The Single Greatest Invention Ever is Books

"I cannot live without books" - Thomas Jefferson

"Language is the soul of intellect, and reading is the essential process by which that intellect is cultivated beyond the commonplace experiences of everyday life." - Charles Scribner

"Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing." - Harper Lee

"A man loses contact with reality if he is not surrounded by his books." - Francois Mitterrand

"Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers." - Charles W. Eliot

"There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written." - Oscar Wilde

"What I like in a good author is not what he says, but what he whispers." - Logan Pearsall Smith

"Reading made Don Quixote a gentleman, but believing what he read made him mad." - George Bernard Shaw

"Temples fall, statues decay, mausoleums perish, eloquent phrases declaimed are forgotten, but good books are immortal." - William Tecumseh Vernon

"People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading." - Logan Pearsall Smith


I understand that this could be considered a cop out for the first post of the July series, but come on what better way to start a greatest invention ever series, than to review over the greatest invention of all time? The Single Greatest Invention Ever is Books. There can be no question about it.

My thoughts about reading and books (in no particular order):

- Reading is impossible to describe. Isn't it strange that while reading gives us beautiful words, incredible authors, and fascinating characters, I've never read anything that fully describes the way I feel when I read?
Some of those quotes above describe a part of it. But they still don't do reading justice.
What would you say, if you were asked to describe reading? Not to describe reading in a thousand words or less, not to describe reading a novel, not to describe reading a schoolbook, but to describe simply reading.

- Books are the most beautiful works of art. The Disney "Beauty and the Beast" was always a favorite, because the Beast understood what every real girl needs. Her own big, beautiful library, chock full of books, and set up so you need to use those really cool ladders. If you've ever read the book "Beauty" ( a retelling of Beauty and the Beast in novel form) the library is full of every book imaginable, even the books that haven't been written yet. Now that's a cool library. Books are the most beautiful works of art though, a room takes on character when you add books. Books point to the person that lives there, far more than screaming yellow and pink polka dots, and I think we all know what kind of books that person has in their room.

- Why can't they have Netflix, but for books? I know it's called a library, but just think of the possibilities that the world's libraries put together would bring you.

- What makes someone not like to read? I understand the whole "have your children read at an early age" thing, but there has to be something more than that. Children are in school at an early age, right? They read in school, right? (Help me out here, I never was in a normal school)

- 10 books on a desert island. Think about it. (That's the only desert island scenario that I ever take part in), and don't say, "The DaVinci code - so I could burn it."

- Ask yourself, "Why do I read?"

- I love the fact that I am in the middle of several books. I'm reading for the first time: Two graphic novels, one classic, one novel, one drama (I'm not sure what "The House on Garibaldi Street" would fall under), Maugham's complete short stories, and still plugging away on my Shakespeare Sonnets (I'm going to be done with them, by the end of the summer). And I'm re-reading a host of other things.

- Reading is the fact that no matter how many books you're reading, every time you walk into a library, bookstore, or friends home, you find a book that interests you. And you want to read it.

The Single Greatest Invention Ever is Books.