Post 2: What is a Book?

A book is a journey. Every book has a personality: a different way of communicating what it believes, how it feels, and what it likes. Book are like movies – each showing a new and different life.

Some people believe that books should become all electronic, that the idea of the book is what matters, not the form what it comes in. But some believe the opposite – that all books should be tangible, that the way the book feels is important. I believe both.  Joe Meno says, “… what I’ve come to acknowledge or slowly accept is that the idea of the book is more important than the actual form it takes…” But on the other hand Nancy Jo Sales says, “There’s something about that physicality of a book, the way it looks and feels and even smells…” Both people are writers and I believe that both are right. The idea of the book is very important, but so is the ability to physically turn the page of a book. Sure that the characters of a book will be portrayed the same either way, but when you are reading a book electronically you lose the feel of how a book is made and you miss how much effort is put into the book. Don’t you want the smell of that old or new book? Don’t you want to hear the sound of a page turning?  

Books are needed; you need to create the image of that character you are obsessed with not be shown what he or she is supposed to look like. Books give you the power to create images of what is happening not just staring at a screen. Using imagery when reading helps your brain (mental stimulation), but when you stare at a screen watching a movie you don’t use your brain as much. It is really exercising your brain when reading vs. just sitting and taking everything in as you would do if you were watching a movie.

Books help stimulate our brains, increase our vocabulary, reduce stress, expand our knowledge, improve our memory, give us tranquility, and learn better writing skills. Books help us with all these things without us even realizing. Movies and TV shows can’t give us all the benefits that use the brain like a book can.

We need books to take an adventure, to help our brains, and for the feel of the book.