T

May 20th

QUALITY OVER    QUANTITY

“What’s the point   of  having  countless   books   and libraries,  whose   titles  could   hardly  be  read

through in  a   lifetime.   The learner is  not taught, but burdened    by  the sheer   volume, and it’s    better

to  plant   the seeds   of  a   few authors than    to  be  scattered   about   by  many.”

—SENECA,    ON  TRANQUILITY OF  MIND,   9.4

here is no prize for having read the most books before you die. Even if you were the most dedicated
reader in the world—a book a day, even—your collection would probably never be bigger than a
small branch library. You’ll never even come close to matching what’s stored in the servers at Google
Books or keep up with the hundreds of thousands of new titles published on Amazon each year.
What if, when it came to your reading and learning, you prioritized quality over quantity? What if you
read the few great books deeply instead of briefly skimming all the new books? Your shelves might be
emptier, but your brain and your life would be fuller.