anti-mnemonics

Updated: August 1, 2026

Says Coleridge, one of the foremost of English thinkers: "I believe the habit of perusing periodical works may be properly added to the catalogue of anti-mnemonics, or weakeners of the memory." If read sparingly, and for actual events, newspapers have a value which is all their own; but to spend hours upon them, as many do, is mere mental dissipation.

Ainsworth Rand Spofford - A Book for All Readers: An Aid to the Collection, Use, and Preservation of Books: and the Formation of Public and Private Libraries