You Are What You Read

There is an article in Sunday's New York Times that says You are What you Read.

In an 1806 diagnosis, a British doctor hypothesized that the “excess of stimulus” produced by reading novels “affects the organs of the body and relaxes the tone of the nerves.” Reading at the table interfered with your digestion, reading before lunch with your morals. Another expert, in 1867, warned that “to read when in bed ... is to injure your eyes, your brain, your nervous system, your intellect.”

In 18th-century paintings, the reader sprawls on a sofa or lolls at the hairdresser’s; in 19th-century magazines, those characters shown reading are the least likely to engage in any exercise more strenuous than turning a page. One English journalist in 1874 worried that frequent readers “are defrauded out of their proper amount of exercise, get their muscles relaxed and their health out of gear.”

Reading was for girls what gaming is for boys: absorption shading into addiction. And like the Xbox or the potato chip, the pleasure it gave in the moment was proportionate to its dangers in the long term. Then, reading was a sign of laziness; now, readers get credit for hard work.

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The idea that reading makes one lazy - is somewhat preposterous. I have never been told that I read too much. At least I dont remember being told that. I was frequently told that I watched TV too much (back when I was watching TV - I dont do that any more). I am also told that I do spend too much time on the computer. But I dont recall ever being told that I read too much. Not in those specific words.

I remember being told frequently that I was a bookworm, a bookworm bear (if such a thing exists) and a bookaholic. I remember being told to "not read in the dark, because it will hurt your eyes". I was always being told "Elbows off the table" if they were planted either side of a book while I was eating. But I must have not been very good at mind reading when I was a child. I certainly never picked up any message that meant I should be outdoors playing, or to get up and help with the chores, or that I read too much.

Every birthday and Xmas, I asked for book tokens (like book vouchers) and invariably received them, and so I was able to buy more books. Whenever I was told I could have a toy, I usually asked for a book instead. If I did own any toys or dolls, they were given to me as gifts.

If I am what I read, then I consider myself to be a fairly well rounded and knowledgeable person. With good general knowledge in history, geography and politics. I am not so good in sports and science and definitely hopeless in maths. I LOVE Trivial Pursuit, and I love watching trivia game shows on TV like Who wants to be a Millionaire, Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader and the new program Duel.

I am constantly searching for more knowledge. I LIKE who I am because of what I read.

The Book Thief - Times Two

The Book Thief By Markus Zusak

Liesel is 10 when she moves in with foster parents Rosa and Hans Hubermann. She, of course, is the book thief of the title, and the books she steals — from the cemetery where her brother is buried, from a Nazi bonfire and from the mayor's library — are symbolic of her struggle to understand the horrors of war. Across the ensuing years of the late 1930s and into the 1940s, Liesel collects more stolen books as well as a peculiar set of friends.



Everyone has been raving about this novel. I'm sorry to go against the flow, but it does not appeal to me at all. Mainly because it is set in Germany before World War 2, and I am sick and tired of WW2 being thrust in my face every day. WW2 is over, done with and finished. Many things were stolen in that war - Books, Artworks, Dreams, Lives and Innocence. Things that we mourned over, and put behind us. And some of us moved on with our lives. Some of us have not. Most of us alive today were not even born when the last war ended. So why must we be continually be reminded of things that were stolen 60 years ago? Why should I care?



The Book Thief - The True Crimes of Daniel Spiegelman By Travis McDade

But I do care about what is being stolen today. I care that more and more of our art, music, stories and dreams are being ignored or are now deemed as no longer important. Thats where the second The Book Thief comes in. This story is also about Books being stolen. Not just any books, but rare books, old books, books from our past, books about our past. History Books.




HISTORY. Our History. Human history. History is supposed to be able to teach us what we did wrong back then, so we dont make the same mistake now. For some reason Man does not seem to want to learn that lesson. Books were stolen in the last war. Will more books be stolen when the next war starts?

Thanks also to Philobiblos for bringing this book to my attention.