Comments on: Introverted, without books?

By: Spectatrix

Spectatrix — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 19:15:17 +0000

Eclexia: Thanks for linking to my post! I don’t have an answer to your question, but it definitely is interesting to think about.

By: eclexia

eclexia — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 17:17:09 +0000

Thom, Thanks for your thoughts. Cultures without books do have full and amazing oral traditions. That’s why I wanted to clarify I wasn’t putting down cultures where reading doesn’t happen or is not a priority. I think it is good to consider, as you suggest, the value of books like the Bible, being shared (and responded to) orally and “in group,” as they were originally transmitted.

In this post, though, I’m just speaking personally about what books mean to me and trying to imagine my life in an oral culture scenario.

As an introvert, I’m not sure I’d have more conversations without books (a lot of my favorite conversations are about books, so I’d have to find a different topic ). It’s more that I have this need to hole away without social pressures in order to recharge from the conversations I do have (I’m not non-social; I just need breaks from socializing). Without books, I wonder how that would look and what I’d do instead.

By: Thom

Thom — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:35:28 +0000

In his book “Eat This Book” Eugene Peterson makes a clever argument about reading the Bible as a product of an oral culture. From the Exodus onward, the Bible was transmitted almost solely as an oral document, with the only copies of the Torah belonging to the scribes and Levites. The Torah was always read to the people, and they responded that way.

I think in a world without books, we would have more conversations, because that is what a book really is anyway, just with the listener unable to answer.

By: Johnny Brooks

Johnny Brooks — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:07:17 +0000

Wow. What would my life be without the ability or even the notion of reading? I too love books and so enjoy reading. I must admit that I cannot imagine life without reading.