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Why Literature Still Matters
In this wide-ranging and accessible work, Jason M. Baxter puts our contemporary culture in conversation with literature and its “sister arts” to make the compelling—and sometimes chilling—case not just for the relevance but urgency of the humane tradition as we enter our “digital apocalypse.” Baxter draws on his areas of expertise, Dante and C.S. Lewis; his background in teaching the great books, art history, and music history; as well as his own travel literature to give his readers an almost sensuous feeling for what the alternative to our tech-obsessed culture is.
87 pages, Paperback
Published December 16, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews
December 26, 2024
Excellent little book that roars out of the starting gate with the first essay. So much food for thought and discussion in this volume!
May 2, 2025
(May, 2025: The review below is for the first printing. Since that time a 2nd edition has been published with formatting changes, including book dimensions and font.)
This beautiful, little book is the first publication from Cassiodorus Press. Let's start with the *little* part: it was the intention of the publisher to provide a 'pocket-size' book that one could slip in his purse, large or small, and have with him wherever he was. The *beautiful* part: I'm going to say one of the things that makes me crazy when people say it of others --- It is 'beautiful inside and out'. Seriously, I usually hate that phrase. It's like I feel guilty for praising your outward appearance, so I've got to get all spiritual. Anyhow, this little book has a beautiful cover, with illustration by young artist Gabriel Chou. The beauty inside is provided by the layout and, of course, Jason Baxter's very poetic way of delivering his ideas.
I had to laugh at some initial criticism by a couple of people about the font size because it actually proved some of Dr. Baxter's points. Here's what I found the font size did for me: I had to slow down. Oh, horrors! Our modern (or post-modern) consumer culture has made us expect things to be smooth and fast. Two things that are illustrated from the start of this beautiful, little book. I could do a whole lot of pointing the finger to other people and our society but could feel that I am complicit also, as I felt compelled to hurry the reading to meet my goal to have it read and reviewed by the end of the weekend in which I received the beautiful, little book in the mail. (I went 3 days past my goal.)
I was particularly struck by how much a high-minded scholar such as Dr. Baxter could be so familiar with contemporary pop culture. When you read his words, it is obvious that these are observations he has made as he goes along with his daily life. He did not go looking for unfamiliar (to him) songs, art, or stories that he could negatively criticize to prove his point --- something that other writers do that comes across laughable and ineffective, like old Senators questioning tech people in hearings about things they haven't a clue about. Because Dr. Baxter lives a life of observation, contemplation, and caring, he comes across as way more authentic than most. His purpose is pure.
Many, many kudos to the staff of Cassiodorus Press for this debut production. I look forward to seeing Angelina Stanford, CP's Founder and Publisher, "among the regal and magnanimous souls on Dante's Jupiter", as Dr. Baxter predicts in his Acknowledgments.
Thank you, Dr. Jason Baxter, for this beautiful, little work, that will be carried about with me in my purse, ready to re-read many, many times. Slowly. Thoughtfully.
This beautiful, little book is the first publication from Cassiodorus Press. Let's start with the *little* part: it was the intention of the publisher to provide a 'pocket-size' book that one could slip in his purse, large or small, and have with him wherever he was. The *beautiful* part: I'm going to say one of the things that makes me crazy when people say it of others --- It is 'beautiful inside and out'. Seriously, I usually hate that phrase. It's like I feel guilty for praising your outward appearance, so I've got to get all spiritual. Anyhow, this little book has a beautiful cover, with illustration by young artist Gabriel Chou. The beauty inside is provided by the layout and, of course, Jason Baxter's very poetic way of delivering his ideas.
I had to laugh at some initial criticism by a couple of people about the font size because it actually proved some of Dr. Baxter's points. Here's what I found the font size did for me: I had to slow down. Oh, horrors! Our modern (or post-modern) consumer culture has made us expect things to be smooth and fast. Two things that are illustrated from the start of this beautiful, little book. I could do a whole lot of pointing the finger to other people and our society but could feel that I am complicit also, as I felt compelled to hurry the reading to meet my goal to have it read and reviewed by the end of the weekend in which I received the beautiful, little book in the mail. (I went 3 days past my goal.)
