âBreaking Bread With the Deadâ Review: Old Books in a New Class
A professor argues that we should engage with the classics, not only in spite of, but even because of, our moral differences with them.
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Dec. 9, 2020 6:13 pm ET
Alan Jacobs reports that, though he has been teaching old books to classrooms full of students for many years, lately when he walks into a classroom âfairly regularly the first thing I see is every head bowed before a glowing screen.â Ever-present screen-based entertainment, a 24-hour news cycle and the constant connectivity of social media place us in a constant sensory flux. This is not a hospitable environment for the study of great books, but Mr. Jacobs argues that our current predicament provides even more reason for turning to them: Reading old books promises to lengthen our ânow,â situating and stabilizing us so that we become possessed of more tranquil minds and less dominated by impulse. Those who can tie themselves to the great minds of the past, Mr. Jacobs tells us, will achieve greater âtemporal bandwidth.â