Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested. - Francis Bacon
Books have come a long way from the clay tablet to the hand held e-reader. The day is not far off when children may look at paper books with inexplicable doubt and wonder. They may not even think that people could have read anything from these contraptions.
April 23rd is the day marked by the UN as the International Day of the Book in honor of our immortal Shakespeare and Miguel Cervantes, the great Spanish writer and author of Don Quixote, who are remembered this day.
A book on any subject like mathematics or computer codes is for study purposes. They have limited use. But a novel and some non-fiction are different. The benefits from the books go beyond sheer joy.
Reading a book will transport you to a world of its own, like getting into the ‘Time Machine’ of H.G Wells. Great writers have the power to hold you by the hand and take you on a tour with them all the way, like Dante who was given a tour of the worlds. We always travel with the great writers; many have imagined of traveling to strange regions. Mark Twain’s ‘A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court’ is one that will transport you to the sixth century and introduce Merlin to you. There were foreseers like Jules Verne and Asimov.
Reading novels is considered to be a waste of time by a large section of the population and quite a few never read anything but the Craigslist. While children are encouraged to read books most grown ups never bother to read anything of general nature. TV, business or technical news and related journals and classifieds complete their routine. Book reading is largely left to literature students and professors and teachers of literature.
Reading in a novel may make it easy for one to understand any complicated scientific phenomenon. The technical writer will use terminology. But a writer like Arthur Hailey can make the Rx factor easily understood. Robin Cook can make anyone understand the dangers of a strange fever much better than a specialist. To know history, reading Scott or Alexandre Dumas may be better than any drab historian. The novelists create the interest necessary for pursuing history.
A few non-fiction writings among others which I enjoyed reading are 'Jonathan Livingston Seagull' by Richard Bach, Chariots of Gods by Erich Von Daniken and The Third wave by Alvin Toffler.
A few quotes on books by great people will stress the importance of the day:
There is a wonder in reading Braille that the sighted will never know: to touch words and have them touch you back. - Jim Fiebig
Never judge a book by its movie. - J.W. Eagan 'Dracula' the film is not the same as 'Dracula.' the novel by Bram Stoker(Mine)
The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it. -James Bryce
Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. - Richard Steele, Tatler, 1710
To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life. - W. Somerset Maugham
Books are a refuge, a sort of cloistral refuge, from the vulgarities of the actual world. - Walter Pater
The quotations here are from quotegarden
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