On Rereading

I golf using what one company selling a playing method it calls, `Natural Golf.’ I don’t play often – about once a week during the warmer months – or very well. But I have been using this method for several years. What I learned from reading their book - which is pretty good - is that by following their instructions, practicing a little and trying to employ their techniques as carefully as possible, I could improve. That isn’t earth shattering but it’s true.

What I’ve learned is that by rereading the instructions in a reasonably good how to book, you can better understand what the experts are driving at. Again, this is no big deal. More important, I’ve learned that by rereading other kinds of books one can gain new insights into what the author intended and, unless one is very well versed in the subject, rereading is an extraordinarily valuable technique.

I’m very interested in Existentialism – me and ten million others. Over the years, I’ve read quite a few books and articles on this subject and only became vaguely familiar with the intricacies of the subject. Using my little golf book as my guide, I began a systematic review and rereading of the thousands of pages of the books and articles on the subject that I own. The results are clear to me; by going over the material twice or even three or four times I have gained many insights into what some of the leading thinkers meant.

I’m no Camus, Sartre, Nietzche, or Kierkegaard and never will be; that was never my goal. But I do think that I understand – at least somewhat better than I did - and had even hoped until the last few years. I am neither a serious thinker nor scholar of Existentialism or anything else, but I think I’ve learned something useful. Repetition makes for a far greater understanding of whatever you’re interested in.

By repetition – or rereading – I don’t mean the kind that is required in school; that is of reading and going over material until you have it down for a test. What I’m driving at is going over material after extended periods of digesting it and after what was read is nearly cleared from memory. I’m rereading a book on Existentialism that I read and semi-enjoyed and understood about a year ago. In the interim, I’ve gone over a lot more material on the subject but still felt only marginally competent on the matter – again that's at my own very amateurish level.

But As I reread this book, many of the passages that were forgotten, obviously because they meant little to me earlier, came alive. I think that I understand what the author was driving at and it is making this rather difficult book a much more pleasant experience.

The purpose of this posting is not to interest you in Natural Golf or Existentialism – they’re not exactly out of the same course catalogue – but rather to encourage my older friends not to simply read and move on but to go over books about subjects they liked but which proved somewhat difficult the first time. There may be gems ready for mining the second time around. I’ve found this with how to, nonfiction and fiction.

Most of you may have known this all along. Indulge me, I’m a slow learner.

Blog on!

Wild Bill