Books
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“For 99 percent of the tenure of humans on earth, nobody could read or write. The great invention had not yet been made.
Except for firsthand experience, almost everything we knew was passed on by word of mouth. As in the children's game
"Telephone," over tens and hundreds of generations, information would slowly be distorted and lost.
Books changed all that. Books, purchasable at low cost, permit us to interrogate the past with high accuracy; to tap the wisdom of our species; to understand the point of view of others, and not just those in power; to contemplate-with the best teachers - the insights, painfully extracted from Nature, of the greatest minds that ever were, drawn from the entire planet and from all of our history. They allow people long dead to talk inside our heads. Books can accompany us everywhere. Books are patient where we are slow to understand, allow us to go over the hard parts as many times as we wish, and are never critical of our lapses. Books are key to understanding the world and participating in a democratic society.”
~Carl Sagan, “The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”
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Very interesting
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I try to read things that are completely out of my expertise or interest. This was one of those books. One of the interesting points in the book is reporting on a number of people from the early 1400s who speak of the joy of reading. It should be noted that few people of that era were capable of reading. Books were not plentiful as printing had not been invented. The quoted people are excited to know the thoughts of people who had lived hundreds of years before. The excitement in their correspondence is palpable - being able to know the thoughts of Greek and Roman authors. There are parallels with life today - our excitement when we could Google information, listen to thousands of pieces of music on our phone, etc.
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While I like the feel and sense of paper books, I read more ebooks on my Kobo reader than paper books. Easier to hold, travel with, and read "on the go".
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Funny that this article came up not too long after reading this forum thread. About a unique bookstore in Venice Italy.
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Curious who reads proper books anymore as opposed to kindle or audible.
I think I’ve only read one paper book in the last 5 or even 10 years, given to me by the author, a guy at Cleveland Clinic.
Curious who reads proper books anymore as opposed to kindle or audible.
I think I’ve only read one paper book in the last 5 or even 10 years, given to me by the author, a guy at Cleveland Clinic.
I almost exclusively do audiobooks - except for the one I just mentioned, but I still do hardcopy as opposed to e-books.
