What Shall Workingmen Read?

A BTB reader recently sent me this article, first published in March of 1869 by the Manufacturer and Builder Magazine. Although I don't agree with everything the writer has to say, I think it's a thought-provoking and profitable look at the importance of what we read.

What Shall Workingmen Read?

For those who have the leisure to read much, the question of choice is not so important as it is to the laboring man. Of course, the mind is weakened and the character impaired by the perusal of immoral or even of trifling and worthless books; but this evil is not so great, if such literature only forms a small part of an omnivorous course of reading. We often meet people who read every thing, and nothing seems to do them any harm. It is true, that such persons get almost as little good as harm from their morbid activity in this direction. They do not digest what they read; they do not derive from it any stimulus to independent and fruitful thinking; and in proportion as they cram themselves with the opinions of others, they cease to have any of their own. The best thinkers are not the greediest readers. But on the other hand, those who are able from the nature of their occupations to read but little have double reason to make that little effective for good. To them the question, What shall I read? is one of vital importance. We do not propose to answer it with a cast-iron formula; rules of that kind are seldom applicable to individual cases. But a few general remarks and suggestions may throw light upon the matter, and aid the individual judgment in forming a decision.

First of all, we think it highly important to make some choice. A little reflection will show that the majority of people in this country do nothing of the kind. They read what they come across. They do not stop, in purchasing a book or drawing it from the circulating library, to compare it with some other, and decide which is preferable, or which should be read first in point of time. The principal exception to this rule is the case of romantic young people, who have just finished some exciting novel which leaves the hero neither married nor dead, according to the good old fashion, but promises a further development of his fate in a sequel; and this sequel they pursue with furious zeal, until they capture it. But in history, science, or any other branch of literature, there seems to be little thought of proper sequences. One reason for this general haphazard way of reading is the fact that this generation has been overwhelmed suddenly with the flood of cheap literature before the ways of the last generation have died out. Our fathers could not well choose what they would read. They read what books there might be on a single shelf in the family homestead, and what they could borrow from their neighbors. Great public libraries, and, still more great private libraries, were unknown to them. And now that even the poor man can have his selection for a dollar out of the whole range of English literature, he continues to do what his ancestors did - spend his dollar on the thing he happens upon, not the thing he seeks after.

In making a choice, it is to be borne in mind that one class of reading is stimulating and another is edifying. Both are necessary. In the first class we include novels, essays, magazines, and to some extent newspapers. These things arouse the mind to interest in particular subjects; but they do not train it in the knowledge of those subjects. On the other hand, what are called standard works in history, science, art, etc., are frequently but dry reading to those whose fancy has not been touched by the lighter productions of ephemeral literature. Some severe judges condemn light reading altogether. Their number is fast decreasing, however, and the other extreme is numerously represented by those who disdain every thing that is not popular in style. The bigotry of beef without mustard is giving place to the bigotry of mustard without beef.

Now, the man who has but little time to read should seek first of all to become interested in some worthy subject. If it be in the direction of natural science, so much the better. Nature rewards our study of her with immediate dividends of pleasure as well as profit. If his taste lead him to history, very well; the study of man is the noblest study of mankind. But having received the impulse, let him follow it, not fritter it away in receiving a new one to some other pursuit.

We think every workman should know something of the literature of his craft, but that is part of his work; and he should also, as a matter of recreation, follow some course of reading outside. This will keep his mind from becoming narrow and one-sided by too exclusive attention to his particular business.

One prevalent weakness in America is the inordinate reading of newspapers. This stimulates in all directions and rarely educates in any. We boast of having the largest dailies in the world, and not content with their mammoth pages, we multiply the nuisance of triple sheets, till the public spends half its waking hours in trying to keep up with the lightning press. Every man one meets has the morning paper bulging from his pocket. He wrestles with it in vain at breakfast; it is too much for him at lunch; it will intrude itself for supplementary consideration at dinner, and he will fall asleep in the evening over its last column, to wake in the morning and find another like it, but all unread, upon his doorstep. Yet no sensible man believes what he finds in the papers. What they give is news, not truth, and the publication of an erroneous statement on Monday, of its correction on Tuesday, and of editorial insinuations thereat on Wednesday, yields interesting matter for three days, whereas the truth would have been best served by silence, which, however, pays no dividends. The conductors of newspapers are scarcely to blame for this state of things. It is forced upon them by the public; men have come to demand not only the record, but also the gossip of the day. "On dit" is the "thus saith the Lord" of our modern oracles.

But most unfortunate of all, the metropolitan newspapers furnish editorials, essays, and reviews of high literary merit, in great abundance. The gossip can be dismissed by a skillful reader with a glance; but these erudite and brilliant articles seem to demand attention. Yet we must sorrowfully confess that they are not the safest basis for knowledge. They stimulate and interest, but do not train the mind.

We recommend to every man, but especially to the man of comparatively little business for reading, the following experiments. Let him choose a subject to which his taste inclines, and then select a standard book on that subject for study. Let him thoroughly master the acknowledged facts in the case, and, make up his own opinion about them. Let him learn by experience how to read up on the subject, and become gradually acquainted with its history and relations. We think he will find himself guided into a course of reading as agreeable as it is profitable.

There is an order of importance among subjects of study. Those which most intimately concern the physical and moral welfare of the individual, the family, and the State, claim a front rank. But no violence need be done to the natural inclinations. Let every man learn enough of these things to be a good workman, parent, and citizen, and then let him follow to greater degrees of accomplishment the branches he likes best.

Know something thoroughly, and you have unlocked the gate into the vast garden of universal knowledge. Failing to do this, you are perpetually making the circuit outside, and only gazing at the fruits that hang over the wall.

Thanks to Drake L. for sending me this article!

Tueri a vulnere,

John Horn