WEBVTT - 10 Reading Tips from TR 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:05.800 History Versus is a production of I Heart Radio and 0:00:06.160 --> 0:00:13.680 Mental Flaws. Theodore Roosevelt once reportedly said that reading with 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:16.599 me is a disease, and indeed you could find the 0:00:16.600 --> 0:00:19.680 twenty six president of the United States himself, the author 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:23.560 of more than thirty books, reading basically everywhere in front 0:00:23.560 --> 0:00:26.439 of the fire, in bed, in his train car. On 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:30.120 hunting trips for a year long safari in Africa, for example, 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:32.880 he brought along a trunk of sixty books, and even 0:00:32.920 --> 0:00:36.199 when pursuing both thieves in the Dakota bad Lands in 0:00:36.240 --> 0:00:38.760 that case, he started with Anna Karenina and when he 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:41.600 finished that borrowed a dime novel from one of the thieves. 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:44.920 From an early age, he devoured almost any book he 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:47.880 could get his hands on, from main reads, adventure novels 0:00:47.920 --> 0:00:51.320 and David Livingstone's missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa, 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:54.640 to James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans and 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:58.160 Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, to poetry by 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:01.320 the likes of Samuel Taylor, Coleridge and Edwin Arlington. Robinson 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:04.720 as an adult, Tier read several books at a time 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:07.720 even when he was busy, usually finishing around a book 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:10.440 a day, and sometimes more, flicking through two to three 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:12.959 pages a minute. He was so absorbed when he was 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:15.360 reading that he wouldn't even hear his own name being called. 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:19.280 Biographer Edmund Morris writes that nothing short of a thump 0:01:19.319 --> 0:01:23.360 on the back would regain his attention. Tr owned many 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:27.399 many books, and accounting of all the Roosevelt family's books 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:31.160 at Sagamore Hill with seventy seven pages long seventy seven 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:36.160 Tier acknowledged in his autobiography that books are everywhere. There 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:37.840 are as many in the north room and in the 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:40.679 parlor as in the library. The gun room at the 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:42.720 top of the house contains more books than any of 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:45.840 the other rooms. The books have overflowed into all the 0:01:45.840 --> 0:01:49.560 other rooms too. In nineteen fifteen, Ladies Home Journal asked 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:52.240 the former president to pen a piece titled the Books 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:54.640 that I Read and When and How I do my reading. 0:01:55.560 --> 0:02:00.000 This piece is a gift. It's so delightful. Roosevelt, who's 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:01.960 said that he didn't follow any plan when it came 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:05.280 to reading, caution that it would be impossible to try 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:07.920 to enumerate all the books I read, or even all 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:11.080 the kinds which given how quickly he could read, and 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:15.160 how curious he was doesn't seem to be hyperbole. That said, 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:17.960 he did have some practical advice for readers, And in 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:20.320 this bonus episode of History Verses, we're going to go 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:22.440 through a few of them. Some of them you might 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:24.800 want to follow, and some of you might want to disregard. 0:02:25.040 --> 0:02:27.120 But they're all a fascinating glimpse into the mind of 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:30.960 one of the biggest bibliophiles in history. Okay, let's get started. 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:42.680 Tip number one train yourself to read the classics. Tr 0:02:42.760 --> 0:02:46.200 wrote that if anyone finds that he never reads serious literature, 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:49.440 if all his reading is frothy and trashy, he would 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:51.880 do well to try to train himself to like books 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:55.080 that the general agreement of cultivated and sound thinking persons 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:58.639 has placed among the classics. Let man or woman, young 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:02.239 man or girl read some good author until sustained mental 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:06.120 effort brings power to enjoy the books worth enjoying. According 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:08.400 to tr only when this has been done can the 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:11.840 reader trust himself to pick out for himself the particular 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:16.959 good books which appeal to him. Tip number two, find 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:19.720 a few minutes to read every day. You think you're 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:22.320 too busy to read well. That was not an excuse 0:03:22.360 --> 0:03:26.079 Theodore Roosevelt would have accepted. If he could make time well, 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:29.040 you can make time to Tier wrote that he typically 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:31.320 read for half an hour before bed, but he didn't 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:34.920 dream of limiting himself to just that short window. All 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:37.280 kinds of odd moments turn up during even a busy 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:39.720 day in which it is possible to enjoy a book, 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:42.600 he wrote. And then there are rainy afternoons in the 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:46.040 country in autumn, and stormy days in winter, when one's 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:48.440 work outdoors is finished, and after wet clothes have been 0:03:48.520 --> 0:03:51.320 changed for dry, the rocking chair in front of the 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:55.680 open wood fire simply demands an accompanying book. It's hard 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:59.520 to disagree with him. There tip number three, don't read 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:02.240 which you don't like. When choosing a book to read, 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:05.920 Roosevelt noted that the reader's personal and individual taste must 0:04:05.920 --> 0:04:09.120 be the guiding factor. He compared taste in books to 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:12.680 taste in food. He wrote that while he liked apples, pears, 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:16.640 