just for fun

The Humanclature of Books

I’ve been pondering about how people interact with one another and the interesting pattern of how we interact with books.  The two distinct interactions actually have a lot in common.

I’m not saying that how one person interacts with people is precisely how he or she would interact with a books, but it’s a fascinating way of thinking to see the pattern:

Reading books can be very similar to meeting people — and to some degree, the similarity is brought to light through the frequently-used expression and analogy “don’t judge a book by its cover”.

More importantly, books and people, have influence over your thinking (even the most absolutely boring ones) and have an impact on your life.  How many books have you read that have changed your life or the way you think?  Similarly, how many people have you met that have made an impact on you?  How have they influenced the way you live and think?

To some degree, books have a life-span (not age wise) that is very similar to individual people.  Just as we read books and gain knowledge or understanding, we also gain to some degree — almost the same from a particular perspective — from interacting with other people.

In terms of differences, the content of books rarely change — only the interpretations change; while people are pretty dynamic — our opinions change — what we think of an issue, how we feel about one another, where we want to be in the future, etc.

What we find in books is very much what we discover hidden in every individual — both require time to unravel and unveil.  Perhaps one (of the many proposed) future of books is not just simply bringing content electronically and allowing universal access regardless of device, but providing a platform where the content can become dynamic … a story with characters that change not just across pages, but over time with a reader’s interaction.

Just for the record, I’m not suggesting a form of Wikipedia or anything that currently exists.  I just wanted to muse about the similarities between books and people.

Having had the opportunity to work at Dundurn for nearly three years has been both challenging and a pleasure.  With the help and support of the many people I’ve been lucky enough to work with from day to day; share ideas and enthusiasm with, and learn so much from — it has almost always been a pleasure.  Thank you.  Unfortunately, this will be my final blog post here at Defining Canada.  I will be passing the torch over to Erin Winzer when it comes to the matters of blogging.  She blogs more than I do these days anyways…

Thank you as always for dropping by.  I’ll be watching from the sidelines (with a little online participation) as the evolution of  the book continues to occur around the world.

© 2009 Defining Canada.