I was particularly struck by how much a high-minded scholar such as Dr. Baxter could be so familiar with contemporary pop culture. When you read his words, it is obvious that these are observations he has made as he goes along with his daily life. He did not go looking for unfamiliar (to him) songs, art, or stories that he could negatively criticize to prove his point --- something that other writers do that comes across laughable and ineffective, like old Senators questioning tech people in hearings about things they haven't a clue about. Because Dr. Baxter lives a life of observation, contemplation, and caring, he comes across as way more authentic than most. His purpose is pure.
Many, many kudos to the staff of Cassiodorus Press for this debut production. I look forward to seeing Angelina Stanford, CP's Founder and Publisher, "among the regal and magnanimous souls on Dante's Jupiter", as Dr. Baxter predicts in his Acknowledgments.
Thank you, Dr. Jason Baxter, for this beautiful, little work, that will be carried about with me in my purse, ready to re-read many, many times. Slowly. Thoughtfully.
December 30, 2024
I pre-ordered this book to support Dr. Baxter, but I was arrogant enough to believe he’d be preaching to the choir and he wouldn’t have anything new to tell me on this subject. I had forgotten that I’m a modern and Dr. Baxter is a dinosaur—he is to the 21st century what CS Lewis was to the 20th. I was humbled and thankful once again to be able to learn from him. This little book is an invaluable contribution to the conversation that we all need to have on modernity and humanity.
January 24, 2025
I'll be thinking about this for a while.
December 27, 2024
The font is almost unreadable which I hope future printings will remedy because this book is gold for everyone, even the ones with slightly old eyes. Despite the issues with font I still gave it 5 stars because it is so brilliant.
December 30, 2024
“[W]hat I find myself wanting is not just to see beauty, but to be beauty, to make that which I see (or hear or read) become a permanent part of my being. I want to make that thing out there something in here. . . . As one of my teachers says, ‘I don’t want just to see beauty, I want to eat it.’”
I was tempted to binge read this book, but I made myself read it slowly. In many ways, this book is a call to slow down. Dr. Baxter explains so well how we have come to view the world (and ourselves) as a machine. That which is efficient, powerful, fast is the kind of thing we find “beautiful.” So when the natural world presents true beauty to us, we miss it entirely, either because we’re too frantic to stop and truly take it in or too busy quantifying the experience for likes and comments on social media.
What literature does for us then is slow us down. It slows time down. As Dr. Baxter notes, literature offers amplification in the proper sense of the word: “not a hyping up, an acceleration of mass, an increase of momentum, but rather the attempt to render a vision ‘full,’ generous, abundant, charged with density, alive beyond any expectation.” In feasting on great books (and I do mean feasting, not merely consuming), we learn how to feast on beauty, true beauty, once again.
I was already convinced that my reading life in 2025 needs to be about slowing down, about savoring my reading, about picking up longer books again, about taking in my books in whatever manner and at whatever pace they deserve. This book felt like confirmation that I’ve chosen the right path and just need to stay the course.
I was tempted to binge read this book, but I made myself read it slowly. In many ways, this book is a call to slow down. Dr. Baxter explains so well how we have come to view the world (and ourselves) as a machine. That which is efficient, powerful, fast is the kind of thing we find “beautiful.” So when the natural world presents true beauty to us, we miss it entirely, either because we’re too frantic to stop and truly take it in or too busy quantifying the experience for likes and comments on social media.
What literature does for us then is slow us down. It slows time down. As Dr. Baxter notes, literature offers amplification in the proper sense of the word: “not a hyping up, an acceleration of mass, an increase of momentum, but rather the attempt to render a vision ‘full,’ generous, abundant, charged with density, alive beyond any expectation.” In feasting on great books (and I do mean feasting, not merely consuming), we learn how to feast on beauty, true beauty, once again.
