Quote Quiz
Can You Choose the Depth Your Reading Needs?
Use five questions to explore Bacon’s reading metaphor, selective reading, close attention, and the scope of a judgment.
Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.
Attributed to: Francis Bacon
Work: The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral · Source location: Essay L, Of Studies; p. 267 (Little, Brown edition; copyright notice 1884)
No prior knowledge is needed. Choose an answer to see the explanation and evidence.
1Understanding
What does Bacon distinguish through tasting, swallowing, and chewing and digesting books?
Correct answer: The coverage and depth of attention different books require
After the metaphor, Bacon distinguishes reading in parts, reading without close scrutiny, and reading a few books completely and attentively. He is not setting a book count or permanent value ratings.
Evidence: The explanation immediately after the quotation in Of Studies and “Bacon Explains the Metaphor Himself.” This question concerns meaning supported by the original text.
2Context
Which explanation follows the metaphor of chewing and digesting a book in the original text?
Correct answer: Read the whole book with diligence and attention.
Chewing and digesting corresponds to a complete, attentive reading. Reading in parts corresponds to tasting, while reading without close scrutiny corresponds to swallowing.
Evidence: Bacon’s explanation in Of Studies: some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.
3Application
You open a cookbook to find tonight’s recipe. Which approach best fits the article’s modern application?
Correct answer: Read the relevant recipe and distinguish that limited reading from reading the whole book.
Reading the relevant part may fulfill an information-seeking purpose. It does not justify claiming to have assessed the whole book.
Evidence: The hypothetical cookbook example in “When an Extract Is Enough—and When It Is Not.” Bacon does not directly mention cookbooks here.
4Critical thinking
After reading one page of statistics in a book about housing costs, you want to evaluate the author’s overall argument. What should you do next?
Correct answer: State what you read and check the conditions, exceptions, and surrounding reasoning needed for your evaluation.
A selected page may omit conditions or exceptions that matter to the argument. Check the evidence needed for your evaluation and accurately describe the scope of your reading.
Evidence: The housing-cost example in the reading is Rantap’s modern illustration. The example and advice to state the scope of a reading are editorial applications.
5Understanding
Which is the article’s modern suggestion rather than Bacon’s direct explanation?
Correct answer: You can adjust the depth of reading within the same book as your purpose changes.
Adjusting the approach within a book as a purpose changes is Rantap’s modern application. The other choices are supported by the original passage or its immediately preceding context.
Evidence: “Choose a Purpose, Then Reconsider the Depth” explicitly identifies this as a modern suggestion.
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Connected reading
Can You Choose the Depth Your Reading Needs?