"Some Books are To Be Tasted ; Others Swallowed; Some Few To be chewed And Digested" (Bacon)

The stream of books, coming out from the printing presses, goes on increasing. To read even the smallest fraction of these is impossible. We have to pick and choose. We must know how to devote our time and attention to book-reading, with the type of books that we happen to light upon, to have the best possible use of time. Bacon, one of the wisest of men, gives us a significant guide-line. He has classified different attitudes to different types of books. A lover of books should have to cultivate taste. He should not read at random or voraciously all that is served up to him. He should select the best and reject others according to their importance. 

There are some books which we need only taste. We turn over the pages of such books, read a page here and a passage there, and then put it by. If we are practiced in the art of sampling by casual or superficial reading, we can find out immediately whether we are required to read the book through or to glance and glide over. It is good to glance through the index or the blurb and select interesting or instructive topics. A really good book will soon attract us to read it from cover to cover. But it is bad to browse through all books. For time is short but art is long. 

There are many books which have to be swallowed, have to be hastily read. They are, not meant to be permanent companions. These are usually topical publications dealing with matters of passing interest. 

There are some books, again, says Bacon, that are to be chewed. We have got to read them in between the lines and understand them, thoroughly. We underline passages and we make notes. These are usually books of information. 

But there are a few books that we have to digest. We absorb them in our mind ; we assimilate them into our thought. They become part and parcel of our intellectual equipment and mastery. They deal with fundamental ideas, with basic problems. Just as well-digested food makes for a healthy body, so well-digested books build up a healthy mind. These books, of course, are the memorable books that have received the stamp of readers down the ages. They not only enrich the mind, they expand its scope. It is to these books that we should devote most of our time and attention. Even when we have finished reading them, they vibrate in our memory and stimulate our thoughts.

Thus has Bacon, in one sentence, summed up what our attitude to books should be. If we follow his instruction, books will cease to be burdensome or boring ; instead they become a healthy tonic.

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