Zena Hitz, Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life
Welcome to the Inaugural Reading Group Discussion! We will use the comments section of this page to talk about the book. I have started the discussion with a few questions. Feel free to comment on those questions. Also add comments on anything you liked or didn’t like about the book, questions you have and so on. To make this work well, also comment on other people’s questions and respond to their thoughts.
I’ll also add other comments and questions as the discussion moves along. The goal here is to have fun taking about the book. Or as Hitz would put it, the goal is to enjoy the hidden pleasures of an intellectual life!
The Next Book for this reading group will be Mary Shelley, Frankenstein. The discussion page for that will be available on January 2.
1. What did you think about the book? Good Book? Bad Book? Persuasive or not? Interesting or not? Correct or not?
First of all, thank you, professor Hartley, for introducing this book! Overall I really like it. The author posed a series of questions and made good attempts to answer them, which helps me figure out personally why I seek an intellectual life. As a graduate of Mount Holyoke, I got to experience the intellectual life and strive to maintain it while working as a young professional. But I always looked at it at a shallow level: I live an intellectual life because it brings me joy. After reading the book, I got to think deeply of what it is about an intellectual life that makes it valuable. Now I think I get at least some answers: a personal refuge, a desire to understand our shared humanity, and an aspiration to a way of being.
I love this book! The author lays out the treasure found in learning, not as an obligation, but as “leisure” – something you do with joy. She uses language that is persuasive and yet not condescending. I particularly love her rich references to literature works, movies, history, fictions and non-fictions, on which I immediately did research to learn more about. Learning itself is essentially encompassed in the idea she tries to convey.
To summarize, yes I think it is a good, persuasive and interesting book. I don’t know if it is all correct, because apparently she is expressing her subjective views. For example, her descriptions on the vanity and hunger for social privileges and superior status that is “prevalent” in academia – is that true? One thing I absolutely agree with, however, is her idea that when people are too absorbed in the daily routines of their work and studies, they get too tired to explore the wonders in learning. We all need personal space and time when we can throw ourselves into a void. That has helped me gain some inspirations.
Yes, her description of academics is very accurate. Most students don’t recognize that side of the faculty because students always have a hard time thinking of teachers as people. But, academics are an odd group; many of them are very obsessed with prestige and social standing. One of the things I found most fascinating in the book was that Hitz had to leave the College setting in order to find an intellectual life.
Your response, coupled with your question on the possibility to convince someone into living an intellectual life despite its “irrelevance” to his or her career, makes me wonder: would you say that having an intellectual life stands in the way of one’s career pursuits? If a faculty is obsessed with prestige and comfort that money brings, would he or she still qualify as someone living an intellectual life, or enjoys the purity of learning?
Do obsession with a materialistic lifestyle impact research or teaching of academics in any way?
2. Is there a reason that someone should read this book or be in a reading group at all? Is reading and talking about books as valuable as Hitz argues it is?
I think everyone who believes in the value of liberal learning should read this book. Like Hitz herself, many of us could be disoriented by the materialistic social environment, or simply lose the drive to learn due to the stress of mind-numbing work. This book serves as a reminder of why we are interested in learning in the first place, how it should be done, and what the balance is between learning, leisure, work, and simply having fun. For others that do not or have never believed in liberal learning or the purpose of an intellectual life, it wouldn’t make any difference even after they read the book, if they are at all interested.
It is certainly valuable to read and have post-reading discussions. We all need different perspectives and this is what book clubs can bring. Also, what one person is unable to pick up from the good may very well be discovered by others. That’s the power of book clubs in my opinion.
3. Is an Intellectual Life important? Is it important to cultivate an intellectual life that is a refuge from daily life? Is it important to read and think about things that have absolutely no obvious relationship to your career?
I think the level of importance differs to each person, but I believe everyone would get delight from an intellectual life. There are many factors that determine how valuable we hold that delight to be. For example, being in an intellectual state of mind is part of my identity because I have met inspiring professors who exemplified such a way of living and I want to be like them. An intellectual life might not be as important to someone whose sole purpose is to be a billionaire. But that’s ok. We have the freedom to choose our own way of living.
For someone like me, it’s important to have a refuge and think about things not related to my career so that I don’t put myself in a tunnel vision and can be connected to something universally human.
I totally agree with Faye. I was inclined to say without an intellectual life, it is unlikely for someone to become a “billionaire” but I figured it’s not necessarily true…
I think work only defines a very small part of who I am, so contemplating for things that are absolutely unrelated to my career is important for me, not to mention the idea of learning. But that could also be because I don’t regard my job as my “calling” – for the blessed ones whose work represent their purpose of existence, they may not care about intellectual life as much if unrelated to their career.
