Books
connect us to who we are not, in the hope we will become something more or
other.
This
is the conclusion I have come to while browsing the newest books being pushed onto
me at the front of the Union Square B&N in New York City.
Fiction
plays into the mysteries, passions, and situations we wish we could actually
experience. We buy and read books about
people we’ll never interact with or become.
We explore storylines so far removed from the life we lead, hoping, and
wishing that we could live out the stories we hold in our hands.
Non-fiction
presents us with books that are supposed to improve our lives – telling us how
to have better sex, make more money, lose weight, and do all the things we write
resolutions about that we abandon before the ink on our list dries. We buy the books that outline who we wish to
become but seem to always fall short of.
So,
if we agree that books, at best, offer us an escape or the false belief that
knowledge and awareness is equivalent to skill and success, why do we hold
books in such high regard? Most fail to
get us to really improve our lives.
Sure, it doesn’t seem like the book’s fault, but in the end, the reader
couldn’t build an empire like Trump, have a great marriage, spot the winning
real estate deal with no money down, or lose 35 pounds and keep it off.
Because
books fail to achieve the results they claim to offer, more books are written,
each claiming to be the real deal, the one that does what it says, the one
that’s the best in genre. If enough books succeeded at helping people, few
others on the subject would exist or dare to be published. It’s no surprise to see so many business and
health books fill the shelves.
Now,
this may seem like a long post from a cynic, or a depressed soul, or some
bitter, washed up, never-was. Nothing of
the sort. I’m just on my questioning
journey, wondering how, after millions of books have been published, people still venture
to write many books and people still look to purchase them. If what already exists can’t satisfy people,
what does it say about books or people?
On
the other hand, books do make us better.
With fiction, gaps are filled. We
simply can’t live all the lives one could live – not enough time, too risky,
too costly, or too contradictory to each other.
Some things defy science, history or religion and the only way to
experience it is through fiction.
As
for non-fiction, books are only as good as the reader’s willingness and ability
to follow up on the outlined prescriptions.
Sure, some books reach too far or are downright wrong, misleading, or
incomplete, but in many cases people don’t follow through on the advice,
instructions or strategies provided to them by the books they read.
Of
course, the conclusion one should not make is that reading books is a useless
proposition. Nor should one say that
writing them is a wasted endeavor. But
I’d like to see writers and readers provide an answer to the question I pose: Why books?
Either
staunchly defend books and get everyone to read, buy, and share books – or
convince others to stop wasting their time with something that could be
useless. Same goes for writers – do we
encourage them or crush their spirit?
You
need to come up with your own answer:
Why books?
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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. 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 2016 ©. Born and raised in Brooklyn, now resides in Westchester. Named one of the best book marketing blogs by Book Baby
http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs 
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