Books! Books! Books!
In school, I never really connected with most of my teachers since I was shy and usually intimidated by authority figures. In elementary school and middle school, the only adults I ever really felt comfortable with were the librarians. I didn’t have a lot of contact with them, just a book suggestion here or there and a question every now and then, but the interactions always held special value for me. These librarians don’t get paid a lot, but pridefully take the job of teaching kids like me how to love these beautiful dead trees filled with adventure and knowledge.
In elementary school, I would volunteer in the school library in the mornings, helping to check out books and put returned books back. With this responsibility, I also gained the ability to check out books for myself whenever I wanted, rather than having to wait for a librarian if they were busy filing away books.
I would read at least a book a week for the longest time. At the beginning, it was Eric Carle’s beautiful illustrated books, then Mary Pope Osborne’s Magic Tree House series, then Animorphs and Harry Potter and so on. I would read everywhere and all the time, while eating, right before sleeping, in the car, in a house and even with a mouse.
In high school, all of that changed when something awful happened. I got my own laptop, and I forgot all about books in favor of the treasure trove of information found online. I rarely read outside of the books I read in class, and even then, I usually relied on Shmoop and Sparknotes for my assignments. Reading didn’t seem all that special since I associated it strongly with English classes that I thought were frivolous. In 2015, I read 7 books all year, and 4 of those were for class. I wondered what had happened to the kid who would read three 400 page books in a week. At first, I thought it was just an issue of time, but what was I doing instead? That same year, I watched the entirety of Naruto, which has over 700 episodes (though I skipped around) and I probably looked at thousands of tweets and Instagram posts.
I started reading again in 2016, just because I wanted to rediscover what used to be such an important part of my life. I discovered that reading is incredibly difficult when you’re out of practice. We’ve all become so used to just reading short pieces of information that sitting down to read even a dozen pages is a cognitive struggle. Every time I sit down to read, I need to make sure my phone isn’t easily accessible since I know that I’ll have the urge to pull it out at any moment and free myself from the difficulty of concentration.
I’ve been reading more a lot more than I did in 2015, and I can say without a doubt that it’s life-changing. What I love about reading books is that it feels like you’re actually involved in the process. You have the power to interpret every description, every character, and every action the way you want it to. Your visual understanding of Hogwarts may be different from everyone else’s, unlike a movie or TV show that does all of the work for you. It’s like an IKEA table, where the effort put into constructing it makes it feel so much more valuable.
It feels like I’m relearning a lost technique of uninterrupted concentration, of ignoring distraction for long periods of time and of being completely in the physical world for a while. You may not have come from the same book-filled background as me, but I think everyone should read more books. If you’re reading this, it’s not too late.
Drops of the Week
where I *drop* recommendations of cool things this week
Playlist
Cute Beats - I was really excited about the name and cover of this playlist. I don’t know if I necessarily agree with the characterization, but the music is still good.
Article
“Retweets are Trash” by Alexis Madrigal - if you follow my links from day one, you’ll see this progression as I get more and more negative about social media as a whole. Here’s a fun article stoking the fire.
Short Film
“Sides.pdf” by Alexander Farah - great 6 minute short film that leaves you questioning what really happened. It took me a minute to really get it, but it’s incredible how committed I felt in such a short period of time. ART!
Thanks so much for reading! If you have any comments/concerns or fan/hate mail for me, you know how to reach me (links below). Feel free to forward this newsletter to your friends too! You can also hit this link to subscribe if you're not subscribed already!
:~)
Love,
Nikhil