When I entered Newton County High School in 1962 as a freshman, we received a school handbook with all the rules and regulations. There was one whole page about the library, and this paragraph was like a manifesto about books. “The world of books is the most remarkable creation of man. Nothing else that he builds ever lasts. Monuments fall; nations perish; civilizations grow old and die out; and after an era of darkness; new races build others. But in the world of books are volumes that have seen this happen again and again, and yet live on; still young, still as fresh as the day they were written, still telling men’s hearts of the hearts of men centuries dead.” I think that frightened many students! It was gloomy and intimidating! Who wants to read books after that order? It certainly was not encouraging!
In my elementary school years, there was a librarian who was very stern, unsmiling, who presided over the library. She knew you, most likely your parents, and she would censor your book selections, as she was “the book police."
In middle school, there was a play in which a dozen of the students were going to have to act in class. The textbooks were heavy, and it was hard to hold them and practice the play lines, so one day I had a bright idea.” Let’s just tear out those 40 pages and practice with that, then glue them back in the book when we are done”? I did a hardly noticeable job on my textbook, but not the others, so I got in trouble, and sent to the principal’s office (one of many trips there).
As an adult, I love to read, and I read every day. I am actually a sesquipedalian librocubicularist! Sounds like a disease, doesn’t it? But it actually means 'one who reads in bed.' Many famous people are heavy duty readers. Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Oprah Winfrey, Elon Musk, Barack Obama, Mark Zuckerberg; and they ALL attribute their success to reading books, many hours of the day.
Book clubs have become a very popular club idea in the last 20 years, with all kinds of celebrities forming their own book club. Oprah might have started the first one, with Reese Witherspoon following, then Jenna Bush Hager, among others. Many Americans are in book clubs, which are social groups devoted to book discussions, often with food and drink, often wine. A woman from Augusta said about her book club, “We are wine drinkers with a reading problem." I am in a book club of almost 30 years duration, and going to our book club dinner is a 5-star evening, not to be missed, unless you are in the hospital!
What does reading do for the brain? Reading builds cognitive reserve, making the brain more resilient to aging (aka stave off Alzheimer’s), it can dramatically reduce stress, as it has the same effect on your brain as laughing. Reading can rewire your brain, create new neural pathways, and increase the white matter in the corpus callosum. It’s scientifically proven readers live longer! Now there is a device, Kindle, which is an electronic book, which delivers e-books, but I do not have one. Probably never will, as I prefer a handheld book where I can turn pages. There are pros and cons to it. And the newest app is Blinkist, which summarizes a book into a 15-minute audio of the key ideas, for busy people who don’t have time to read. Is that fun? To me, it takes the joy of reading completely away.
Carl Sagan, (1934-1996), American astronomer and planetary scientist, wrote this eloquent assessment of books: “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 somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently 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.” I think he must have read the 1962 manifesto and reworked it into an enticement to reading?
Are you a bibliophile? (Greek for ‘friend of books’) Aka a person who collects or has a great love of books. They love the look, the feel, the smell and the history as much as the content and they collect books for their aesthetics. Whereas a bookworm is more interested in the content and collects books because they loved the story. I am a biblioworm? The Roman orator Cicero (106 B.C.-43 B.C) believed “A room without books is as a body without a soul.” I know many people with walls, bookcases, shelves and stacks of books. Covington used to have a bookstore; unfortunately, it’s a difficult business model these days.
Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd PRESIDENT of the United States (1750-1802), a brilliant man and a HUGE lover of books, said, “I cannot live without books.” I think he said something similar about wine? And my other fave, Abraham Lincoln, said,” All I have learned, I learned from books.” So…. Read on!!
Carol Veliotis is a local columnist for The Covington News. She can be reached at carol.veliotis@gmail.com.
