Abbot Terrasson tells us that if the size of a book were measured not by the number of its pages but by the time required to understand it, then we could say about many books that they would be much shorter were they not so short. (A xviii)
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Kant humorously notes that many books are longer than they need to be when measured by understanding time rather than pages.
- In plain terms
- Some books are unnecessarily long because the ideas are hard to grasp.
- What can you take from it?
- Judge books by clarity and understanding, not length.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Is a book better if it takes less time to understand?
- Have you written something too long?
Another view
Some ideas inherently require length to explain properly.
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