Libraries

Libraries are so awesome! Bee and I went to the library today. Often she goes to the library and comes home with stacks of books or she messages me to meet her there after work so she can use my library card because hers is maxed out. But we were there together this evening and it was very enjoyable. Books are great. There is so much you can learn from books. Dispite all the internet and so many portable electronic technologies people still print books. Why is that? Because there is value in books. They are firm. They are tangible. They are physical. Call me old fashion but I don't think you can ever replace the affect of actual pages, the feel of flipping through them.

Talking about books and the gravity of books reminds me of a lecture titled Solitude and Leadership that my uncle recommended I read recently. It is a lecture given by William Deresiewicz to first-year students at West Point. It was a very good lecture. I enjoyed reading it. In part he says:

So, why is reading books any better than reading tweets or wall posts? ...a book has two advantages over a tweet. First, the person who wrote it thought about it a lot more carefully. The book is the result of his solitude, his attempt to think for himself.

Second, most books are old. This is not a disadvantage: this is precisely what makes them valuable. They stand against the conventional wisdom of today simply because they’re not from today. Even if they merely reflect the conventional wisdom of their own day, they say something different from what you hear all the time. But the great books, the ones you find on a syllabus, the ones people have continued to read, don’t reflect the conventional wisdom of their day. They say things that have the permanent power to disrupt our habits of thought. They were revolutionary in their own time, and they are still revolutionary today. And when I say “revolutionary,” I am deliberately evoking the American Revolution, because it was a result of precisely this kind of independent thinking. Without solitude—the solitude of Adams and Jefferson and Hamilton and Madison and Thomas Paine—there would be no America.

I was never much into books as a child. I did not enjoy reading. As I have grown however, I realize how much I have missed out by not reading as a child. There is so much knowledge to be had in books, so much insight. There is also much leisure in books- but very many kids nowadays wouldn't know it because they are too busy soaking up their time with more electronic leisure's.

Back to our trip to the Library, Bee and I had a delightful evening at the library. We did not check anything out this time but we did find a few books of interest. I found a few books on Korea and the "Korea Question" as well as found a few other books to answer some questions of my own. Bee found a 'How-To' book or two to keep her occupied. Libraries are wonderful, peaceful places to study in or just spend time in.

Shut off the computer and go visit a library. Take your kid with you. There is so much discovery to be had there. Wander around, see what interests you. If you have trouble you can play this library game I came up with-

Most libraries are referenced with a number system; three digits, a decimal, followed by two or three more digits. Pick a random three digit number and have a friend or family member pick another three digits and put the two together with a decimal between them (if you are by yourself pick all the numbers), then go see if you can find the book to that reference number and see what it is about. It can be entertaining to see the different books you find. The game may have to be modified slightly for your library but it is simple, and it gets you looking at books.