The Importance of Readings Books That Are Over Your Head

I am almost half way through Stephen Meyer's book Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design. Some of it is way over my head. I started on chapter 5 "The Molecular Labyrinth" and read this "For those without a background in biology, don't worry if some of the details get past you." (121) Two pages later I was lost. I was tempted to say the book was far too difficult for me and I should go on to something more my level. But I didn't. To avoid complete despair I skimmed the remaining part of the chapter and went on to the next chapter. The following few chapters were remarkably fascinating and considerably easier for me to follow. I will go back someday to chapter 5 and try it again but there was a lesson here.

Educator and philosopher Mortimer Adler used to encourage people to read books that were over their head. Adler in this YouTube clip says it this way, "The art of reading, I’d like to say, consists in having the skills required for lifting your mind up with a book, and nothing but a book in your hand, from understanding less to understanding more." What was the last book you read that forced you out of your comfort zone and made you think hard? For me, it is Signature in the Cell. I must say the effort, while arduous, is sheer delight.