I didn’t want to do it, but it seemed like it was the move
that needed to be made. As one hand
moved the book off the bookcase, another hand pulled it back. The body was as split as my mind. How could both directions be right—or wrong?
The book in question was a beat-up, old dictionary. The tattered cover draped itself lovingly
around the thickly bound pages that had not been thumbed through in years. What good is a book if it’s not opened and
read? What power to influence remains
for a book that sits dormant, quietly screaming for its life?
How did it come to this, to the point where I had to
confront the facts as they are? No one
likes to see the truth when the truth doesn’t fit their script, their sense of
right and wrong, their core belief of what they stand for and represent. But the truth was this book was becoming
obsolete, replaced by the floating, unbound but wandering world of digital. If this book becomes irrelevant, won’t they
all follow?
I had to stop myself or I’d lose control of who I think I am
and of what I stand for. But as a
compromise, I removed the book from the shelf and placed it on my desk, now
just a few feet from the office door, closer to the recycle bin than I could
have imagined it would be.
The book is the Bible of all books, the dictionary. It holds the clues to life and our
understanding of the world around us. We
use words to explain life, and in turn, to help us live it, change it, and
renew it. Words are the cells of the
mind, the building blocks for the thinking life. Without words, we’d be reduced to caveman
conceptualizations of the world. Words
allow us to agree, to be exact, to exchange ideas, and to instruct. Without words, everything is vague and up to
interpretation, blurry.
And here I was, ready to discard the most important book the
secular world has ever known.
But I wasn’t throwing away language or words or culture—just
merely shifting the encasement of words, relocating them from a printed book to
the massive and ever-growing landscape of the Internet. Let’s face it, to look up the spelling or meaning of a
word, don’t you just look it up on your phone?
Still, to remove the dictionary from my possession caused a
great inner debate that has torn me apart.
How could I, an English major, published author, a former editor, a book
publicist and marketer, a lover of the printed word, even think to toss the
dictionary aside as if it were yesterday’s newspaper?
But here we are, late in 2013, and I’m looking to find a way
to resolve my inner dilemma. It shocks
me that I’m on the brink of giving up on the need to have a printed dictionary,
but perhaps I need to move the conversation into a different direction.
I need to justify my actions, if not to you, then to myself. I want to accept that it’s okay to admit I no
longer have to hold onto what is no longer needed. Afterall, we are not dismantling language or
giving up on the concept of a dictionary.
The location of the words has merely shifted from a printed book to a Web site.
Oh, who am I kidding? It’s like converting to another religion or suddenly rooting for a
different sports team. I just can’t do
it. That dictionary, if no longer
functional to me, will at least remain a symbol to me. So how does one convert a once useful tool
into a trophy?
I decided to honor the book that makes all books possible by
tearing out pages of the book, hundreds of them, and wallpapering my office,
head to toe. You may think I just
desecrated the book but what I did was save it from a fate much worse. Now I would hope to see the dictionary every
minute of the day. The words would feel alive again.
Pages that had not breathed in a long time, would now see
daylight and have been resurrected. It’s
as if photosynthesis is taking place. I
could swear the ink on the pages has darkened and thickened, growing as the
oxygen nurtures it back to life.
But after hanging several pages on my wall and staring at
them, it just didn’t feel right. Something about the torn pages on my wall
didn’t feel natural.
The dictionary is so unique.
It is the only book that doesn’t tell a story. It is the only book containing every word of
the English language in it. It is the
only book to explain its contents by using its contents. You’d think we’d need symbols or artwork to
explain words but the dictionary uses words to explain other words.
I love the dictionary and what it stands for. It is extremely valuable not only to look up
words you know exist and just need to check the spelling of, but to teach you
words and concepts you never knew existed.
The greatest offering of a printed dictionary is that you could randomly
discover new words and let your curiosity lead you. When online, there’s no browsing. If you don’t know what to look up, you won’t
just stumble upon it.
I wish I could say my office is encased with the dictionary
pages, that I work in a temple of words, surrounded by the building blocks for
all books to come. But I cannot say
that. After being on the brink of confusion and confliction, I am now at peace,
however.
I came to the conclusion that the words will live within me,
that I didn’t need to hang them up for others to see, as if a parade was coming
by. My walls are barren.
We honor the dictionary not by letting a copy sit idle on
our desks or bookshelves, but by using one, whether in digital or printed
form. The dictionary is not a statue, but a life form that grows or shrinks
with every word that one discovers upon its use.
DID YOU MISS THESE
GEMS?
18
Questions You Need To Ask To Make Your Book A Success
Why
do I search for meaning #online?
Are
authors sexy enough to sell books?
Which
books are worthy of PR?
Will Your Book Be
Relevant – Or Read – In 2014?
Interview With Leading Book Marketer Brian Feinblum
What
An Author Is Worth
65
Websites For Writers & Publishers
Mass
Communications Disconnect
Brian
Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and
not that of his employer, Media Connect, the nation’s largest book promoter.
You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He
feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by
BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2014.
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