I've been re-reading Descartes Discourse on Method. Last night I came across this gem on the reading of good books. Don't know how it failed to impress itself upon me the other times I read it.

"[R]eading good books is like a conversation with the noblest people of past centuries--their authors--indeed, even a studied conversation in which they uncover only the best of their thoughts...." -- Descartes, Discourse on Method, 5 (Adam & Tannery edition).

Yes. And these conversations are all the more pleasurable when accompanied by good, strong drink -- coffee or scotch are best. (Beer when conversing with Martin Luther, of course!)

P.S.
One doesn't want to blog on this date without some mention of the fact that it is a date which will live "in infamy".