Books have always been the avenue to worlds heretofore unknown. We can learn at our own pace. Reading may be for pleasure or information with the opportunity to expand our knowledge, share, discuss and empower. With instant online resources for immediate answers, do bits of data sourced in this fashion embed in our memories or leave as quickly as our fingers accessed them?
While not a Luddite, committed only to the more time consuming process of retrieving answers, I’ve found that engaging in a more traditional research process to be more satisfying. Yes, I readily use all resources and there’s also no delightfully lingering memory of hunting for texts in the bowels of libraries. Kindle is a tool that’s opened a world of unlimited reading. There’s no substitute for cracking open a new volume from its smell to the texture of the pages. If only ten books took up as little space!
The words of astronomer, Carl Sagan, describe books so beautifully.
“What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe someone dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly inside your head…directly to YOU.
Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other; citizens of distant epochs.
Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.”
From earliest recollections of Dick & Jane primers to the most sophisticated scholarly writings, we can be transported to places past and future without boarding a plane or train. We can choose areas of interest and explore to our heart’s content, prepare for debate or discussion and in doing so, expand your warehouse of knowledge. Whether your selection is by author or genre, book jacket design or recommendation, setting aside time to read is the gift that keeps on giving.
©MWeisner2019
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