Artificial Cheese

I’m finally learning to read.  Not reading literally, but reading as an activity.  High school tried to do it, college tried to do it, but none of them could get me to crack open a book for entertainment or recreation.

What finally did it?  A simple recommendation from my sister combined with short flights between Philly and Montreal.  I know what you’re thinking, “wouldn’t it be better to read on LONG flights?”.  No, it wouldn’t.  Flights are where I use my laptop to get work done.  When you’re on a short flight, technophobic airline regulations don’t let you use electronic devices for a disproprotionate portion of the time in the air.  Reading was the only thing I could do short of staring at other passengers as they struggle with their huge carry-ons.

I finished the book, a well-known bestseller called “Freakonomics”.  I was planning to write a review of the book, bashing the writers Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner for everything from their writing style to their hidden agenda to their motive for writing in the first place.  Everything that I would have said in that review would have been insightful, thought provoking, and above all, true.  But it also would have been unreasonably agressive and loathsome.

I figured that this would be a good opportunity for some self-therapy.  Aristotle was once quoted as saying or writing (not sure), “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”  A few years ago I began taking this to heart.  I played the role of “Devil’s Advocate” at every opportunity to do so.  I wanted to make sure that whoever I was talking to could back up what they had to say. 

For a while I thought it was healthy.  I was refining, reenforcing, and occasionally disproving ideas by arguing them.  Eventually, I thought it was thrilling; I began to do it more and more until I would argue from the most absurd points of view just for sport.

It dawned on my as I read this book that I was no longer playing devil’s advocate…I had become the devil’s advocate.  I couldn’t agree with anything without arguing it, not even thoughts in my own head.  I read this book line by line and tried to find holes in the author’s argument.  When I couldn’t find holes, I found inconsistencies, and when all else failed I found questionable wording that could misconstrue the truth.

It made me a little nervous that my sister or a couple of my co-workers didn’t question anything in this book, because there was a lot to be questioned.  I believe that it is worthwhile to question everything, even your own thoughts and ideas, but always to an extent.  The book was full of insightful thinking and logical breakdowns of real problems, and I highly recommend reading it, but make sure you don’t swallow it without chewing.