The flood of print has turned reading into a process of gulping rather than savoring.
Interpretation
Reading has become a rapid, superficial activity instead of a deep, enjoyable experience.
Raymond Chandler's quote reflects on how the overwhelming amount of written material available today has transformed the way we engage with texts. Instead of taking the time to appreciate and contemplate what we read, individuals often rush through material, consuming it quickly without truly savoring or understanding it.
In practice
In a discussion on the effects of digital media on literacy, this quote could highlight concerns about our reading habits.
Undoubtedly the stories about them [hard-boiled detectives] had a fantastic element. Such things happened, but not so rapidly, nor to so close-knit a group of people, nor within so narrow a frame of logic. This was inevitable because the demand was for constant action; if you stopped to think you were lost. When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand.
There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.
Organized crime is the dirty side of the sharp dollar.
When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand.
If my books had been any worse, I should not have been invited to Hollywood, and if they had been any better, I should not have come.
We have the whitest kitchens and the most shining bathrooms in the world. But in the lovely white kitchen the average [person] canβt produce a meal fit to eat, and the lovely shining bathroom is mostly a receptacle for deodorants, laxatives, sleeping pills, and the products of that confidence racket called the cosmetic industry. We make the finest packages in the world, Mr Marlowe. The stuff inside is mostly junk." β
There is only one justification for universities, as distinguished from trade schools. They must be centers of criticism.
Writing for children is bloody difficult; books for children are as complex as their adult counterparts, and they should therefore be accorded the same respect.
My parents believed in education and economic security, and I thank them for it. Because I think that's part of what's made my life stable. It was instilled in me. You have to be able to pay your bills. You do not get into debt. And I never have been.
I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity.
The danger of lectures is that they create the illusion of teaching for teachers, and the illusion of learning for learners.
If we want scientists and engineers in the future, we should be cultivating the girls as much as the boys.
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