
it is done to acquire more knowledge than to show off that we know. One must be
active in reading and being an active reader helps you to raise arguments and
contribute more effectively.
Also, the ideal of “it
is not good to write in books” implanted in us which sometimes limits our
understanding was perfectly portrayed by the writer. He was told to “consider
books your best friend” and “don’t write in [his] books” when he was young.
This according to Rodriguez does not help in understanding what we read because
we just read without making any mark or reference. At least marking in a book
helps one to easily make references and this has contributed to the development
of poor reading attitude of most people.
In matching Rodriguez’s
argument to that of Adler’s claim in “How to Mark a Book” claiming that the
best way to have the “full ownership” of a book is to “write in it” seems
convincing. It is true that readers are more likely to be observers just
looking for what is going on in the content of books without enough critical thinking.
As explicitly said by Rodriguez, It seems that books need respect, not
understanding, which is a totally wrong conception with respect to learning.
This goes to develop the theory that people who base on the completion of books
reading as achievement or accomplishment are less knowledgeable than those who
focus on the content. Marking or writing in a book helps one to break the
content down for understanding.
I could not have agreed
less with Rodriguez; however, it is also important to note that not all books
are easy to comprehend no matter how attentive you are to the content. This is
relatable to some course books; you do not have a choice. I share in Rodriguez believe
that, books “were crucial for [his] academic success” after he failed to understand
tough books in a deeper sense. It actually took me some years after reading
some books before I could understand them despite several reads. Haha! I don’t
want to refer to some of my course books like “Jurisprudence”, so funny how I
struggled to pass my exams.
Rodriguez made us
understand that the only way to make a book your friend is to read for
understanding. If one understands a book, whenever you see it, it reminds you
of something interesting and makes you feel happy about the book. In Rodriguez
case, the tension with his “friend” the book started first and then they became
better “friends” later on.
This is to say, we cannot just give up on a “friend” (a book) due to its difficult nature, but strive to become better “friends”. Good luck on your readings.
DAD Ideas
The idea that books shouldn't be 'defiled' by marking them in any way goes back to when they were as 'costly' as mobile phones may be today. They were the prime media of the 19th and 20th Centuries. But annotations in books help a reader to build their own connections to subjects and events in their lives. This is what makes the book come alive and, further, tells anyone who gets that book something about the person that owned it before.
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