I was already convinced that my reading life in 2025 needs to be about slowing down, about savoring my reading, about picking up longer books again, about taking in my books in whatever manner and at whatever pace they deserve. This book felt like confirmation that I’ve chosen the right path and just need to stay the course.
July 13, 2025
Four rather than five stars because it felt too short, somewhat incomplete. These days, short and succinct is often laudatory, because people can get through it even in a busy time. However, as Baxter himself points out, the fact that we are reluctant to meander says something worrisome about our changing attitudes towards reading.
November 17, 2025
First Reading December 2024:
Four really fine essays.
"An expectation has gotten into our blood and our bones and our brains that we must constantly and actively seek to amp up our lives."
Second Reading:
Read for my CM book group. :)
"We are not readers because we "like" books. Of course we might sometimes simply read for entertainment, as Eliot relaxed by reading detective novels and Lewis relaxed by reading sci-fi, and my high school daughter relaxes by picking up her siblings' middle-grade fantasy novels. But, inspired by the vision I have articulated here, when we read with a sense of urgency, we are not reading primarily for entertainment. Rather, we are engaged in a deep reading, in which we find our hearts quickened, our spirits moved, and our souls enlarged. Those who are haunted by Joy would never describe their pursuit of the eternal -- in prayer, in liturgy, in love, in literature, in music, in painting -- as "entertainment"; rather, we hunger to eat, what Dante called, "the bread of the angels."
Four really fine essays.
"An expectation has gotten into our blood and our bones and our brains that we must constantly and actively seek to amp up our lives."
Second Reading:
Read for my CM book group. :)
"We are not readers because we "like" books. Of course we might sometimes simply read for entertainment, as Eliot relaxed by reading detective novels and Lewis relaxed by reading sci-fi, and my high school daughter relaxes by picking up her siblings' middle-grade fantasy novels. But, inspired by the vision I have articulated here, when we read with a sense of urgency, we are not reading primarily for entertainment. Rather, we are engaged in a deep reading, in which we find our hearts quickened, our spirits moved, and our souls enlarged. Those who are haunted by Joy would never describe their pursuit of the eternal -- in prayer, in liturgy, in love, in literature, in music, in painting -- as "entertainment"; rather, we hunger to eat, what Dante called, "the bread of the angels."
May 1, 2025
much to ponder!
December 27, 2024
Excellent tiny book with tiny font. Great content but some people may need a magnifying glass!
January 4, 2025
An uplifting, thought-provoking book that forces you to look at how the world has impacted our ability to read literature, but also shows us what we are missing when we give into the tendency to prefer efficiency to beauty, and consumption to savoring.
Ironically have a phone on hand to look up the music and art he references.
I will also say, the type is much too small and I hope this is remedied in future prints.
"... we are losing the ability to be moved by still things because we are moving too fast to be quiet in front of them."
Ironically have a phone on hand to look up the music and art he references.
I will also say, the type is much too small and I hope this is remedied in future prints.
"... we are losing the ability to be moved by still things because we are moving too fast to be quiet in front of them."
December 23, 2025
I already agreed with the author about beauty, nature, and literary experiences before reading his book.
This is the second book I’ve “read” by Baxter on audio, and I’m learning he is not an author I can do that with. Certain books, usually nonfiction, need to be seen with the eyes, for me.
So that said, I listened a few times, but I still feel like I didn’t really “get” his point. Either I’m lacking (probable), or he didn’t do a good job at explaining his title. He did a great job at a meandering polemic against modernity and social media, et al, and on the importance of beauty and going out to touch grass. But I feel there are other books that are both more thorough and more insightful on both topics of modern tech/media and what it’s doing to us (not good), and beauty/culture. It’s easy to catch his many anecdotal stories, but I guess to be frank, I’d rather he have been a little more expositional or arranged his points more overtly in a logical order. I feel like I didn’t “catch” his title as clearly as I wanted to, having come into the book all ready to agree with him before he said a word. So I did agree with him, but honestly I felt like he could have argued it more tightly. But like I said, I’m guessing the problem is with me and the audio component.
