Scan barcode
ladygetslit's review
4.0
I like to think I have a special relationship with this book. Why? Because I rescued it. During a routine scan-through of the neglected Education section at the bookstore where I work, The Heart of the Humanities popped up as due out; instead of sending it into the return piles, I bought it.
The Heart of the Humanities combines three of Mark Edmundson's books (or rather, long-form essays) into one. Written over a period between 2004 and 2016, these essays tackle three questions: Why Read?, Why Write?, and Why Teach? I rescued this book from certain death by recycling because I’m interested in the answers to these questions.
Obviously, this book isn’t for everyone. It’s written for a person who already believes that books are unique magical objects of not only transportation but also transformation. It’s written for someone who writes because reading just isn’t enough. It’s written for someone who teaches because they care about the future of our society and believe education is powerful. It’s written, in short, for someone who does these three things in spite of the many reasons not to do these things.
I was most intrigued by Edmundson’s deconstruction of the ways higher education in America has increasingly become a reflection of our larger consumer culture. Students, he says, now arrive at college having been catered to by marketing materials, and they expect their classes to be entertaining, rather than challenging. He implies that reading shouldn’t always be easy; yes, it’s nice to be diverted by a story for a while, but sometimes young people especially need to be challenged.
Although the three essays tend to overlap and repeat each other a bit, I found this collection, on the whole, to be enlightening and comforting in equal measures. The magic of any sort of book, to me, is when you see your own thoughts, feelings, and experiences reflected back at you. Particularly in the sections on reading and writing, this is what Mark Edmundson did for me.
I recommend this book for anyone who believes in the power of the written word to change individual lives, and anyone who teaches the humanities in spite of being told that they’re useless.
The Heart of the Humanities combines three of Mark Edmundson's books (or rather, long-form essays) into one. Written over a period between 2004 and 2016, these essays tackle three questions: Why Read?, Why Write?, and Why Teach? I rescued this book from certain death by recycling because I’m interested in the answers to these questions.
Obviously, this book isn’t for everyone. It’s written for a person who already believes that books are unique magical objects of not only transportation but also transformation. It’s written for someone who writes because reading just isn’t enough. It’s written for someone who teaches because they care about the future of our society and believe education is powerful. It’s written, in short, for someone who does these three things in spite of the many reasons not to do these things.
I was most intrigued by Edmundson’s deconstruction of the ways higher education in America has increasingly become a reflection of our larger consumer culture. Students, he says, now arrive at college having been catered to by marketing materials, and they expect their classes to be entertaining, rather than challenging. He implies that reading shouldn’t always be easy; yes, it’s nice to be diverted by a story for a while, but sometimes young people especially need to be challenged.
Although the three essays tend to overlap and repeat each other a bit, I found this collection, on the whole, to be enlightening and comforting in equal measures. The magic of any sort of book, to me, is when you see your own thoughts, feelings, and experiences reflected back at you. Particularly in the sections on reading and writing, this is what Mark Edmundson did for me.
I recommend this book for anyone who believes in the power of the written word to change individual lives, and anyone who teaches the humanities in spite of being told that they’re useless.
More...