A few students told me this week that between broadcast media and the
Internet, CDs, DVDs, magazines and maybe even newspapers, they just
don't have time for books... Two or three struggled to come up with the
title of the last library book they borrowed... or opened.
With those conversations fresh in my memory, serendipity brought me an
essay by Lauren Kessler in the new issue of the University of Oregon
literary nonfiction program's magazine, Etude. Her "In Praise of Libraries" reminds me of my own experience:
I am not, I should note, a neoLuddite who spurns the internet. I
cruise, peruse and use internet sources all the time. But for
the real deal, the fully vetted information, the experts I can trust,
for richness and depth, for portable wisdom I can read in bed at night
or take with me on a trip, I go to books. I go to the library.
The piece is only about 900 words. I think it will make you smile
(especially the ending), even if you haven't opened a book recently.
(Thanks to David Sumner at BSU for forwarding the Etude pointer to a mailing list I'm on. Among other things, there's a good Q&A interview with Adam Hochschild, co-founder of Mother Jones magazine.)
9:52:53 AM 
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