SOME THOUGHTS ON BOOKS
Dictionaries define a book as “a set
of printed pages that are fastened together inside a cover so that you can turn
them and read them.”
There were no books when the world was created. All knowledge
was a result of experience and it was stored in one’s mind.
Human memory being short, the knowledge gained by the
individuals faded day after day.
Today we have innumerable books on
all sorts of subjects. They can be
produced in large numbers and preserved in personal or public libraries for any
number of years.
The number of readers of books is
now uncountable. There is hardly a home without some sort of books. Sacred
books like the Bible, the Koran and the Gita may be found in every home. They
are available in different languages with or without interpretations.
One must acquire and read books but
should not become a bookworm. Experience rather than the bookish lore is the
best source of trustworthy knowledge.
Great thoughts on books deserve to
be gone through seriously. Here are a couple of them:
1.Books are a guide in youth, and an entertainment for age,
They support us under solitude, and keep us from becoming a burden to
ourselves. They help us to forget the crossness of men and things, compose our
cares and our passions, and lay our disappointments asleep. When we are weary
of the living, we may repair to the
dead, who have nothing of peevishness, pride, or design in their conversation.
----- The English Theatre critic and theologian Jeremy Collier (1650-1726).
2.Read not to contradict and
confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse;
but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed
, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read
only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read
wholly, and with diligence and attention. -----The English essayist Francis
Bacon (1561-1626).
Finally, this short but unforgettable quote:
A house without books is like a room without windows.
G.R.Kanwal
21 April 2025
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