The Forgotten and Discarded

Books come in all shapes and sizes. Ranging from pocket sized novellas to novels that are thousands of pages long; books have always played an important role in society. When writing began they were first used as the keepers of history and the cultures of people. Eventually evolving into many forms other than information storage, books have varied greatly in design, physical structure, and purpose. For example, after the long oral tradition of myth and legend telling came books that recorded these down to the exact word and no longer did any have to slip away in time. Even today we have classic children’s stories (based usually on darker predecessors) that children can use to learn how to read or parents can use to help their children fall asleep. My first book I ever read was a Dr. Seuss book called “One fish, Two fish” in which colorful fish adorn the pages alongside the rhyming diction commonly found in his books. However, with the invention of computers, the internet, and movies, most people have seemed to forget how important and most of all entertaining a book can be. They contain stories that stimulate the mind and imagination far beyond that of a screen, yet they are consistently overshadowed. I am even guilty of reading less and less as I have gotten older. I replaced my consistent reading with video games (I think this is because I have had to read more and more for school but who knows) and now I read less frequently for pleasure than ever before. I feel that instead of wanting to use their imagination people now are always looking for that instant gratification and entertainment that requires the least amount of effort. Watching television, for example, is probably one of the laziest things a person can do, yet almost everyone does it daily. I’m definitely not saying there is nothing good about television but when compared to the great things books and literature have done for us, there’s hardly a comparison between the two. One has given us the ability to gain, record, further, and pass along knowledge while the other is filled with one “reality” show after the next (which I loathe). I know I probably sound like a nerdy bookworm, but I feel desperate to revert to the days when I would stay up late at night not playing video games or watching television, but when I would catch myself awake hours past the time I wanted to fall asleep because I just had to finish the chapter in the book I was reading. Books are not only important, but amazing. Let’s just not all forget them within our busy lives.