Today I started reading a new book: Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, by Maryanne Wolf. It's an odd title, I know, but it's going to be awesome. It's rather technical and scientific, and I can tell already that it's going to challenge me because my brain hurts. (Totally serious. Anything having to do with literature or artistic expression is second nature to me, anything having to do with science or math or extreme technicality taxes me greatly.)
OK! The point of this entry - an amazing expression of WHY WE READ, found on page 7:
While reading, we can leave our own consciousness, and pass over into the consciousness of another person, another age, another culture . . . Reading enables us to try on, identify with, and ultimately enter for a brief time the wholly different perspective of another person's consciousness . . . We never come back quite the same; sometimes we're inspired, sometimes saddened, but we are always enriched.
And, finally, what I think might be my strongest reason for being a reader:
We are no longer limited by the confines of our own thinking.
Go forth and read, my friends. :)
Comments