and oranges, he disliked bananas and prunes, adding at times 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:19.080 and the tropics, I have been exceedingly sorry I could 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:21.719 not learn to like bananas, and on roundups in the 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:23.840 cow country in the old days, it was even more 0:04:23.920 --> 0:04:26.800 unfortunate not to like prunes. But I simply could not 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:29.120 make myself like either, and that was all there was 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:32.120 to it. Roosevelt went on to say that of the 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:34.719 books he had most recently tried to read, he could 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:38.440 read Guy Mannering, The Antiquary Pen, Dennis Vanity Fair, Our 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:42.080 Mutual Friend, and the Pickwick Papers over and over, but 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:44.960 he did not care for Fortunes of Nigel Esmond, and 0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:48.440 The Old Curiosity Shop. I have no question that the 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:50.480 latter three books are as good as the first six, 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:53.640 he wrote. Doubtless for other people they are better, but 0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:55.880 I do not like them anymore than I like prunes 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:59.840 and bananas. He concluded that at my age, I might 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:02.960 will own up at least to myself, to my limitations, 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:07.279 and read the books I thoroughly enjoy. Tip number four, 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:09.400 don't look down on people who don't like the same 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:13.159 books as you. Books are almost as individual as friends, 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:16.760 Tire wrote in his autobiography, adding that some meet the 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:19.320 needs of one person and some of another, and each 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:21.800 person should be aware of the book lover's besetting sin 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:25.159 of what Mr Edgar Allan Poe calls the mad pride 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:28.479 of intellectuality, taking the shape of arrogant pity for the 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:30.400 man who does not like the same kind of books. 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:34.520 Given this mindset, it's no surprise that Tier had what 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:38.039 he described as no sympathy for concepts like one hundred 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:41.320 best Books in the five foot library, the concept created 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:43.120 by a Harvard president that a person could get a 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:45.960 liberal education by reading fifty one set books that fit 0:05:46.000 --> 0:05:49.040 on a five foot shelf. Tr wrote in his autobiography 0:05:49.080 --> 0:05:51.040 that it is all right for a man to amuse 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:53.840 himself by composing a list of a hundred very good books. 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:56.160 But there is no such thing as a hundred books 0:05:56.160 --> 0:05:58.520 that are best for all men, or for the majority 0:05:58.520 --> 0:06:01.359 of men, or for one and at all times. And 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:03.440 there is no such thing as a five foot library 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:05.960 which will satisfy the needs of even one particular man 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:10.760 on different occasions extending over a number of years. Tip 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:13.120 number five, you don't have to read books that are 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:16.560 recommended to you. As we've discussed, Tear found reading and 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:20.320 choosing books to be a highly personal pursuit. He wrote 0:06:20.320 --> 0:06:24.080 in his autobiography that the reader, the book lover, must 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:26.479 meet his own needs without paying too much attention to 0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:29.520 what his neighbors say those needs should be. In his 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:32.479 Ladies Home Journal piece, he noted that suggestions of a 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:36.640 possibly helpful character can be made by outsiders, but only suggestions, 0:06:37.120 --> 0:06:39.560 and they will probably be helpful about in proportion to 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:42.400 the outsider's knowledge of the mind and soul of the 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:45.920 person to be helped. In other words, you're the best 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:48.680 person to choose the books you want to read, So 0:06:48.800 --> 0:06:50.719 if a friend recommends a book that doesn't seem like 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:52.880 your thing, don't feel guilty for not picking it up. 0:06:54.040 --> 0:07:02.440 We'll be right back. So far, Theodore Roosevelt has advised 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:04.839 us to read the classics and pay no mind to 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:08.040 book recommendations. Ready for some more reading tips from tr 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:12.720 Here we go Tip number six, read what you're in 0:07:12.760 --> 0:07:15.720 the mood for. Tire wrote in his autobiography that a 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:18.280 book must be interesting to the particular reader at that 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:21.320 particular time, and in the Ladies Home Journal piece, he 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:24.040 noted that a man with a real fondness for books 0:07:24.040 --> 0:07:26.840 of various kinds will find that his varying moods determine 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:29.640 which of these books he at the moment needs. He 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:33.560 certainly followed his own advice, reading widely on many, many, 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:38.960 many topics, Tip number seven Read in streaks. Roosevelt was 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:41.880 a fan of reading in what he called streaks, wherein 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:44.480 he would get interested in a particular subject and then 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:47.120 read about it in book after book, and then in 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:51.200 other subjects suggested by his reading. Even in pure literature 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:55.280 having nothing to do with history, philosophy, sociology, or economy, 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:58.400 one book will often suggest another, so that one finds 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:01.360 one has unconsciously followed a regular course of reading. He 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:07.360 wrote Tip number eight avoid trashy and vicious books. So 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:09.960 Tira had a lot to say about letting your mood 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:12.960 and your preference guide your choice in books. But let's 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:16.960 