Greetings.
Unfortunately, I don’t have as much time to rant as I normally do (or perhaps that is fortunate) so I will have to get right to the questions asked of me.
Faber says that there are three things that books have that are lost on the modern world (in the book). I also believe that these are important to reading and one of the things that I don’t feel computers have, no matter how smart they get.
The first of these is “quality, the texture of information”, as Faber says. He believes, as I do, that books contain life. They actually have some real element to them—even fiction. The author has looked at humans, real humans, and put parts of their life into his or her book. Even if you don’t think you are, when you write something, or create a character, you are basing it off of someone in the real world. Where else would you have picked up those traits? How would you have known that when a shy girl is nervous, she looks down, or stutters? By meeting a real person that does those things.
The second thing that Faber says is missing from the “parlor family” is leisure. What’s in the “parlor” is “real”. There is some “real” type of interface; it’s like talking to a real person. You don’t have time to digest what they have told you. You just react. With a book, you can put it down, think about it, pace around the room, make your lists and then come back with a new understanding. If you don’t do this with reading, you probably aren’t comprehending as much as you could.
The third and last thing that Faber points out is that you have to have the ability to act on what you ascertain. You have to be able to take this thing you have learned, this little kernel of knowledge that you have gained, and put the understanding of that into motion. The government, and the people’s own apathy, keep them from this last thing.
So with all of these important things that people are loosing, is it any wonder that their society, and the minds of the people, are degrading?
Goodbye.
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1 comment:
Kit, I saw your comment on Mr. Jana's blog (Under his entry, "READ THIS: My Reflections on Blogs and Technology"), and couldn't resist but to fight in the name of computer nerds everywhere ;)
Let me start off by pointing out part of your comment:
"We are reaching this age similar to what Captain Beatty says, “Why learn anything save pressing buttons, pulling switches, fitting nuts and bolts?” I see that already. You ask someone what the last book they read was and they can’t tell you, they don’t remember or it was something that had to read for class. So we look at why that is. I am sure that if you looked at when reading began to decrease it would drop in perfect synchronization with the introduction of an Internet that is available to anyone. Teens don’t do anything unless it is required. They want to sit on their “blogs” and their instant messenger and they’ll read a book if you make them, but not unless they have to. It doesn’t progress their understanding of “fitting nuts and bolts”.
First off, I ask you not to stereotype your fellow teens in such ways. It would have worked if you simply said "the majority of teens."
Second off: You regard typing such intricate posts as "pressing buttons, pulling switches, fitting nuts and bolts"? Please, if you could bring me three books that you own that were handwritten, I'd love to see them.
Third off: Reading did not decrease when the internet began. That was radio. In fact, I think it is the internet that is SAVING reading! Since nothing could be easily transmitted by audio through the internet, everything is transmitted through text, causing teens all around the world to "learn" how to read again. On top of that, there are wonderful websites like www.dailylit.com that will actually SEND you novels for FREE via email. If it wasn't for them, I would have never gotten the chance to read 20,000 leagues under the sea.
Fourth off: "They want to sit on their “blogs” and their instant messenger and they’ll read a book if you make them, but not unless they have to." Do you have a journal or a diary, Kit? Tell me, what is so different between that and a blog? And as for instant messanging, have you never written a letter before, or used the telephone? Instant messaging is the same concept, except, as the name suggests, it is instant. Convenient. Furthering communication between humans. I dare you to tell me that is a bad thing. As for "only reading a book when they have to," I sadly must agree with you there. I have a theory, though, that if you took a novel and gave it to a teen, he wouldn't read it. BUT, if you took the same novel and placed the whole of it's contents on a webpage, kids would read it. For some reason, the word "book" just has a negative impact on the youth these days.
Finally, I would like to direct your attention to a rather interesting piece of literature (That I found online, of all places. Gasp.) http://www.futureofthebook.org/gamertheory/
It's a rather wonderful piece, building off of Plato's Allegory of the Cave, with the thesis that the world is becoming more like the video games that once mimicked it, and what's more, why that is a GOOD THING.
Mundus Mea Ostrea Est!
-Justin
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