I’m going to think about how to apply this to my reading next year. I feel tempted by GR’s suggestions and reading challenges to meet goals, regardless of what’s best for my soul, and that means I race through audiobooks without getting the book; but who cares about number of books in a year, if I wasn’t changed or delighted by them?
This is the second book I’ve “read” by Baxter on audio, and I’m learning he is not an author I can do that with. Certain books, usually nonfiction, need to be seen with the eyes, for me.
So that said, I listened a few times, but I still feel like I didn’t really “get” his point. Either I’m lacking (probable), or he didn’t do a good job at explaining his title. He did a great job at a meandering polemic against modernity and social media, et al, and on the importance of beauty and going out to touch grass. But I feel there are other books that are both more thorough and more insightful on both topics of modern tech/media and what it’s doing to us (not good), and beauty/culture. It’s easy to catch his many anecdotal stories, but I guess to be frank, I’d rather he have been a little more expositional or arranged his points more overtly in a logical order. I feel like I didn’t “catch” his title as clearly as I wanted to, having come into the book all ready to agree with him before he said a word. So I did agree with him, but honestly I felt like he could have argued it more tightly. But like I said, I’m guessing the problem is with me and the audio component.
I’m going to think about how to apply this to my reading next year. I feel tempted by GR’s suggestions and reading challenges to meet goals, regardless of what’s best for my soul, and that means I race through audiobooks without getting the book; but who cares about number of books in a year, if I wasn’t changed or delighted by them?
January 8, 2025
“Our response to the whispering voice is the inner core of the literary life” ❤️😭
Dr Baxter took all the unexplained feelings and thoughts about the literary life and laid them out one by one. It really is a book for the reader who wants to know why they feel and think the way they do and the non reader who wants to understand why readers read.
Dr Baxter took all the unexplained feelings and thoughts about the literary life and laid them out one by one. It really is a book for the reader who wants to know why they feel and think the way they do and the non reader who wants to understand why readers read.
May 20, 2025
As an English teacher, I appreciated this book's call to action. I especially liked the section explaining that students (and the culture in general) used to enjoy recognizing and playing with anaphora, anadiplosis, and other rhetorical devices.
As a calculus teacher, I was incredibly frustrated by his broadsides against math, especially a random jab at Calc 2. It is important to distinguish between our cultures utilitarian obsession with STEM and the beautiful subject of mathematics.
As a calculus teacher, I was incredibly frustrated by his broadsides against math, especially a random jab at Calc 2. It is important to distinguish between our cultures utilitarian obsession with STEM and the beautiful subject of mathematics.
May 12, 2025
Absolutely amazing! Very readable but still full of depth. I’ll be passing this on to my husband as well.
January 1, 2025
A wonderful way to close out a year of reading! I began this book already in agreement with the message that literature, is vitally important, even though we as a culture are losing our ability to appreciate old books. What I wasn’t prepared for is what Dr. Baxter had to say about digital culture (how self-referential we have become, and how digital life flattens our real life experiences) as well as his musings about what is lacking in the messaging of the environmental movement. Mainly, Dr. Baxter underscores the value of (older) living books and the importance of long, leisurely time spent in nature as ways for us to enter into meaningful experiences of Beauty. But for Beauty to move us, we have to first be able to perceive it. That requires slowing down and renewing our own habit of attention. This last one is a convicting point for someone whose life has become increasingly hectic and whose reading life, in particular, has taken a turn toward being one of quantity over quality - or of quality being absorbed (or not) at too quick a pace. Perhaps there’s an invitation there to make 2025 my year of the (slow) re-read…
April 16, 2025
This was a very good set of essays on the value of literature in our current time of efficiency / productivity, distraction, and social media scrolling. I especially enjoyed the first and last essays. The font was strangely small.
December 31, 2024
An extraordinary and vital little volume. This will merit several rereads in the near future.
