Fyodor Dostoevsky - The Brothers Karamazov

Before reading the book, I was forewarned by its introduction that Einstein declared that he had learnt more from Dostoevsky than from any other thinker. This suggested to me that I was about to read something deep and concentrated, and the book turned out to be just that.

The book is a very thick one, despite the fact that the story covers a very short time span. As its length suggests, the story is very complicated, and I don't feel the need to summarized the plot, as Wikipedia has it all. As I read it, I came across some parts where I sensed that there was a deeper meaning, but I failed to grasp exactly what it was. For example, I'm pretty sure that the disparity between the Karamazov brothers represents something, but I'm not sure what. Many times did I feel that I was not mature enough for the book. I think I would greatly benefit from reading a guide book on this novel, so as to better understand the greatness of the book.

However, one part of the book left an impression on me. I encountered a 13 year old boy called Kolya who read books voraciously, talked to people with authority and boldness, and seemed to know surprisingly a lot for his age. He was well aware of his precocity, and was therefore rather vain. While reading about him, I felt a certain envy, because for the past few month, I have been reading a lot to know more and become a more intelligent person, or to become a "human", one could say. This was after I had read the introduction to the "Great Books of the Western World" series, which emphasized the importance of liberal education(that is, reading great books) and which propelled me to read and read to become a "better" and "intelligent" person, almost some sort of a "superior" person. However, in the book, Alyosha Karamazov, who is portrayed as a person who loves all and is loved by all, tells Kolya that he is "perverted by all this nonsense". This made me look back at myself; I realized that my zeal for knowledge was for my betterment only, not for others. It dawned on me that learning for the sake of improving myself is a rather incomplete goal, whereas learning to improve humanity is a more complete one. Knowledge should be the means, not the goal.