If you don’t already follow Maria Popova’s Brain Pickings on twitter or receive her emails, you might want to consider it. For me, she is a source of science ideas and children’s book reviews and all sorts of deep thoughts on a myriad of topics. And she always suggests complementary readings at the end of her posts.
Here she reports on a short, animated Ted-Ed that romps through the history of books.
“Carl Sagan saw books as ‘proof that human beings are capable of working magic,’ Popova begins. ‘Reading books is the most glorious pastime that humankind has yet devised,’ Polish Nobel laureate Wisława Szymborska observed in her memorable meditation on why we read. …
“Books, Susan Sontag wrote in her beautiful letter to Borges, grant us ‘a way of being fully human.’
“Indeed, any thinking, feeling human being knows that it is impossible to be fully alive and awake to the world without reading, and so we’ve come to see books not only as essential to our humanity.
“But this wasn’t always so. …
“How did something so nascent become so elemental to our humanity? That’s what educator Julie Dreyfuss and animator Patrick Smith … explore in this short TED-Ed animation chronicling the history of books:
As the book evolves and we replace bound texts with flat screens and electronic ink, are these objects and files really books? Does the feel of the cover or the smell of the paper add something crucial to the experience, or does the magic live only within the words, no matter what their presentation?
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
This one really touched me. As a young child, my parents took me to the “big” department store. Back in the day, small children were allowed to wander off by themselves into parts of a store that interested them without the constant fear of being snatched away. Having the choice between a new toy and a new book, I always opted for the latter.
I vividly remember the “new book” smell. I revered the beginning of a new story. Took a deep whiff of the crisp, unhandled pages, followed by ceremoniously reading all the extraneous copyright text and any dedications–these were all part of the ritual for me.
I would take the time to mark every new chapter in my mind. What could the title reveal? I thoroughly examined every illustration. As I got older and I advanced through reading levels, there weren’t many illustrations, which made them all the more precious and meaningful. I can still remember what it felt like to lose myself in a story. Becoming a character–the protagonist–and feeling everything he or she experienced during the journey. I remember reveling in what it would be like to discover the Secret Garden, or to grow up in the Alps like Heidi, or to be the precocious mouse in Stuart Little.
As wonderful as digital text surely is, there’s something about holding a book in your hands. Something about the commitment it takes to physically hold the book open, turn the pages, feel the paper between your fingers. It’s a tangible experience. Something you can’t get from reading digital text.
I value the printed word so much. I used to collect hard-cover editions of books I especially prized, as others collect artwork. These expressions of moods, feelings, experiences ARE artwork to me. The notion that a story is so moving, so important, that it must be captured on paper makes it all the more special. I think that kids today don’t get that.
I still have most books I read growing up, and I also still haven’t parted with my daughter’s baby books. I need to pass these treasures along to other family members and friends, so that their children may experience the same joy that my daughter and I did when we read them. I need to help the children in my life feel the wonder of reading a REAL BOOK.
I went to a an overnight party at a friend’s house last weekend. The adults stayed up into the wee hours, talking, singing, and dancing under the stars to our favorite songs and enjoying adult beverages around the fire pit. Before our little ones went to bed, my friend–the hostess–gathered them on her king-size bed and read them a bed-time story–from a REAL BOOK. Everyone was quiet and still. All eyes were on the pages filled with words and illustrations. Several of us moms took video and photos to preserve the memory of this magical moment. I hope the feeling these kids experienced will stay with them forever. I hope the magic of being read a story–out of a book–will stay with them as they grow into adults, and that they will value and advocate for the printed word even as their ever-changing world insists otherwise.
This is utterly beautiful. I am so grateful for your thoughts — and just to know this about you.
That little video is pretty neat! I don’t want to think of a world without the written word, in its myriad forms!
I find it hard to part with any of my books or my children’s books, but whenever I do, I want to make sure they get into other hands — through the library sale, the United Way, the Bryn Mawr Bookshop, Goodwill, racks in various public places and Little Free Libraries.