An American Scholar 1

The second section of the American Scholar talks about the mind of the past is another great influence into the spirit of the Scholar. And no matter what kind of form of the literature art or institutions, the mind is inscribed. And the way for us to get the truth or learn this influence easily is to read books.

As it mentioned in the article, the book is the best type of the influence of the past, and undoubtedly the theory of books is noble. However, actually no book is perfect, as people write their own books at their own generation, and the books of an older period may not fit present. As a result, some people convert the love of some the poems to the poets, just like the "love of the hero corrupts into worship of his statue." Hence, at the same time, we need thinking when we read the books. We cannot be controlled by the books. It is just like Emerson said "I would better never see a book, than to be warped by its attraction clean out of my own orbit, and made a satellite instead of a system." Thus we have to understand why we read, the final goal of reading, and using a right way.