February 2, 2025
I hate to write this review because I want to rate anything of Jason Baxter’s highly, but I suppose I feel honesty compels me. I don’t think he answers the title question. The truth he lays out is much broader than literature. Even the descriptions of what literature does draw more on other art forms. He seems rather to be showing why contemplation, not literature, matters. And it seems many experiences can provide the same benefit.
However, Baxter still writes beautifully. I love how he relates his travel stories, though I find myself disagreeing with him again when he wants to leave Iceland, nauseous in its otherworldliness - I was exhilarated by the same.
However, Baxter still writes beautifully. I love how he relates his travel stories, though I find myself disagreeing with him again when he wants to leave Iceland, nauseous in its otherworldliness - I was exhilarated by the same.
November 24, 2025
What a beautiful book, both in form and content. After reading the first chapter, I sat the book down and opened up a long-lost poetry journal and started crafting metaphors. Talk about inspirational 😂. So much to meditate on, I know I will come back to these essays often.
Some ideas that have a “wow” penned next to them on the pages of this book: we’ve forgotten something but can’t remember what that was, metaphors as a craft in search of likeness, natural symbols draw out something that had been “deeper down” and hidden within, play has become distrusted, narrow vocabulary creates a narrow experience of the world, we prefer the smooth to the beautiful (soulless loss of complexity and resistance), I don’t want just to see beauty, I want to eat it, he smiles at his smiling, literature is driven by the secret desire to close the gap between myself and that beauty out there, to inhabit the world we read we need to have experienced the world that is written, latest is not best, what is the gain and cost of slowing down, our ability to love beauty has evaporated, we’ve lost interest in anything but our own face (selfie)… and much more! 🙌🏼
Read with the lovely ladies of Bookclub.
Some ideas that have a “wow” penned next to them on the pages of this book: we’ve forgotten something but can’t remember what that was, metaphors as a craft in search of likeness, natural symbols draw out something that had been “deeper down” and hidden within, play has become distrusted, narrow vocabulary creates a narrow experience of the world, we prefer the smooth to the beautiful (soulless loss of complexity and resistance), I don’t want just to see beauty, I want to eat it, he smiles at his smiling, literature is driven by the secret desire to close the gap between myself and that beauty out there, to inhabit the world we read we need to have experienced the world that is written, latest is not best, what is the gain and cost of slowing down, our ability to love beauty has evaporated, we’ve lost interest in anything but our own face (selfie)… and much more! 🙌🏼
Read with the lovely ladies of Bookclub.
March 18, 2025
Great collection of essays on the importance of older literature, and of critical thinking, and where modern writers and thinkers and artists may be missing the mark. Especially appreciated the first essay.
I do agree with other reviews on the print being way too small. That did affect my reading experience.
I do agree with other reviews on the print being way too small. That did affect my reading experience.
October 9, 2025
One of my favorite soap boxes. Read hard things, and find yourself a Virgil to guide you through them. Slow down your brain. Become sane.
December 9, 2025
Truly a wonderful and important read
February 23, 2025
Wonderful short essays.
July 25, 2025
Very thought provoking. There's a lot packed into such a tiny book! I know I didn't understand everything but hopefully next time I reread it I'll get even more.
December 3, 2025
Excellent book that isn’t difficult or long but gets you thinking deeply about not only literature but also beauty and culture. I want to go back and read it all again. Highly recommend.
April 21, 2025
I had high expectations for this, as I loved Baxter's book "The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis". This one missed the mark. He didn't set a compelling answer for why literature matters.
The first 2 chapters were fine. The 1st is about the metaphors we live by, and he talks about the chasm there is between us and beauty and the search for it. He talks about how we can close the gap through art, but doesn't explore that much.
It didn't seem much like a book on literature but more on how technological advances and machines affect us.
For a more thorough and biblical/wise outlook on that topic, I highly recommend Tony Reinke's "12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You."
I was hoping he would get to the beauty of God, and how even good and beautiful art is a reflection of God's beauty, and how good literature should teach and delight the reader, but he doesn't explore that deeply.
