BayardRowntree
Reflecting on the title of our first book, How To Talk About Books You Haven’t Read, my hope was to find some practical tools that would provide an efficient mechanism to get through all the anticipated, required, and copious reading. While I enjoy reading, articulating main points comes with laborious effort because of my desire to prove that I know what I read. To my surprise, the book offered no hands-on tools, only a theoretical understanding and new orientation of what it means to have conversation around books that are UB (unknown books), SB (skimmed books), HB (heard about books), and FB (forgotten books). The surprise soon moved to being enthralled. According to Bayard, the purpose of reading does not lie in the ability to articulate details, even main ideas at times, but rather the opening up of dialogue that brings wisdom with how ideas connect to one another from our own world to another. In this new perspective, I discovered a freedom that changes how I think and approach reading.
The freedom comes in the way of expression with others as Bayard articulates through his stories that have been UB, SB, HB, and even, FB. I love books, always have. Yet can I remember them all? Do I have time to read them all? No. For books I’ve read, it is embarrassing to not be able to recall the points by the author, a quick damper to conversation about the book. But for whatever reason the book was appealing in the first place – the title, the cover, the topic, the author – I now have the freedom to talk about them even when I haven’t read them in their entirety. Rather than specific details to prove what I’ve read, I can bring to mind how it impacted me emotionally, spiritually, and mentally which opens up dialogue for creative expression.
My only fear in this new freedom of speaking about something conceptually without all the specifics relates to humility. Unless non-reading is offered in humility, it can become the very violence that Bayard speaks about when someone knows all the details about a book. I tested Bayard’s theory the other day when someone asked me about the authorship of Hebrews. While I know bits and pieces, such as it’s not conclusive who the author is, I still ventured out to offer my own theory from my “inner library” that there may have been a multitude of contributors with Paul overseeing it all. My friend who is an avid scholar, but not necessarily a biblical one, looked at me a bit skewed since I’m typically not one to so confidently offer an idea. Two thoughts went through my head at that moment. First, I enjoyed having something to offer in the way of conversation. Simultaneously, I assumed I “failed” in my experiment with his skeptical expression. Only when he emailed me later about an email he sent to a couple of biblical scholars, that is when I realized the true purpose of talking about books you haven’t read, or consider myself an expert. My discovery in that experiment refreshingly opened up conversation, not only for myself but for my friend’s circle. While I hope to hold onto a humility in being honest about not knowing everything, I also hope to continue the conversation.
With Bayard’s book, I am grateful for this platform by which to approach the rest of the doctorate program with the DMINLGP. While laughing through most of the book, I found Bayard’s sardonic approach to conversation around non-reading opening up pathways for me. With confidence, I can speak about non-read books because it involves more than simply comprehending the main ideas, it’s how the material relates to my own world and then to someone else’s world. The paradox of reading (or non-reading) reflects that what I begin to understand affects me as much as I affect it. I would even go so far as to say that what occurs transcends the book: it changes me. That’s why I’ve always believed that we don’t find books, they find us.
What better way to start a doctorate program than to be open to what will engage my heart and head, whether it’s through reading (or non-reading), dialogues, writing papers, and/or community involvement. I ended the book with a sense of new freedom in how to negotiate all the material we will handle over the next three years+. The idea that “the discussion of unread books places us at the heart of the creative process, by leading us back to its source…find[ing] the strength to invent his own text.” Pg. 180 Perhaps I did receive some hands-on tools I never knew I needed.
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As for Rowntree, I have used much of his material not only for my own education but for the students I teach. The traditional SQ3R is a good reminder of how to approach anything – reading, lecture, conversation. What was the most helpful this time around was the specific tool of how to read by increasing the size of the recognition span. While I’ve been a relatively fast reader most of my life, the actual tool of looking at phrases somehow disciplines my brain a bit more.
About the Author
Mary Pandiani
Spiritual Director, educator/facilitator, follower of Jesus, a cultivator of sacred space for those who want to encounter God8 responses to “BayardRowntree”
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Thanks Mary. You said “[f]or books I’ve read, it is embarrassing to not be able to recall the points by the author, a quick damper to conversation about the book.” Your honesty in this regard is both helpful and refreshing to me. Your cautionary observation that humility will be enable us to not push the pendulum too far in the other direction is duly noted and well-received as well! Let’s not become a bunch of pointy-headed smart-alecs, right?
Jon
Thanks Mary for bringing humility into the conversation. It’s such an important part of how we carry ourselves on a daily basis and it should be no different when it comes to learning/thinking/understanding.
Great post Mary! I love your comments about freedom. When I meet other people, I am most impressed by those who can honestly share their opinions…even if it isn’t their area of expertise. My view is that it is better to engage and learn through conversation with others, than to always learn everything on my own. As iron sharpens iron… I’m sure that each of us will struggle to understand every book we read. It is nice to know that we can complement each other’s knowledge base through engaging in the books together. What I miss in my non-reading will probably be gained by someone else who can set me straight!
Mary, I could not agree more on the caution and humility front. In my pre-thinking for my writing, I had intentions of addressing the same issue and humility was the exact word I believe to be necessary to steward Bayard’s philosophy on reading and talking about books.
Without humility, things could get out of hand real quick couldn’t they?
J
Mary, I appreciate your personal tone and bright reflection on Bayard’s book. Humility or pride are certainly at play when it comes to knowledge and how we communicate it. Or in your words how we move it into the the conversation. If I’m engage someone with my always “limited” knowledge about a book or any other subject, and I’m trying to bring esteem to myself by what I know – well that’s “knowledge that puffs up”. On the other hand I can engage in any conversation, with my limited understanding with a humble heart, with the other person in mind then I’m esteeming them… just a thought.
Dave, I was thinking the same thing in regard to humility. Are we talking about books we haven’t read in order to benefit ourselves through looking smart and well-read or are we making educated comments that will benefit others by moving them to discover more?
I really enjoyed your post Mary! I like to read too but most of the times only things I like or have to become aware of. Its good to hear you love to read and that you are a fast reader. As you said its good to start this program with books that are so necessary as we have a lot of books in front of us. I am looking forward to putting the practical things we have learned from this book to work and I hope it proves beneficial in the long run. Blessings!