Todd Zywicki: How To Read And Think

Primarily a law professor… but I also wear a lot of hats!

I finally succumbed to the buzz and had to find out for myself what it was all about so I just started reading 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson.

When I was in elementary school I had the best librarian ever. I had read just about every book in the library and so she knew me as a “regular.” She brought in the whole set of The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner and donated them to the library since her kids were done with them. After I was done with those, she brought in her kids Hardy Boys books by Franklin W. Dixon. What a kind woman!

What a great question! My daughter is 12 years old and has been a voracious reader since she was little (I wonder where she got that from?). For me, the one that impacted me the most was reading Animal Farm by George Orwell in 9th grade. The concept of the book is brilliant, of course, but it also opens a new perspective on understanding history and the nature of humanity.

Working the night shift (8 pm-8 am) on a production line producing plastic Nyquil bottles.

No—does anyone? Then again, I love my job and I get to read a lot of fascinating academic work for that so I don’t have much cause to complain.

I have two interwoven career paths—as both a lawyer and as a professor. Lawyers jobs are relatively trade-oriented with a lot of specialized reading. Law professors should be broader read and have a greater understanding of the overall structure and history of the legal system and especially the common law. I would recommend three books as especially important:

A Conflict of Visions by Thomas Sowell: The fault lines between what can broadly be described as “conservative” and “liberal” approaches to law are described in that book. Professors too often implicitly assume that students experience the world the same way that they do. To reach every student in the class the teacher needs to be able to speak multiple different “languages” in terms of approaching issues from different foundational priors and modes of reasoning. Sowell is an excellent introduction to that reality in the context of application to law specifically.

Law and Revolution by Harold Berman: A big, thick book, but it lays out the conceptual foundation for the rule of law and understanding of the historical roots of the rule of law and limited government.

Law, Legislation, and Liberty, Volume 1: Rules and Order by F.A. Hayek: Hayek’s concept of “spontaneous order” and its application to understanding the evolved nature of the common law with no central designer is the best conceptualization of the common law, especially to appreciate how it fundamentally differs from legislation and regulation.

As a law professor, I have read Law, Legislation, and Liberty, Volume 1: Rules and Order by F.A. Hayek multiple times. The idea of spontaneous order—or order without design—is the single most important insight in all of social science, with applications far beyond the law.

Two other books I’ve read more than once are more conventional. First, I have read the Lonesome Dove tetralogy twice. The series is the single greatest meditation on male friendship that I have come across. I’ve read each of Ayn Rand’s novels (We the Living, The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, and Anthem) three times each—once in my 20s, 30s, and 40s. I expect to re-read them again in my 50s. These are books that have spoken to me in different ways at various stages of my life and continue to challenge and even inspire me.

Although you asked for one book I will put three more on the list that I have returned to repeatedly as sources of spiritual enrichment and nourishment. The first is Spe Salvi by Pope Benedict the XVI, which lays out the fundamental challenge of being human in the world. Two books by Matthew Kelly, The Rhythm of Life and The Seven Levels of Intimacy have provided remarkably clear and inspiring applications of those more abstract lessons on how to live on a day-to-day basis.

If I have to pick one, over time I would say Please Understand Me II by David Keirsey. Although given the ongoing political and social friction of recent years The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt has probably been the book I have recommended most in the last 12-18 months. The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman is a book that I recommend almost constantly as relevant to everybody’s lives at the most basic level.

Evolutionary Psychology.

Increasingly it would be like the world is becoming today, where people lack the attention span and focus to read and think deeply about complex ideas that required extended attention and thought. Instead, we would be limited to ideas that can be expressed in a blog post or 140 characters. In my 20 years as a law school professor, I have already seen “experts” advise us that we should cater to students by providing shorter, more multimedia class assignments. Maybe once the Supreme Court stops issuing 85-page opinions I’ll consider taking that advice. Until then, I think it’s my job to teach my students how to read and think.

No. I’ve read most everything that Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, and Tom Wolfe wrote… but I don’t expect them to be releasing anything new (at least in this life). Of contemporary authors, my friend and fellow law professor Richard Epstein is probably the closest in terms of someone of whom I am a fan and read just about everything he releases.

They probably will, I’m afraid. I just read Jean Twenge’s insightful book iGen, which documents an explosive migration of kids away from print books, magazines, and newspapers. I had thought it was somewhat linear—what she shows is a complete collapse in traditional media. It is hard to see what causes a reversal in that trend in later generations.

The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek.

Spe Salvi by Pope Benedict the XVI. But it is hard to distinguish that from about 12 others, so ask me again tomorrow and I might give you a different answer.

The Last Lion by William Manchester and Paul Reid, Volumes 1 and 2. The story of Churchill is the story of how one man changed the course of history. I also would be remiss if I didn’t add two books by Matt Ridley, The Red Queen and The Origins of Virtue, which are terrific introductions to the insights of evolutionary psychology (which, in turn, transformed my thinking about the world). White Guilt by Shelby Steele is a fascinating essay on the underlying dynamics of many of the social and political trends that increasingly have been tearing apart the fabric of American society over the past few decades. Finally, I was blown away by Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, which is a great story on multiple levels, not the least of which is its unrivalled depiction of the special bond of father-daughter love.

The last 18 months or so for me have been a pretty tumultuous period for me and the two years immediately preceding that were periods of a highly intense and busy work schedule. I intend to spend this year following where the winds blow me. I also have two books that I plan to write myself over the next two years or so, one on behavioural economics and one on the economics and regulation of higher education, so I expect to be spending a lot of time immersed in those fields. As if I didn’t have enough books that I already wanted to read, 12 Rules for Life have already added about 6 more books to my list—and I’m only halfway through!

Zywickipedia: The Encyclopedic Wanderings of a Restless Mind and Soul.