On method, the amount of literature is even more imposing than that on the psychology of reasoning. Probably the most thorough book is Stanley Jevon’s The Principles of Science, though this, consisting of two volumes, will require quite some ambition to attack. A good recent short work is J. A. Thomson, Introduction to Science. Herbert Spencer’s short essay, An Element in Method, in his Various Fragments might also be mentioned. Of those works treating method mainly from a corrective standpoint, I have already mentioned Jevon’s Elementary Lessons in Logic. The authoritative and most comprehensive book on logic is still John Stuart Mill’s great tome. Of course this list of books on method, as well as that on the psychology of reasoning, cannot pretend to be more than merely suggestive. If the reader desires an extensive bibliography in either of these subjects he will probably find it in one of the books mentioned.
On doubt and belief, William Clifford, The Ethics of Belief, and William James, The Will to Believe, might be read. The viewpoints of the two essays are in almost direct contradiction.
On reading, Alexander Bain’s The Art of Study, in his Practical Essays, will be found useful. Bacon’s essay On Studies, which is not more than a couple pages long, contains more concentrated wisdom on the subject than is to be found anywhere.
On subjects most worth thinking about, the reader cannot do better than read Herbert Spencer’s essay What Knowledge is of Most Worth? in his Education. As to books most worth reading, consult the lists of John Morley, Sir John Lubbock, and Frederic Harrison; Sonnenschein’s Best Books (in two volumes); Baldwin’s The Book Lover; Dr. Eliot’s Five Foot Shelf and Frank Parson’s The World’s Best Books, previously referred to.
On the art of living—the art of planning time so as to have room for thinking, as well as valuable hints as to how that thinking is to be carried out—consult Arnold Bennett, How to Live on Twenty-four Hours a Day, and E. H. Griggs, The Use of the Margin (both very, very small books).
Finally, there is much useful material, as well as incalculable inspiration, to be obtained from the intellectual and literary biographies of great thinkers. Especially is this true of autobiography. Among others may be mentioned the autobiographies of John Stuart Mill and Herbert Spencer, and an autobiographical fragment by Charles Darwin.
FOOTNOTES
[ 1] See Herbert Spencer, Education.
[ 2] Pillsbury, Essentials of Psychology.
[ 3] Principles of Psychology, Vol. II, p. 332.