ABSTRACT
The connection of reading to thinking for oneself becomes the hallmark of liberal education. Too much solitude is not good for liberal education; the voracious and voluminous reading necessary to speak knowledgeably about anything becomes liberal education only when one tests it in discussion against the ideas of others. Thinkers like John Henry Newman and John Ruskin examined to some degree the relationship between the communal experience of university life and the solitary experience of the auto-didactic reader. Both came up with suggestions that correspond in large part to Augustine’s observations about the power of reading. It may be that the adult learners do not need the crutch of a classroom as a younger student might, and one should continue to allow them to pursue their reading in their own solitary fashion, as Ruskin might argue. But it is worthwhile to remember that Augustine and Newman put special emphasis on the community connection within the realm of reading.
