ON STUDY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 141, 6 February 1932, Page 4

ON STUDY

PHILOSOPHER.

Sir, — Recent humorous correspondence in your columns move me to of- ■ fer a few' hints upon reading and study generally. Tn primis: It is far better to have read one hook that one has understood than to have read one hundred j books beyond one's comprehension. It I is well to begin the study of a great subject by tbe peruSal of the simplest primers and so to enlarge and improve the mind until it is capable of absorbing and taking advantage of deeper and more obscure ideas. In mathematics it is well to- have successf tilly wrestled witb the hen and a half which laid an egg and a half in a day and a half before attempting to master the tensor calculus. In finance it is better to have displayed the praetical knowledge and ability to make £1000 in private business than to talk gibly of the use (or misuse) of public millions. It is better to be able to make calculations in money correctly than to have become befogged in the perusal of Keynes' "Treatise on Money." After all, reading has very distinct limits. It really amonnts only to the borrowing of ideas. Original thought is the great thing, and unless one ; has the gift and power of original thought reading can only turn a man into a sort of human parrot. It was remarked of King James I that he was a glaring example of the intense cultivation of a barren soil! I am, etc.,

Rotorua, 2/5/32.