I ran across and interesting quote by Albert Einstein the other day.
Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.
~ Albert Einstein
This isn’t exactly the best known quote by Einstein and I doubt many teachers quote this to their students. Reading is generally a good thing, but if it starts becoming a substitute for thinking on your own it can hold you back from reaching your potential.
This quote touches on a problem that holds many people back from actually accomplishing things. It is easy to spend so much time researching that you never actually execute. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read, do research and try to learn from others, but at some point you have to decide that you’ve gathered enough data and the time has come to do something. That may be starting your own business, writing a book or even repainting your living room. You have a very finite lifespan. Some people spend their life preparing for what they want to do without ever actually doing what they want to do.
Sometimes the most helpful situations are the ones that force you to go ahead and do something by removing the option to try to collect more information.
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I certainly agree with Einstein’s quote. I am currently reading three books. I catch myself reguarly reading more during the day instead of spending some time thinking and meditating and writing those thoughts down on paper. I certainly can use a heavier those of thinking to help with my blog posts.
I have as a rule when reading to think, “How can I use this in my life, how does this work into my system of living.”
When you do you learn a lot more and you find all kinds of creative ways to use the new knowledge.
That is how I create my blogposts and my course.
The question remains how much is too much?
Also surely it is good to give the brain a break from thinking about what you want to achieve, reading deosn’t just have to be to gain knowledge.
I think it probably comes down to whether or not you are using reading as a way to be lazy. Of course now days, far more people use television for that than reading.
But wasn’t the part of Eistein’s life, “after a certain age”, a relative failure?
Relative to what he had achieved at a younger age or relative to what others achieved?
Haha, Einstein’s “other” theory of relativity…
does nobody else think “… falls into lazy habits of thinking” is possibly an example of Einstein’s characteristic witty use of facetiousness? Reading is in fact an active, thinking experience where the mind is constantly analyzing, critiquing, and making connections. In many cases the act of reading is actually the physical stuff that thinking is made of, even ignoring how often reading leads to seemingly aimless daydreaming, the source of many a genius idea and novel realization.
Nah, reading does not impair thinking. All you have to do is think between reading(s).
I’m not professor but I think, good ideas comes from knowledgeable minds, and reading is the gateway for the mind. however that I’m not a good reader :D
I can see what you’re saying and I think it could be a way of procrasinating for some people but for me this isn’t true. Good writing stimulates thinking. I analyse what I read & I write reviews, so I’m thinking about what I read.
I read a lot, partly just to support other authors, and I encourage others to read too. There’s too many people not reading these days. I also encourage people to evaluate what they read, ie I encourage thinking in readers. So it’s really a personality thing, not a fault of reading a lot.
I think Einstein’s quote is probably most relevant to scientific minds that he worked with and he was pointing out that some of them didn’t achieve what they were capable of because they kept trying to read more instead of going out and doing creative discovery for themselves. But I’d agree that it is more of a personality thing that a fault of reading. However, reading is one of those things that most people feel you can’t do enough, so it is easy to not see it as a problem.
For me the most friviously reading is the news. I scan MSNBC in the morning and that’s it. As far as research – I set up Google alerts for topics I’m interested in or planning to write about and have them sent to folders I’ve set up in my gmail account. That said, I am a voracious reader, often have more than one book going at a time, and have been known to read through the night when I find a particularly compelling mystery novel – the trade off though is the wasteland of television. I work at home and when I’m done for the day, I head for a long walk and then a book rather than the boob tube.
The Internet has created a whole new type of reading that is probably different from what Einstein could imagine.
Good point, Mark.
This was my initial reaction to the post–I agree with Einstein, and feel it has even greater impact today. With the amount of news services, RSS-based blogs, and marketing messages out there, we’re reading so much more on a daily basis (even without being stuck in books) that it’s more important than ever to be able to take a step back from it all!
I think there’s a balance that’s needed between reading, reflecting, and doing. So many authors and teachers give out practical, action-based advice, but we’re usually more willing to “think” about the advice than “act” on it. I’ve read so much about how to be more productive, but without actually doing some of those things, I wasn’t becoming more productive (on the contrary, I was just more aware of how UNproductive I was…!)
Good post, and great point. We need to make sure we’re not only taking the time to reflect on our readings/studies/whatever, we need to make sure that after a point, we go on an information diet and start DOING!
This quote about reading too much definitely won’t apply to everyone, and I think Mark is correct in saying it may be relevant only to certain personalities, although not only at older ages as Einstein suggests. As a Perfectionist Procrastinator I found myself researching homeschooling endlessly, feeling that there was no end to finding better curriculums, methods, projects, organization of fore mentioned items, etc… When it came to actually implementing my plans, I was frozen in a sea of too much information. I was not able to think for myself at this point, with information overload. It has taken me a semester, with my daughter in school, to step back and figure out how I really wanted to homeschool, while purposely not reading another homeschooling book. So yes – I think Einsteins quote is relevant in certain situations. I’ll be curled up on the couch with a fiction book this afternoon though!
This is very true. We see this a lot in the self-help “industry” where people read ton of self-help books and listen to audio programs but they don’t take the next most critical step, which is taking action and implementing all their new knowledge in their life. Knowledge is great but it doesn’t help you much if you don’t find how to utilize and leverage it to grow and enrich your life.
If Einstein were living in today’s age of computers, smart phones, Facebook, Twitter, iPods, iPads, NetFlix, and TV, I don’t he’d be talking about “after a certain age” … or even about reading.
That is probably true.
The problem isn’t reading too much. The problem is thinking too little.
Some people continually consume content and perhaps share it. However, they do not create content or act on what they are learning. That takes thinking, effort and some courage.
At least that’s what I think :)
Excellent point or in Einstein’s words, you don’t reading to divert you from creative pursuits.
Depends what kind of reading… Reading to acquire new skills and nurture imagination can be beneficial at any age. Everyone has a few sentences that aren’t on their level. Including Einstein…
I agree with Bojan. It depends on what you are reading. Also, we should bare in mind that Einstein lived in a period that the information was limited…. It would be very interesting to have Albert nowadays with facebook, twitter, blogs etc…
i m totally agree with the Einstein point of view but sometime i become in dilemma that reading too much is decent or rubbish but however i may be true .In my community it is observed that person understand by reading very low as compared to that of another .
faizan ali
Kathmandu ,Nepal
“It is easy to spend so much time researching that you never actually execute. ”
I can’t quote where I learned it, but often use the term “analysis paralysis”
It’s easy to remember and share, particularly with new employees.
Quoting Einstein, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who quotes Einstein too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.
-Chris Sketch
:-D he’s a very quotable guy, but I’m not so sure he knows everything.