All my life I have been surrounded by books and fine music. As I write, while listening to Johan Sebastian Bach’s Toccatas being played by Angela Hewitt, one of Canada’s finest interpreters of Bach’s music, I reflect on the importance of reading and the acquisition of knowledge. To my mind there is no substitute for reading. That is not to say that there is not a place for video or film and the graphic novels of today but nothing replaces reading a book and the exercise of one’s critical judgment, imagination and interpretation.
Today’s new technological tools are useful adjuncts to the world of books and the instantaneous downloading of an electronic version of a book and the multimedia aspect of digital publications is a decided enhancement. Digital publications allow a flexibility that is impossible in paper based publications and in some instances produce a richer learning environment. However I believe that there is nothing that will replace the experience of browsing in a bookshop or a library or being in a home surrounded by books.
Reading opens up a world beyond our horizons and develops a love of language. It expands our understanding of mankind and the world that we live in, challenging us to think and to develop our own ideas.
The digital environment of today allows for instant publications that are not necessarily accompanied with the intellectual rigor and critical review of paper based publications and seems not to have the permanence of a good book.
One of my criteria for judging young men and women for management positions has been their reading experience. Some read technical journals, others focus on history and biographies and some read fiction. An astounding number of young adults admit to not having read a book since leaving university. To them it is as if reading books was a chore imposed upon them by the educational system and now that they had completed their education they were done with reading. How sad.
To my mind, a wide range of reading from the King James the First version of the Bible to history, biography and current events along with books on management, scientific discovery and technological innovation interspersed with a broad variety of fiction is the best mix. For example a history of the Second World War may present the factual description of the movement of men and materials, the strategy and tactical events and the political considerations but it takes the poetic license of the fictional writer to express the horror and exhilaration of war and the human emotions in times of intense stress and remarkable danger.
There is no doubt that reading broadens the mind and helps us to better understand the human condition. From Chaucer to Shakespeare to Dickens the stepping stones continue from Sun Tzu to Machiavelli and Drucker.
All these and many more grace the library that I have accumulated over the past six decades. Books from my childhood, youth and throughout my working life, are my constant companions and my greatest pleasure is to share them with my family and friends in a way that I could not do with a kindle version. I hope that in some measure my books will develop a love of reading, learning and discussion of new ideas as well as an appreciation of different cultures and the richness of the English language.
While I do have a selection of digital books that I use for research, it is the physical volumes that I return to time and again. None of my friends browse my database of authors and titles though its available to them, but they spent hours going through my book cases, looking at fly leafs and dipping into books as they select one or several to read.
I think that printed books will be around for a very long time to come.
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