3 ms·
I don't know how restricting yourself to the western canon makes you small minded. The western canon is, of course, huge and enormously varied. In any case, I
by bloat 8y ago
I don't know how restricting yourself to the western canon makes you small minded. The western canon is, of course, huge and enormously varied.
In any case, I didn't get the impression he was restricting himself. He describes going into book shops picking up any book he happened to light upon. My feeling was that he had decided not to beat himself up if these books did not encompass everything in the entire world. After all, isn't that the central premise - life is short?
Your alternative subtitle is unnecessarily mean-spirited. I don't believe he was claiming to be in any way remarkable, in the end he was simply describing how he loves books.
- unstuckdev 8y agoConceits creep in if you only read one perspective. Think about all the people who think Western culture is the source of all civilization because they only read things that affirm that view. Any given culture's canon is big in volume, but small in context.
- colonelpopcorn 8y agoStill, I imagine it's better to read your culture's canon of thought only than none at all. Obviously you're not going to get a diverse perspective on life that way, but you might get a perspective that isn't totally informed by id or media.
- ycombinete 8y agoNot only that, but the “Western Canon”, is most certainly not written by one culture.