About the Good Books

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Abstract：Sesame and Lilies is a cluster of lectures delivered by John Ruskin. This essay focuses on “lecture I”， in which Ruskin puts forwards his point of view about good books. What actually is a good book？ What are their functions， in terms of improving personal characters and exerting influence on society？ The essay mainly discuss about these questions.

Key words：books；personal improvement；social function

中图分类号：I106 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1005-5312（2013）15-0064-01

It’s self-evident that books play an indispensable role in our daily life now. You can even judge a person to some extent by the books he or she reads. In that case， choosing good books is a primary and task for a person， and also a hard one concerning the vast universe of volumes. In Ruskin’s opinion， good books can be divided into two categories： good books of the hour and good books for all time. The good book of the hour is “the useful or pleasant talk of some person whom you cannot otherwise converse with， printed for you.”They are usually informative， fact-telling or emotion-provoking ones. Ruskin thinks that this kind of book is important to our lives， but it’s not true book. He even asserts that “they are not books at all， but merely letters or newspapers in good print.”From his point of view， a good book contains original and valuable ideas， and thus can last for a long time. And this kind of book is usually hard to grasp and can only be understood by a small number of people.

From a certain perspective， his standard for a good book is valid. Assuredly， a good book must contain original ideas and profound thoughts， which provoke readers into thinking about serious issues. But that’s not the only scale to measure a good book. And a good book， in terms of any respect， is not necessarily a reward to just a handful of people.

There is no doubt that the essential part of a book is the ideas in it， and they also reflect the value of a book. An idea， no matter how perfect and impressive it is， that cannot be spread is worthless. Thus， the pivotal role of a book is to spread a certain set of idea and then， affect the course of history and promote the advancement of society. In that case， the book is connected with the real world. If the idea of a book can only be understood and accepted by a few members of a society， then the value of the book is suspicious， for the chance of it prevailing among a large part of the members of society and bring some substantial changes to society is rather slim. Based on this deduction， one of the standards to judge a good book is that it must be close to people’s life and close to people’s heart.

In Sir Philip Sidney’s work The Defense of Poesy， he put forward two functions of reading： teaching and moving. A good book can not only teach us， but also can move us to act. To achieve this goal， the book must create resonance for readers. When they read the book， it occurs to them “it rings my bell”. And it can instruct readers to apply the idea to their everyday life. And then， the mission of a book has fulfilled an idea has taken root in one’s heart and been applied to the reality. And as regards the language， it should not be so obscure for readers， for a book is to enlighten readers， but not to confuse them.

It’s unfair to put the “good book of the hour”into the category of “non-real book”. They may nourish a young heart longing for knowledge， they may inspire a frustrated person to regain confidence and they may lead you to a completely new world. The profound“real books”that are very limited in number is just the rarest pearls on a crown. Not everyone needs to dive into the dark and deep sea of knowledge； they can also appreciate the amazing immensity of knowledge by swimming in the shallow area of the sea.

There is no sole standard to judge one vague. Accordingly， a good book cannot be judged by an absolute view. Some books may not last for a long time， but as long as they have exerted impacts on people in certain phase of history， it has its value.

References：

[1]John Ruskin.Sesame and Lilies [M]. Yale university press， 2002.

[2]Sir Philip Sidney.The Defense of Poesy[M].University of Nebraska Press，1970.