Is it possible to convince someone who “sole purpose is to be a billionaire” that such a purpose will not make them as happy as developing an intellectual life? In other words, is having an intellectual life inherently a better purpose?
I think living a happy and meaningful life is a better purpose, and this can be achieved by an intellectual life. You constantly explore new and exciting things through learning, and this makes you feel fulfilled. To me, it does not have to be anything serious – historical accounts, economic theories, but I consider exploring new knowledge and skills as intellectual. If your sole purpose is being a billionaire, how would you feel once you’ve done that? What is your next goal? What is remaining for you the explore? In your pursuit of being a billionaire, how much joy have you sacrificed?
Absolutely; though I think I will disagree that there can be such a thing as an intellectual life separate from your career, or from any other aspect of life that at first glance might seem unrelated to intellectual stimulation. In fact, I think the value of fostering an engaging intellectual life is how it interplays with everything else in your life as a whole. Let me explain by describing what I feel what an intellectual life does: it encourages thinking about things differently, seeing different perspectives, entertaining points of view that you would normally dismiss as silly or nonsensical for the sake of argument or of learning for learning’s sake. Through these mental exercises, value is added to other aspects of my life and experiences as well: I am more engaged at work because I am able to conceptualize problems in different ways, my interactions with people in my social circle becomes so much more rewarding too as conversations now can be taken in so many more roads that I otherwise would have never thought about without “working out” thought muscles, and life all around just becomes so much more interesting and colorful once you realize just how much there truly is to just THINK about and understand. So I would argue that if someone truly wishes to lead their BEST life, professionally or personally or in any other way, they should 100% strive to cultivate a healthy and robust intellectual life; I don’t see how you could give any other aspect of your life your best without exercising your ability to think critically and deeply. Also…. it’s just so much fun. Like tickling your brain on a daily basis.
Hitz also argues that you are more likely to develop a good intellectual life if you do so for reasons which are not practical. Your argument (which Hitz also believes is right) is that the intellectual life has enormous spillover benefits. But, does it need to be developed by ignoring the spillover benefits? To put this in specific terms. Does it matter if you read, say, Frankenstein
1) because the novel will help you think through a great number of deep issues which will help you on the job?, or
2) because the novel will help you think through a great number of deep issues which is a really fun thing to do?
Is the purpose of developing an intellectual life as important as Hitz believes it is?
4. Is Useless Learning valuable? Should education be practical? Is it more important to read books related to your career or about current events than it is to read useless books purely for the joy of leading an intellectual life?
“Useless learning” is somewhat valuable, but by and large less valuable than “useful learning”. I at this point of time would lose interest fairly quickly if there’s not a clear agenda on why I am spending my valuable time reading a book or listening to someone’s teaching. This awareness of some benefit down the road from any learning activity is very important. This benefit could be long term or short term, practical or intellectual, leisurely or professional… regardless. “Useless learning” can mean 1) the benefit is not yet clear’ 2) the benefit is non-existent. The former is somewhat valuable, latter totally unbearable.
Time is my constraining resource here. Assuming time is scarce, one would maximize the unit utility generated per unit of time – the solution is to spend time on learning activities that one appreciates the most. At different points of time, and for different people with varying priorities, these activities take the correspondent form and shape. For me, career-related, current affairs and personally interesting topics are innately more relevant and hence valuable.
Hitz suggests that the “agenda” of reading “useless things” is that you will enjoy doing so as your intellectual life gets richer and richer. Is that enough of an agenda to spur someone on to reading? Is that all by itself worth using the scarce resource of time to develop?
I actually don’t see them as mutually exclusive. On the contrary, I think they are complementary. I enjoy both reading literatures outside of our era and reviews of current affairs. The former provides a refuge and the latter pulls me into reality. I remember in the book, Hitz talked about that ultimately people seek communion with others. We are social animals and thus desire to be connected. 2020 has taught me that prolonged isolation is challenging. So could be a total refuge from the real world, no matter how intellectually satisfying it is. I guess in an ideal world, we need both.
Well said 🙂
Suppose someone said they want to read both books purely for developing an intellectual life and books about current issues or concerns. Is there a good ratio for those two types of books? 50-50? Or 75-25? And if so, which is the 75?
I think this leads to the question of why you want to read books about current issues or concerns ? Because you truly care? If so, then that brings you joy of learning, and I would say you ARE developing an intellectual in this process and it is not mutually exclusive. If you do not consider books on current issues on concerns as ways to develop an intellectual life, however, I would have the ratio as 75-25 with books for leisure being the 75. There’s plenty of ways to learn about current issues or concerns; I think podcasts etc. are probably more effective to me in explaining current issues and concerns.