Become enlightened, not informed on current events: In How to Read a Book, Mortimer Adler makes the distinction between being informed and enlightened on any given issue. Being informed means accumulating facts. You know what happened, when, and where. But you can’t see beyond the current discussions of the issue, like those on TV or social media. When you are enlightened, you grasp the deeper meaning. You have insight into why it happened, how it connects/compares to other events, and the potential implications. The historical context you get from studying history facilitates this deeper understanding.