He had read much if one considers his long life but his contemplation was much more than his reading. He was wont to say that if he had read as much as other men he should have known no more than other men.
Ragtime has about the same amount of respect as comics. And in a way they're similar art forms. Ragtime is highly compositional and the emotion in the music is built in whereas in jazz a lot of that emotion comes from the way it's performed.
