What is a Good Book?
by John Ruskin
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An excerpt from John Ruskin's Sesame and Lilies that reflects on the nature and value of good books. Ruskin divides books into two classes: 'books of the hour' and 'books of all time'. Books of the hour, useful, pleasant talk in print, such as good newspapers, travel accounts and topical writing, are valuable in their place but are merely conversation, not truly 'books'. A true book, a 'book of all time', is one in which an author, having something genuinely true and useful to say, gives it lasting and beautiful expression, 'This is the best of me… this I saw and knew; this, if anything of mine, is worth your memory.' Such a book is the author's attempt to preserve a piece of real insight for all time. Ruskin urges that to enter into the mind of a great author and truly understand a good book, the reader must approach it with humility, effort and careful attention, for the words of the wise are not to be grasped lightly. Reading a good book is like being admitted to the company of the great and the dead who are always accessible to us.
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Ruskin's essay distinguishes truly great, enduring books from merely useful, temporary ones, and describes what makes a book valuable and how it should be read. It prepares the reader for literary criticism by defining the nature and worth of a 'good book'.
Books of the hour and books of all time
Ruskin divides books into two classes. 'Books of the hour', good newspapers, travel writing, topical and useful pieces, are agreeable and useful 'talk in print', valuable in their place but not truly books, since they merely record passing conversation. 'Books of all time' are those written to preserve something of lasting worth.
What makes a true book
A true book is written when an author, having something genuinely true and useful that others have not perceived, feels compelled to record it permanently and beautifully. The author says, in effect, 'This is the best of me… this I saw and knew; this, if anything of mine, is worth your memory.' Such a book preserves a piece of real insight for all time.
How to read a good book
To understand a great author, the reader must approach the book with humility, effort and close attention, not skimming it lightly but working to enter the author's mind. Reading a good book, Ruskin suggests, admits us to the noble company of the wise and the great of all ages, whose thoughts are always accessible to those willing to seek them out with care.