Salt Lake Telegram | 1928-07-15 | Page 4 | Beware of "Passive Reading" and Lecture Habit, Says Writer

Beware of Passive Reading and Lecture Habit Says Writer CAMBRIDGE Mass WO AP men should beware of easily formed habits which produce intellectual sluggishness rather than the mental expect them to development they produce says sas Mrs 1 Cornelia James Cannon author and member of the governing board of Radcliffe college col- col lege Mrs Cannon author of Red Rust and mother of five who occasionally delivers addre eS herself herselt warns habit It Beware ot of the lecture to terrible habit just gets to be a you OU sit and have ha Ideas poured over ot Off like water and let them roll lectures In about as fast ot Of course moderation which ar ara reallY absorbed ab- ab are different Beware ot of the habit of passive cau- cau reading Mrs Cannon further constantlY This habit of taking In other peoples people's Ideas Idea's without with with- giving mind a chance to out your little than too digest them is worse reading I have ve alwa always s 's thought that I understood Gladstone's failure to achieve real greatness when I learned about his reading habit He used to carry a book with him everywhere and chenever lie he had a afew few tew minutes out It came He never gave himself a chance to meditate or his mind the opportunity to ripen Passive reading gets to be a deadening dead dead- ening habit for It gives the Intelligence intelligence Intelli- Intelli gence no freedom to work Inde- Inde One way to avoid such pit pitfalls Mrs Cannon says fays Is to concentrate ones one's Interest in a definite field for fora a period Reading and talks taJ on the same general group ot of Ideas form forma a natural network of correlated materIal ma- ma she Ra says s 's making the subject subject sub sub- more vivid and therefore more easilY retained We Ve are much more likely to do Independent thinking with s ch a ab ab b ck of knowledge m a sIngle single sIn sIn- gle field and this stimulates mental men men- tal growth she says I