According to Emerson, In The American Scholar, there are 3 essential ways in which we learn which are the influence of nature, the influence of books and the past, and the influence of action. Emerson focuses his discussion heavily on the influence of books. In Section II, Emerson states that “Books are the best type of the influence of the past”. Books are partially true but one must take into consideration the possible bias of society during that period. He believes that people take books for absolute fact, causing them to stray away from their original thoughts and ideas. For this reason, he also believes that books can pose a threat to our intellectual development. As we keep reading through section II , Emerson further explains his  theory. “Colleges are built on it. Books are written on it by thinkers, not by Man Thinking; by men of talent, that is, who start wrong, who set out from accepted dogmas, not from their own sight of principles. Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views, which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given, forgetful that Cicero, Locke, and Bacon were only young men in libraries, when they wrote these œbooks”.  Books tend to stray people away from their original thoughts and ideas. Brilliant writers have a way of captivating an 9audience causing them to hold on to their every word as the divine and most absolute truth, when that shouldn’t be the case. Emerson reiterates the idea of “man-thinking” a lot throughout his essay. His idea of what a thinking man is someone who creates, not one who simply reads about the creations of others. He did not wrap up his speech without briefly discussing the benefits of reading if done correctly. He also believes that “there is a portion of reading quite indispensable to a wise man”. These being history, science, and similar subjects.  All in all, Emerson’s view on the relationship between the book and school is that it helps us best not to rely solely on the teachings of books and school should help us find our individual truths. …….”[schools] can only highly serve us, when they aim not to drill, but to create”.