Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested

Francis Bacon's famous classification of books into three categories is, indeed, true and convincing. All books do not deserve the same attention from readers. Some books deserve only to be tasted, that is, to be read in parts and then to be dismissed. These books enjoy a temporary vogue and are then forgotten. Travel books, books of true adventure, accounts of voyages and exploration, political commentaries, books describing past social customs and the like belong to this category, Life is short, art is long. We cannot, therefore, devote much time to such books. We can only browse through these books. Then, there are books which are to be swallowed, that is, to be read through hastily for the sake of entertainment and diversion. To this category belong novels, short stories, anthologies of lyrical poems and ballads, short biographies, etc. These books are just to be read through without much thought and reflection. Nor do they leave any permanent mark or impression upon the mind. Finally, there are the masterpieces of the world, great books written by great minds.

These books deserve a close study. Every sentence in them deserves attention. They are to be studied with full concentration of one's mental powers. They contain the wisdom and experience of great thinkers, philosophers, poets and sages. Dante's Divine Comedy, Shakespeare's tragedies like Hamlet and Macbeth, Goethe's Faust, the works of Tolstoy, Ghalib's Deewan, Iqbal's works, Milton's Paradise Lost and above all the revealed books, the Quran and the Bible which contain the word of God Himself. Essays of Bacon whose quotation is under review, belong to this category. The reader feels a spontaneous desire to meditate upon what he reads in these books to allow the ideas of these great writers to sink into his consciousness so that they may become part of his mental equipment.