My mother read to me when I was young. I don’t particularly remember any of those stories, especially not the plot lines, etc. But I do remember sitting with her, listening to her, watching the words on the page and observing the illustrations. I also partly remember one: a brown, hardbound book called the “The Wind in the Willows.” - I don’t remember the story at all but it had some great gloss pages and beautiful, and also creepy, illustrations.
Journalists, academics (in particular, psychologists (in particular particulars, developmental psychologists (I could go on))) have had things to say about this, I can’t quote them or paraphrase, because I haven’t actually done my due research here. Meh, it’s Sunday. But, if I did read them, I’m positive the research would support the following hypothesis: reading to your kid gives him/her special powers. There it is. Pure science, well probably, backing me up. The academics won’t let me in their gates right now so I can’t verify this, something about membership dues - unjust taxation I say!
So yes, I have super powers. It is nothing on the level of say, Gambit or Scott Summers (aka, Cyclops), but it is simply this: curiosity. All kidding aside, being read to develops the brain while instilling a fundamental requirement to exist in our societies: language. It is through language that we learn to navigate our social world, it is the machine by which a society’s culture is maintained, the currency upon which society operates. It makes, records, preserves and transcends our history, our mark upon the abyss. Anyway..
A recent random Facebook conversation generated from one participant the question: What can you get from a book that you can’t get from television/film?
“Books vs. Movies: The False Dichotomy” - that could be the title (they have to have a colon, it’s a rule) of an academic paper that argues: what can you get from a book? Something different than what you get from film of any kind. A book requires a lot from the reader, more than is required from a viewer of film. In film, most of the heavy lifting is done for you, it is more passive in nature. - Film is an art of its own with it’s differing levels of class and grade. - But a book requires the reader’s engagement and participation. Above all it requires their imagination. And when one engages their imagination, it opens up doors; curiosity is an addiction, for the more doors that are opened the more you want to open.
For children books a powerful vehicle of language, second only to the spoken word. They can be a powerful exercise of the mind, getting certain parts in the brain in shape while it is developing. For adults, books can represent maintenance and perhaps a certain level of brain building (scientists?). Reading Shakespeare is like doing sit-ups strung upside down with your feet shackled to a pull-up bar. While watching the movie version of Romeo & Juliet (the one with Leo and guns) is like strapping one of those ab shocker devices to yourself and sitting on the couch: you want the same effect, you just aren't going to get it.
Get to the point, dude: my mother read to me, I then continued to read books on my own from the time I first could until today. Fiction, non-fiction, academic, philosophy, classics, novels, whatever looks good and opens a door I’m curious about. It’s a life lesson that contributed to who I am, who I developed into as a person. As always, thanks Mom.
I like books. I like to talk about books. I like to hang out with other people who like books and like to talk about books. As such, the following random facts, beliefs and characteristics concerning my relationship and experience with books is undoubtedly biased:
~Every book I have ever read, at some point or at many points throughout reading it, I have smelled it. I have a categorization of book smells.
~Astronomer, astrophysicist, author and science popularizer Carl Sagan said this: “I think the health of our civilization, the depth of our awareness about the underpinnings of our culture and our concern for the future can all be tested by how well we support our libraries.” - from Cosmos. I couldn't agree more.
~During my college years at UND, I would walk the shelve-aisles at the absolutely wonderful Chester Fritz library and randomly pull books from the shelves, read bits and pieces, and put them back. Wandering those aisles with all that collective knowledge and in places absolute genius is both awakening/enlightening and humbling.
~I usually buy cheaper paperback versions because I have a tendency to really USE my books. They get thrown around, beaten up, and written in. I also have a tendency to swear at the authors of some of these books in the margins. Just because you read something doesn't mean you have to agree with it and just because you don’t agree with it doesn't mean you should stop reading it.
My point of this blog is essentially over. Read a god damn book! But if you wanna hang around a little longer, here are some things I've read over the years that I particularly enjoyed:
“I suddenly began to realize that everybody in America is a natural born thief.” - On The Road by Jack Kerouac
“Even in those cities which seem to enjoy the blessing of peace, and where the arts flourish, the inhabitants are devoured by envy, cares and anxieties, which are greater plagues than any experienced in a town when it is under siege.” Candide by Voltaire.
“Society provides us with warm, reasonably comfortable caves, in which we can huddle with our fellows, beating on the drums that drown out the howling hyenas of the surrounding darkness. ‘Ecstasy’ is the act of stepping outside the caves, alone, to face the night.” - Invitation to Sociology: A Humanistic Perspective
“I believe that every man represents humanity. We are different as to intelligence, health, talents. Yet we are all one. We are all saints and sinners, adults and children, and no one is anybody’s superior or judge. We have been awakened with the Buddha, we have all been crucified with Christ, and we have killed and robbed with Genghis Khan, Stalin, and Hitler.” Beyond the Chains of Illusion by Erich Fromm
“Leasure is the mother of Philosophy; and Common-wealth, the mother of Peace, and Leasure. Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes
“There is not sufficient love and goodness in the world to permit us to give some of it away to imaginary things.” Human, all too Human by Friedrich Nietzsche
“Once someone says what do I care? about the affairs of state, the state should be considered lost.” On the Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Happy Reading!
-Mike
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