Reading—Between the Lines (part one)

 A Nod of Gratitude to Writers, Books, and Libraries (Part One)

So at around 10:30 this morning I finished listening to a third book in the past 24 hours.  Okay “come on” you sigh “how can this be?”  Well I didn’t sleep well last night and  I listen to books at about 200-225% of normal listening speed.  So I spent about 12 hours listening to what would be approximately  750 pages of mystery fiction (3 books worth.  Now this is somewhat normal behavior for me and I listen to all sorts of things of varying lengths.  IIt’s usually a little later in the year when I start tallying up  my reading/listening, however I decided to do this today just for fun and because  I came across some interesting information about books and libraries I wanted to share  over the next few days.  Stacking the three books on the pile of other things I have consumed the total  read as of today is 407 books read for the first time this year.  I have reread  a sparse 23 titles so this puts the total at 430.  Now there are about 62 books I have started without finishing and I will eventually finish  about half of those.  

Now how is it  that I decide to read /listen to all this stuff?  Well that’s easy…. I don’t like to be afraid and the easiest  way to fight fear is to kick it’s literal butt by craving curiousity.  Of course  is there a bunch of things to be afraid of once you learn about them?  Sure, however the unknown  is what most people are afraid of most the time and gaining knowledge is  one way to turn a cowboy wearing tin foil int a knight in shining armor.  

In addition to this curiosity… I tend to surround myself with friends who are also relentless learning machines.  Some people call us nerds but oh well.  

But you have to have to have stuff to read and so the other part of the equation is that people keep writing  combinations of words that form thoughts and stories worth reading and that prompt thoughts worth having.  

Where do I get  the books? 

Well from all over…but since I qualify for the National Library Services  for the blind and physicallly disabled  I get a lot from there and I also get digital books from a paid source and I buy some from all sorts of places.  Do I have an andvantage over others?  No way… Everyone has access to millions of books in fact it’s probably millions and millions and we’ll go into  that tomorrow when we talk about. The world’s largest  library… The library of congress.  

So..a teaser about this…. Most people know. That the library was established in 1800 (well no most people don’t know that) and that Thomas Jefferson gets credit for restocking the library with his collection after  the British burned the  original library  during the war of 1812.  Jefferson gets credit for  parting with his personal colllection, however before standing to applaud you should know that he sold his books at a top dollar price allowing him to pay off  most of his personal debt at the taxpayers expense.  So the whole revolving door of politicians cashing in after “public” service started  a long long time ago and will probably be with us a while……. 

Anyway. To sum up read for knowledge and to feed curious minds that hammer back against all the fear the world provides on its own plus all the fear that people try to use to convince of things they’d rather have us believe than offering real evidence for us to think about..    And… thanks to all the writers who have the  courage to put something down  for us to take in, think about, form meanings with, and share.  

And having written that… stop and think until tomorrow. -