Tl;dr: "Reading was held to be extremely important, but the number of new books one read was entirely by the by. This wasn’t principally an economic point. Book

Tl;dr: "Reading was held to be extremely important, but the number of new books one read was entirely by the by. This wasn’t principally an economic point. Books were very expensive of course, but this wasn’t really the issue. What mattered was to read a few books very well, not squander one’s attention promiscuously on a great number of volumes." Reading deeply and critically is important; to do otherwise is to just let the words wash over you without leaving an impression. Reading promiscuously was regarded as bad historically not because it squandered attention but because most books were considered full of lies and the majority of readers couldn't be trusted to separate the truth from falsehood. On the other hand, if your dozen books are made up of Ayn Rand, Malcolm Gladwell, and Seth Godin, you may find that your worldview is as limited as any medieval scholastic.