Books
do not talk to other books. They speak, seemingly intimately to readers, directly but separately. We are left with thousands or even millions
of people who read the same book, while others read other
books or no books at all. If books are to enlighten, empower, educate, and
entertain, we clearly need the following to happen:
·
More
people need to read the same books.
·
More
people need to read books.
·
More
readers of books need to read more books.
Or,
is everything I just said never going to happen? Even if some or all of that happens, will it change
the way the world is?
The
optimist in me says we can do better -- a lot better – individually and societally
– when it comes to reading books. As a
result, whatever value books can inculcate in each of us, the world can
improve.
Trust
in books and the world will change.
It
always amazes me how few people read the same book. Wildly successful books, in a given year, may
sell a million copies. Some might sell tens of millions of copies over a period
of time. But out of 330 million
Americans and 7.65 billion world citizens, those numbers don’t begin to address
reaching any more than a fragment of the population.
The
reasons are sadly too numerous as to why people don’t read books:
·
Money
·
Accessibility
·
Literacy
·
Time
·
Interest
·
Learning Disorder
·
Mental/Physical Disability
·
Competition From TV, Internet, Theater, etc.
The
list can go on. Sometimes it’s more
excuse than reason, but there are boundaries that people impose upon themselves
that do not allow for them to reap the benefits that awaits them in the
beautiful, bold world of books.
For
those that do read books, many do not read a lot of them. They lose focus or lack patience. They draw out a book, leaving less time to
read more books.
When
it comes to book selectivity, people will read what interests them, which means
they self-impose a limit on what they will expose themselves to making the book
reading experience too predictable and not fully as valuable as it should
be. Some people discover books through
literally wandering through a bookstore, while others rely too often on the
recommendations of others – friends, family, bosses, teachers, mentors, clergy
– or book reviews, advertisements, and magazine articles.
But
what would the world look like if we read some of the same books, either within
a certain time period or at the exact same time as one another? What if these
books moved us to see things differently: to take action, to help ourselves and
others, to feel moved to no longer act as we have been?
The
question then becomes, so which books should we all read? In what order? Who will help moderate and discuss what we
read and put it into context? Exposing
everyone to a lot of knowledge can also overwhelm and misdirect them.
Books
can – and need to – do many things. They
help us imagine new worlds. They teach
us morals. They alert us to possibilities and counterpoints to our lives. They give us facts and a prism through which
to see things. They give us history
while broadening a path to the future.
Books put a microscope to things and they allow for a greater
appreciation for life. But their amazing
power is muted by the world’s inability to set some standards and unity over
what gets read and by whom.
Even
our schools fail us. From state to state, school district to school district,
there is too much variance when it comes to which books all children shall
read. Even when a book is read by many students, it may not be fully
appreciated or understood simply because children lack life experience or enough book reading to fully appreciate what the book is covering. Reading a classic
at age 14 may be good, but reading it at 44 can be even more powerful.
So
what’s the answer?
We
are a free society – free to read what we want and when – and free to not read
anything at all. Reading books can’t be
compulsory but we should encourage the reading of old and contemporary books,
fiction and non-fiction, in the hopes of the masses evolving together. But the
winner of all possibilities would be to get huge buy-in, across the country,
for people to read the same book at the same time. Imagine how different the
country would be if we all began to think about the same subject matter and
source material, whatever the topic.
Certainly,
there could be some odd consequences in reading the same book for all of us.
For instance, what if it’s a book about a specific diet and suddenly tens of
millions of people embraced it? Now
everyone is hitting flooded gyms, eating certain foods that kill or balloon an
industry, and buying new clothes due to weight loss. Or what if it’s a book that encourages
threesomes or to convert to Christianity or to invest in a handful of
companies? Yes, the world could change
in ways we never imagined.
Groupthink can be just as harmful to a nation that is pulled in 50 different
directions. In one scenario, opposition is silenced and the mases go in a
singular direction. In the latter scenario, competing interests leave us frayed
and isolated, where nothing leads or directs us.
A
book, though it should stand alone, is best read amongst many books, for we
need more than one book to guide us. We
need books to understand our health, wealth, faith, relationships, parenting,
and a hundred other areas of life. One
book, no matter how interesting, agreeable, and informative, can’t cover
everything. Not an almanac nor the
Bible. Not a novel nor a collection of poetry. Many books, on many topics, from
many voices, over many years, are needed to shape us.
I
believe we need more book readers and for more people to have some common
reading lists. Today’s siloed world is
not uniting us. We are a divided nation without a uniform roadmap. Some things
desperately need agreement. Things like the environment, health care, and gun
violence are not things of fashion or a lifestyle choice. They are issues that
could doom us if not handled adequately.
Can books help cure these ills? We need leadership and answers, now more than ever to some of life’s biggest challenges and threats. The answer or cure may very well reside in a book, one that we must all read. But which one?
Can books help cure these ills? We need leadership and answers, now more than ever to some of life’s biggest challenges and threats. The answer or cure may very well reside in a book, one that we must all read. But which one?
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