If you're thinking of reading this book what you need to know is that it is a book about the history of books and the future of reading. Price is a professor and the book has some very mixed reviews. Did I love it in its entirety? No. But am I glad I read it? Yes. There were so many aspects of it that I loved about this book as a bonafide book lover. So if you're like me, you might want to give it a spin.
To read this book is to discover the history of reading and the history of the book itself (not literature). Price explains how reading is not a dying art but rather an everlasting and ever changing enterprise. Although the book is a bit academic it is at the same time accessible. It is a bit long winded and sometime vague. But if you're looking to gain a better understanding of the history (and future) of books then this is the book for you.
One of my biggest takeaways from reading this book was regarding my relationship with books.
I always saw books as special and sacred things that I enjoyed privately but this book taught me that books were one of the first mass-produced and mass-marketed objects in history; if that doesn't take away from the specialness of books, then I don't know what would. That being said, even though books are mass produced and mass-marketed, each one is totally different because as people read, books change. No two readings are ever the same.
But one of the most moving realizations from this book is how books have historically been linked to illness and disease.
Price taught me that whether books are considered the cause or the cure for illness depends on what era you're in. As a literature lover, I never overtly thought about books from a medical perspective however I've always known that for me, books are my great healers; they are my therapy. As Price points out, reading can be be described as bibliotherapy.
Just as one can diagnose someone based on what medications they take, you can look at what one reads and know a thing or two about who they are and who they want to be.
I've always know that I turn to books as a form of self-help and healing. But I never considered that my personality and values could be diagnosed by what I read.
Now I'm wondering about who I am.
If I look back at what I've read over the years, what does that say about me? What am I searching for? Who do I want to become?
When I look back on my reading lists from the past few years of my personal reading challenge here's a run down about what I discovered:
- I want to be at peace with every aspect of my life
- I want to be able to accept myself and forgive myself for my imperfections
- I want to practice more creativity in my life
- I want to find the light in the darkness
- I want to be a better person for the people around me
- I want to better understand what happened during the Holocaust
- I want to help others become their best selves by bringing out the best in me
I wonder, if you were to go back over the books you've read recently, what they would say about you? Are you becoming the person you want to be or are you just drowning in a sea of books?
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