Why Read Classic Books?

[Music] [Applause] hello welcome back to my channel my name is carly stevens i'm the author of the tanyan academy series and this is english nerd so in honor of class coming back it's now september 2020 i wanted to address why we bother reading some of these great classics at all what is the purpose of reading classic books i think it's a really good question as long as it's asked respectfully it's a great question to ask about any class or thing that you're doing in a class you don't want to just be doing things to be doing things there ought to be a purpose behind it so there are lots of reasons to read classic books but i just put together a quick list of some of the reasons that i think everybody should read some classic works so number one it broadens your general knowledge so when i say that i mean if you understand the references to 1984 big brothers watching you the um the telescreens the thought police all that kind of thing then you're able not only to um talk to more people about it because it is it is common knowledge at least among certain circles but you'll also be able to follow the news better you'll get the references in what you're reading or watching and it just generally gives you more common ground with more people if you're reading books that are truly ones that have been around and are taught all across the u.s and in some cases the world these are not in order by the way my reasons for reading classics these are just reasons given in a random order but that definitely is a benefit it can deepen your interaction with society around you if you get some of these some of these references okay number two is that it improves your critical thinking and reading ability the more you read difficult works like notes from underground by dostoyevsky the more you're able to think critically about other areas of your life as well and understand more difficult works more easily so maybe you really are interested in a particular topic maybe you're very interested in politics it would be great to be able to go back and read the original federalist papers for instance about the us constitution but those are going to be difficult to digest if you haven't done a little bit of lifting already and practicing reading some difficult things and really digesting those so and you don't have to have a reason like wanting to read the federalist papers to benefit from being a closer and a better reader and thinker obviously we all need to think through the ideas and articles and headlines that are being thrown at us all the time and the more we can become adept at reading and thinking the more prepared we're going to be to tackle those those issues so number three number three surprises some people but if you just read non-fiction if you read self-help books and humor and things like that there's obviously nothing wrong with it more power to you i read non-fiction as well but what some people don't see is the benefit of fiction to their own lives one of the biggest benefits of fiction is that it gives you greater compassion for others it's actually proven that if you put yourself in other people's shoes in other from other cultures or or races or societies or social strata i guess then you'll be able to identify more with actual human beings that you encounter instead of just projecting your own views onto them and that is incredibly valuable the more people you can understand you don't have to agree obviously there when you read the classics you run into other viewpoints that you're not always going to agree with and that's perfectly fine what i'm saying is that if you can understand just the humanity of the person on the other side there is so so much benefit to that i've seen people in my own life start reading fiction and becoming a more empathetic compassionate person toward others who are not like them so there's that as well if you read the great classics then it can give you an even broader sort of understanding not just compassion toward those who are immediately in front of you but also an understanding that the people of the past are not just these black and white faceless pictures of uh you know the past but they were actually human beings that are very very much like us which leads me to the final reason that we should all read classics i think and that is because in so many ways culture and humanity have changed but in so many others it hasn't we have such similar struggles and such similar questions across cultures across time and classic books are generally ones that have been considered to answer some of those questions or at least address some of those universal questions in a way that's worth listening to again you're not going to always agree but it can give you a better sense of that shared humanity and maybe some answers or thought points at least for how to live a better life even how to be a good person in some ways you can experience things from other people's points of view other cultures perspectives and decide how you can live better yourself so those are just a smattering of reasons why i think it is totally valuable to be reading the classics even if you think to yourself i'm not going to be an english teacher i'm going to go into biomedicine or whatever it is there is value to your life to be reading the classics especially at a young age but really at you can start at any age at all okay that is it like this video if you like it make sure to subscribe for more english nerdy goodness and i'll see you next week bye

Channel: English Nerd

Views: 1,446

Rating: 4.9540229 out of 5

Keywords: english nerd, reading classics, why read literature, why do I have to take english, why read classics, classic books, English teacher resource, benefits to reading, reading benefits, reasons to read more, reasons to read books, why read books, English class, English teacher, English professor

Id: iTbkO53W3yI

Length: 6min 39sec (399 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 14 2020