be clear. He's talking about good books, things like the classics, 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:20.800 which he deemed books worth reading. He did not condone 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:24.400 the reading of trashy or frothy books his words. By 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:28.360 the way, personal preference, according to Theodore Roosevelt, is no 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:32.040 excuse for permitting oneself to like what is vicious or 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:35.520 even simply worthless. What is a vicious book? You may 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:39.280 ask well. Tr gave us a few examples. If a 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:42.559 man read and enjoyed Bellamy, Tire said that he will 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:44.960 do well to keep a watch on the reflex centers 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:47.440 of his moral nature, and should pick up books by 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:51.560 Eugene Brio and Henry Bordeaux instead. If this reader enjoyed 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:55.560 Leo Tolstoy's Anna, Karenina and more in Peace, great, But 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:58.360 if the reader preferred the authors e ninety novella The 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:02.880 Chritzer Sonata, which, like Bellamy, dealt very frankly with adultery 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:06.040 and sex, Tier wrote that he had better make up 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:09.120 his mind that, for pathological reasons, he will be wise 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:14.160 thereafter to avoid Tolstoy entirely. Tolstoy is an exceedingly interesting 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:19.520 and stimulating writer, but an exceedingly unsafe moral advisor. That's 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:23.160 putting it nicely. In the Outlook, tr wrote that Sonata 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:26.760 was revolting, and that Tolstoy was a man who, however 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:29.719 high he may stand in certain respects, has in him 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:34.480 certain dreadful qualities of the moral pervert. Ultimately, Tier concluded 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:37.920 that the reading of vicious books for pleasures should be eliminated. 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:40.959 It is no less clear that trivial and vulgar books 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:43.640 do more damage than can possibly be offset by any 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:47.920 entertainment they yield. Tip number nine, bring big books on 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:50.960 vacation if you've ever packed a beet read. You have 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:53.600 a little something in common with tr who brought books 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:57.400 with him wherever he went. Railway and steamboat journeys were, 0:09:57.400 --> 0:10:00.160 of course predestined through the ages as aids to the 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:03.600 enjoyment of reading. He wrote, I have always taken books 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:07.400 with me when on hunting and exploring trips. He recommended 0:10:07.400 --> 0:10:10.520 bringing reasonably heavy books on long trips, which he said 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:13.360 would allow the reader to tackle more ambitious books and authors, 0:10:13.720 --> 0:10:16.480 as you never would if surrounded by less formidable authors 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:18.880 in your own library. And when you do reach the 0:10:18.960 --> 0:10:22.360 journey's end, you grasp with eager appetite at old magazines 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:26.920 or at the lightest of literature. Tip number ten, use 0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:31.640 reading to escape look. The real world can be a bummer. 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:35.480 Theodore Roosevelt, who lost family members dear to him and 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:38.439 worked in the stressful world of politics, knew that all 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:41.560 too well. So even though critics would score and happy 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:45.320 endings in books, he actually liked them. There are enough 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:48.079 horror and grimness and sordid squalor in real life with 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:51.360 which an active man has to grapple, he wrote. When 0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:53.720 I turned to the world of literature, I do not 0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:57.520 care to study suffering unless for some sufficient purpose. It 0:10:57.640 --> 0:10:59.960 is only a very exceptional novel which I will read 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:03.400 if he does not marry her. And even in exceptional novels, 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:07.119 I much prefer this consummation. I am not defending my attitude. 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:10.880 I am merely stating it. And perhaps he was speaking 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:13.839 from personal experience when he wrote, if one is worried 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:17.160 by all kinds of men and events during critical periods 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:21.679 in administrative office, or at national conventions, or during congressional investigations, 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:24.959 or in hard fought political campaigns, it is the greatest 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:27.920 relief and unalloyed delight to take up some really good, 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:31.880 really enthralling book and lose all memory of everything grimy 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:34.880 and of the baseness that must be parried or conquered. 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:41.040 There are plenty more tier reading tips where these came from, 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:43.480 so if you're interested, you can find them at mental 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:47.240 flaws dot com. Slash History Versus. Thanks for listening to 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:49.880 this bonus episode of History Versus. We'll be back in 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:53.440 a couple of weeks with another episode. History Versus is 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:57.520 hosted by me Aaron McCarthy. The executive producers are Aaron McCarthy, 0:11:57.600 --> 0:12:00.880 Julie Douglas, and Tyler Klang. The super revising producer is 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:05.080 Dylan Fagan. The show is edited by Dylan Fagan and Loberlante. 0:12:05.679 --> 0:12:07.439 If you want to find out more about this episode 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:11.360 and Theodore Roosevelt, visit Mental Flash dot com, slash History Versus. 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:14.559 That's Mental flaws dot com slash h I S t 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:18.400 O R y vs. History Versus is a production of 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:34.439 I Heart Radio and Mental Flaws. For more podcasts for 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:37.640 my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple podcast, 0:12:37.800 --> 0:12:39.840 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.