I have just moved my home office, which meant I packed and re-shelved boxes and boxes of books. I was able to part with a few boxes, donating them to good homes where they will be well used. But I still have hundreds more that I couldn’t find the strength to give away. I might need them tomorrow or next week, you know. And there is that emotional connection. These books are who I am, and who I might become, if I just read them again and again.
Of course, not everyone feels that connection to the printed text. The debate about the future of the book goes on . . . Here is an intriguing essay about that by Annie Murphy Paul, a journalist and consultant I’m following these days, “Are Readers an Endangered Species?”
generativelearning 