The Meaning of the Demanding Reader

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The demanding reader is slowed down and given time to think by the books instead of being rushed up by the Internet.

  • Inside my vault, I’ve already discussed who a demanding reader is, what his role entails, and have meditated on this extensively. The number of notes where ideas about him have accumulated is staggering.
    • In short, he embodies several traits that distinguish him as an exceptional reader.
      • He skims much more than he thoroughly reads.
        • The usual dichotomy between a non-reader and a reader.
      • He is a discerning reader, which means that he adopts a particular attitude towards any wisdom.
        • Even when he is critical of the writer, it doesn’t mean that there is no mutual respect.
      • But most importantly, he designs situational models that can be applied to the conditions he exists in.
  • It’s not the person who merely decodes symbols from paper, but the one who is devoted to the act of reading itself.
    • And by the act of reading, I mean the process of discovering one’s own wisdom.
  • Aristotle wrote that a good society lives three lives, each of which can be ascribed to a demanding reader in a certain way:
    • The life of knowledge and productivity.
    • The life of entertainment.
      • For a reader, everything is a game; a demanding reader doesn’t regard someone else’s wisdom as immutable. Quite the opposite, for him, a book is a scenario that can be altered and a proposition that needs to be tested and evaluated for its merit.
    • The life of contemplation.
      • What has the reader absorbed, and how should he live?
      • In a certain respect, it’s an ethical question, akin to the one I ask myself more often lately.
        • What have I accomplished, and how should I proceed with my life?

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