Introduction
Listed below is an essay by John Ruskin. The following article is a description of what makes a good book, written by the author herself. He’s stressed the importance of education and reading material. The author argues that education is the key to success in life.
Book
Summary
The following essay is a discussion on the value of a great book. According to the author, most recently published works are little more than well-written letters and newspapers.
The newspaper is great for a morning read and letters from pals might be funny, but neither can replace a good book. The author argues that a book is written not for the purpose of conveying information but rather for posterity.
The book serves two purposes: to disseminate the idea to a wide audience and to archive the information for future generations. This is the thing or things that have become clear to him throughout the course of his life; this is the actual knowledge or sight that he has been granted by the total of his time in the sun and on the earth.
If you read carefully, you will find the genuine articles; these are the books, says the author. The author claims that the best novels are written by the greatest minds and leaders of their day.
One may learn as much as he wants from books since they contain a limitless amount of information. It’s true that a good book may lead you in many different directions. One may rise to any level of success and esteem he sets his mind to. For the wise, there will always be other brilliant minds to converse with.
One must not interpret or try to discover his own meaning, but rather he must delve deeply into the concepts of the philosophers expressed in the book. A person should only read books authored by more knowledgeable authors. The quality of a book should not be used as a criteria for its worth.
So it makes no sense that nobody has thought of it that way before. One cannot reach the meaning of the author at once, because the author does not tell everything plainly, he uses hidden ways to check the enthusiasm of the reader. Before reading a good book, one should make his mind like an Australian miner, and work tiresomely to find the metal he is in search of. The metal being the author’s mind or meaning, his words are like the rock which one has to crush and smelt in order to get at it. In the end, one should always remember that the world chosen well can do a lot more than many useless works. Knowledge can only be attained by reading good books.
Textbook Question and Answers
1. What, according to Ruskin, are the limitations of the good book of the hour?
Ans: According to the author, the limitations of good books of the hour are that they are just like newspapers and magazines but well printed. A good book is one which conveys the message to a big mass.
2. What are the criteria that Ruskin feels that readers should fulfil to make themselves fit for the company of the Dead?
Ans: Hard-working readers are fit for the company of the dead. Society’s wealth and name fame cannot buy compassion but rather love and kind thought does the work.
3. Why does Ruskin feel that reading the work of a good author is a painstaking task?
Ans: A good reader does not keep his ideas on the surface, rather only a hard-working reader can detect the underlying meaning. The reader should be patient in order to understand the real meaning of life. A reader is compared to a gold miner he needs to dig in deep in order to reach the area of value and importance.
4. What is the emphasis placed by Ruskin on accuracy?
Ans: An educated person is different from an uneducated one as he knows what to read and what to ignore. The educated man is aware of the pronunciation and word usage which is unknown to an educated man. A person without knowledge is not well doing.
Extra Questions:
1. What is the role of books in making people civilized?
Ans: According to the author, books play a vital role in civilizing an individual. A person who has read some good books will know the true meaning of his knowledge and he will apply his knowledge precisely. The educated men will make a better society and embrace his culture as well.
2. Why did the author differentiate a good book from letters and newspapers?
Ans: The author differentiated a good book from letters and newspapers because they are not relevant for a long time. The reach of newspapers and newsletters ends fast but a good book is relevant forever.
3. Why is the author correlating the reader with an Australian miner?
Ans: The author is trying to say that, just like an Australian miner, a reader should work tiresomely on finding the meaning of the author. The words of the authors are like stones, which a reader has to crush to find the true meaning. And pickaxes are readers’ own care, wit and learning; their smelting furnace is your own thoughtful soul.