The Athenaeum

"A Boot Full Of Blood" by W. Patrick Lang

 

 

 

 

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"Chrysanthemum" by W. Patrick Lang

 
 
 
I am writing a collection of stories based on things that happened in my family in the 20th century.  This is the first of several based on the life of our uncle, John H. Lang.  pl

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"The Dancing Carabao" by W. Patrick Lang

 
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To A Young Reader: By Richard Sale

 
By Richard Sale, author of Clinton’s Secret Wars.

The fact that you are reading is an indication that you have intelligence beyond the ordinary.  Books then are going to be absolutely essential to developing your talents, but you have to ask, what kinds of books are going to enrich your intelligence the most?

When I was 11 or 12, my farther and my mother didn’t read. We had shelves crammed full of wonderful books including “War and Peace,” but I never ever saw either of them touch a single one.  I was urged to read “Treasure Island” by Stephenson or “Ivanhoe,” by Scott but the writers of these books wrote in a way that was out of date and the books were boring.  Rather than use simple words effectively, they used big ones and used complicated sentences.  It was like gazing at a stone. The first books I ever read were eyewitness accounts of World War II by war correspondents – books about bloody Pacific battles like Tarawa. I loved them and still do.

So the basic rule for you is, read what interests you, not what someone has told you to read.  A very famous poet named Samuel Johnson used to read a book by paging through it and only started to read when he came across something interesting. That is a good rule to follow. (When a friend asked Johnson about his reading, Johnson replied, “So you really finish books?” He seemed surprised.)

You read a book for a reason. Knowledge from books is like a spot of dye.  It drips into water and it expands and spreads its color. That is what reading does for you – it is that spot of dye. It spreads. It stirs curiosity, helps you discover connections between what you are reading to what you haven’t read, and helps you determine what is true from what is false.

Some people feel reading isn’t practical – why are you outside doing something rather than read? Well, reading is an act, just like chopping wood. Don’t believe anyone who tells you differently.

The events of your own personal life will give you subjects to write about. There is something called “direct experience, and there is “indirect experience.”  Reading is an indirect experience. Most of your valued knowledge will come from indirect experience. A great statesman once said, “Any fool can learn from experience, but the real gift is to learn from others’ experience.” Determine not to be a fool.

Language in Your Life 

All sorts of things are going to happen to you – the unfairness of parents, the bored tyranny of bad teachers, the torments of bullies, death, the joy of friendship and love. But there is greater range of things in your life to which you should try and pay attention if you want to develop your mind. You are a creature of physical perceptions: You see. You hear, you feel. All knowledge comes from these. One of the most important is to train your eyes to see –see, not what other people say you saw or perhaps would have seen, but to learn to express in words what you actually saw. So begin by seeing.

Remember, the first word or expression that comes to your mind is not your own. The first words that occur when you try and describe your own life will come from your friends, neighbors, relatives, from parents, teachers, clergymen. Their words are not your words. You have to avoid their words.

Most ordinary people are mentally lazy. This does not mean they are not good people. It doesn’t mean they are not skilled at their jobs or faithful in attending church or they are not kind or thoughtful parents. It just means they have, over time, been reduced to saying whatever everyone else says. They say what they have been told to say without thinking about whether such words are truly accurate to what they are truly feeling.  Most people don’t ask if such words truly convey and depict the actual sight of the thing. 

 

"Sharpsburg" by W. Patrick Lang

 

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