The book seems too short, a bit thrown together, and it's hard to say what it's mainly about...slowing down? metaphors we live by? man's search for beauty? or the dangers of machines/technology?
The last 2 chapters and epilogue were not needed which is a bummer because that's half the book.
I was really excited for this book, and the topic warrants a great conversation, but the book leaves much to be desired and is lacking.
Don't let this deter you from reading his book on C.S. Lewis which is wonderful.
The first 2 chapters were fine. The 1st is about the metaphors we live by, and he talks about the chasm there is between us and beauty and the search for it. He talks about how we can close the gap through art, but doesn't explore that much.
It didn't seem much like a book on literature but more on how technological advances and machines affect us.
For a more thorough and biblical/wise outlook on that topic, I highly recommend Tony Reinke's "12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You."
I was hoping he would get to the beauty of God, and how even good and beautiful art is a reflection of God's beauty, and how good literature should teach and delight the reader, but he doesn't explore that deeply.
The book seems too short, a bit thrown together, and it's hard to say what it's mainly about...slowing down? metaphors we live by? man's search for beauty? or the dangers of machines/technology?
The last 2 chapters and epilogue were not needed which is a bummer because that's half the book.
I was really excited for this book, and the topic warrants a great conversation, but the book leaves much to be desired and is lacking.
Don't let this deter you from reading his book on C.S. Lewis which is wonderful.
November 22, 2025
So much in such a little book! I enjoyed this first read, but will definitely need to read it again to dig a little deeper. This would be a great book to read alongside a friend and discuss. So much to think about!
August 31, 2025
I'm already in the choir to which he's preaching the message of the value of reading classic literature. He had a strong start to the book, it's a quick read, and he used lots of beautiful quotes from classics that show a different world than the one in which we currently live.
When he talks about seeing the human person in terms of machine efficiency and then not only not seeing any other dimensions, but not being able to even imagine they exist... I'm immediately put in mind of IVF genetic testing advocates who think if the technology exists to create a dozen embryos in a dish and then kill the ones with potential "defects" and only keep the one with the best genetic profile, that it's irresponsible *not* to do that, and can't imagine why anyone would object to this utilitarian and eugenic solution. You don't know what you don't know. We're allowing ourselves to lose the ability to see beauty in the world and that has horrifying real consequences for our souls and for humanity.
So, go read Middlemarch. Then come back and discuss it with me!
When he talks about seeing the human person in terms of machine efficiency and then not only not seeing any other dimensions, but not being able to even imagine they exist... I'm immediately put in mind of IVF genetic testing advocates who think if the technology exists to create a dozen embryos in a dish and then kill the ones with potential "defects" and only keep the one with the best genetic profile, that it's irresponsible *not* to do that, and can't imagine why anyone would object to this utilitarian and eugenic solution. You don't know what you don't know. We're allowing ourselves to lose the ability to see beauty in the world and that has horrifying real consequences for our souls and for humanity.
So, go read Middlemarch. Then come back and discuss it with me!
September 19, 2025
Sept 19, 2025 * 2.5 to 3 stars
While I liked parts of this short book, after all the 5 star reviews and hearing people on several podcasts rave about how "wonderful" it was, I expected more. A LOT more. I liked his book The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis, but this was a big disappointment. There was some great writing and several fantastic C.S. Lewis quotes about reading and literature and beauty, but overall, I was disappointed. The last chapter was the biggest letdown. Repeating a short prayer over and over and over in that way sounds like the "vain repetitions" or "babbling" that Jesus warned us about in Matt 6:7.
While I liked parts of this short book, after all the 5 star reviews and hearing people on several podcasts rave about how "wonderful" it was, I expected more. A LOT more. I liked his book The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis, but this was a big disappointment. There was some great writing and several fantastic C.S. Lewis quotes about reading and literature and beauty, but overall, I was disappointed. The last chapter was the biggest letdown. Repeating a short prayer over and over and over in that way sounds like the "vain repetitions" or "babbling" that Jesus warned us about in Matt 6:7.
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