How to Think Like Shakespeare: Lessons from a Renaissance Education

How to Think Like Shakespeare: Lessons from a Renaissance Education by Scott Newstok attempts to capture what education really is, as well as what it ought to be, while also arguing where our modern system falls short, creating a disconnection from a life that is well-ordered and well-lived. 

While relatively few of us can achieve anything close to the Bard, we can learn from the education and practices that formed him and influenced his work. It is not enough just to think, as we ought to strive to understand what we think and why we think it. It is the processing and ruminating on knowledge that leads us to true education. 

This is a meaty book, albeit not a very long one, and it ruminates on lessons from Shakespeare’s day, linking them to modern-day equivalents, with frequent quotes along the way. It’s a dense read, meant to be chewed over and pondered, not hurried. In an age of so much technology and lack of time for thoughtfulness, a conversation with the past might prove helpful, or at the very least expand our vocabulary.