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A life spent reading - Tommy Dixon

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Information and food are near-perfect metaphors. Humans are information foragers. The same brain circuit squirrels use to find nuts, humans have for information. But, like food, even if I perfect the quality of my information diet with pinpoint precision, I can still consume too much. Even if I only eat broccoli and brussels sprouts or read only Shakespeare and Cervantes, I can still gluttonously gorge until I feel sick. Banquets lead to bitter desserts. And, similar to diet, it's not as simple as saying "eat better" or "eat less". Humans are forgetful creatures. ~~~ Literature is loaded with characters who laboured endlessly in their libraries to become learned, but were ultimately unfunctional and incomplete individuals. Mr. Bennet in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice spent his afternoons locked in his oak office, preferring the company of Walt Whitman to his wife, calm and content, while his household descended into chaos1. Prospero, in Shakespeare's The Tempest, was too absorbed in

Essays A life spent reading is it a good life? Tommy Dixon Mar 01, 2025 263 38 56 Share Who would call a day spent reading a good day? But a life spent reading -- that is a good life. ― Annie Dillard But knowledge is as food, and needs no less Her temperance over appetite ― John Milton Reading old woman at window (Abraham van Strij) One of my biggest fears is that I’ll spend my whole life reading and little of it living. Information and food are near-perfect metaphors. Humans are information foragers. The same brain circuit squirrels use to find nuts, humans have for information. But, like foo

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