A long time ago (about 9 years ago), I read a book that was done from an alien's point of view. In it, his culture was extremely advanced, but when he saw our books and computers he was confused. He said that we had done everything backwards. With computers there is a load time for a page of information, but with books it was instantaneous. He thought that the book was a marvelous invention, but that we were backwards for thinking that computers were a progressive step forward...to him, it was a step backwards.
This is something that I feel is very true. To quote a dialogue from a favorite show of mine...
"Honestly, what is it about them that bothers you so much?"
"The smell."
"Computers don't smell, Rupert."
"I know! Smell is the most powerful trigger to the memory there is. A certain flower or a, a whiff of smoke can bring up experiences...long forgotten. Books smell...musty and, and, and, and rich. The knowledge gained from a computer, is, uh, it... it has no, no texture, no, no context. It's, it's there and then it's gone. If it's to last, then, then the getting of knowledge should be, uh, tangible, it should be, um... smelly."
What is spoken here is, surprisingly enough, fact. It has been scientifically proven that the sense of smell is our strongest sense, especially when it comes to memory. Think about it... a whiff of a certain smell, such as oranges, can bring up a memory of maybe a certain teacher who used to eat oranges all the time and you can suddenly hear their voice telling you some particular fact that you never would have remembered otherwise.
Just the other day, I smelled something, not sure what it was, and suddenly had a memory of when I was five years old, running around the back yard. Whenever I smell black walnuts I remember when I was three years old and went to a preschool where I first learned how to tie my own pony-tail and where a friend taught me how to hang upside down on the monkey bars.
Learning from books is more tactile and lets us remember things in a way that we can't with a computer. I believe in this whole-heartedly, which is why I will always have books. In a way, those who learn through reading books are the more technologically advanced.
So, keep reading my friends.
One of my greatest memories is the smell of a brand new book, especially a new textbook that no one had ever opened. I think it happened first to me in first grade. It was one of those readers with many stories, and I took it home and read the whole thing the first night. I remember also being very disappointed when I took it back to school the next day thinking that I could get a new one with new stories only to find out that the one I had just read was for the whole year. It was an eye opener for a 6 year old who didn't understand why everything went so slowly.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE BOOKS! Curling up on the couch with a computer is just not the same as curling up with a good book. I can't even get on this whole Kindle bandwagon. If I'm going to read a book, I want it to be a book- with pages to turn, a cover to cradle, and a random piece of junk mail for a bookmark. And yes, the smell is super important to me, too. I'll admit it- when I put my books in the book drop at the library I lean in and take a whiff before I let it bang shut. And I am not ashamed. :-)
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that I think is very important about books- when you read a book, there's commitment involved. As a parent, I read a lot about parenting. Sometimes I check for info online, but when reading online I will just scan through to find the relevant information I'm looking for. If I have a whole book in my hands, however, I will take the time to read it cover to cover. I will go back and reread parts I may not have understood; I will bookmark and highlight and share it with my husband during dinner. If I have a whole book in my possession that contains information I need, then I feel a commitment to that text and I know that the only way to get the whole picture of what the author is trying to say is by reading it all. And I don't mind! Because it's portable and convenient. I can read it anywhere (yes, even in bright sunlight- ahh!).
YAY FOR BOOKS!