Books can be passed around. They can be shared. A lot of people like seeing them in their houses. They are memories. People who don't understand books don't understand this. They learn from TV shows about organizing that you should get rid of the books that you aren't reading, but everyone who loves books believes the opposite. People who love books keep them around, like photos, to remind them of a great experience and so they can revisit and say, "Wow, this is a really great book."
Interpretation
Books are cherished for their memories and experiences, unlike the transient nature of TV shows.
This quote emphasizes the emotional and sentimental value that books hold for readers. Unlike merely consumable media like TV shows, books represent personal experiences, memories, and knowledge that readers choose to keep, akin to treasured photographs. Those who appreciate books find joy in their physical presence and the possibility of re-experiencing the knowledge and emotions contained within their pages, contrasting with the common advice to discard unused items.
In practice
I shared this quote in a book club meeting to discuss our emotional connections to our favorite reads.
I vowed to myself that when I grew up and became a theoretical physicist, in addition to doing research, I would write books that I would have liked to have read as a child. So whenever I write, I imagine myself, as a youth, reading my books, being thrilled by the incredible advances being made in physics and science.
As Olafsson showed me, White can win... It's hard to believe. I stayed up all night analysing, finally convicing myself, and, incidentally, learning a lot about Rook and Pawn endings in the process.
Illiteracy must be banished from the land if we shall attain that high destiny as the foremost of the enlightened nations of the world which, under Providence, we ought to achieve.
I always thought the idea of education was to learn to think for yourself.
Never give children a chance of imagining that anything exists in isolation. Make it plain from the very beginning that all living is relationship. Show them relationships in the woods, in the fields, in the ponds and streams, in the village and in the country around it. Rub it in.
I much prefer working with kids whose life could be completely upended by a reading of a book over a weekend. You give them a book to read - they go home and come back a changed person. And that is so much more interesting and exciting.
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