Apr 20 2009
The Value of Books
What would have happened if Chavez had given Obama a copy of any other book? Do you think any of them would have become number two on the Amazon list? (Thankfully, Chavez did not give him a copy of Playboy!)
I have some suggestions of books that would be good to give to Pres. Obama: How about “Grapes of Wrath”, so he can study up on what’s going to happen to our country in the months and years to come. How about “Pride and Prejudice” or “Sense and Sensibility”, or hey, how about “The Bible”?
The Bible would have been the best gift our President could have been given, especially if it prompted an outpouring of Bible purchases ~ and it wouldn’t hurt him to read a little of it also. I’m not sure the man is all that familiar with it. But I do think he has been reading something on “How to Apologize in Thirty Languages.” Okay, I’ll stop knocking the Pres.
Books were so very important to me when I was growing up. Living in a small town gave little opportunity to get glimpses of the big wide world out there; books were the way I learned how wonderful the rest of that world was.
I remember one summer, when I was about 14, I wanted to read the thickest book in the library, (other than reference books). I picked the biggest one I could find, which turned out to be the life story of Michaelangelo. I can remember none of it today, but I did read the whole book during the summer; and a few more besides that one.
I always envied the librarian, being all closed up day after day with all those glorious books! I probably should have become a librarian, but I chose another path.
These days, I cannot walk into a Waldenbooks or a Books-A-Million without buying something. More and more often, I see hundreds of books being placed on the mark-down tables because they are not selling. Of course, this is a gold mine for me, but not so good for the future of book stores.
Many magazines are either going online, or ceasing to publish, as the subscriptions and off-the-shelf purchases continue to fall. This worries me, as a lover of all things written; without books, magazines and newspapers, we will be more exposed to the one-sided reporting that we get from our news stations. What better friend to have on a cold winter night than a book which can take you to another time and place.
“A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanging, it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and time in which it is used.” (Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.)
“Don’t join the book burners. Don’t think you’re going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don’t be afraid to go in your library and read every book.” (Dwight D. Eisenhower)
