Getting Physical
I’m binging on books, the paper kind I can hold in my hand as I try to get the light just so as I read. I want to break my fixation with my phone and digital media. I want to work at getting information into my brain rather than having it pushed at me like an IV. I want to read the back cover, see a paragraph about the author, a summary of the text, and assess its worthiness for consumption. I want to sit when I’m done and consider what I just read.
Unfortunately, the portability of digital media has a lot going for it. Books take up space. And there’s a growing clutter in my house. In fact, soon I’ll be adding new shelves to my library, which also holds my vinyl record collection. Ah, the physicality of information. Now that I think about it, my library bears a strange resemblance to a trophy room. Here are the books I’ve read, the music to which I’ve listened. Maybe it’s a form of bragging. I’ve never thought of it that way. I just assumed a gentleman always had a library.
It’s too late now. I’m adding the shelves and thinning the books I want to keep. Trophies or not, I value them. And I’ll soon be bringing my CD collection to the room. That physicality will be my salvation. I can read a book, listen to a song, stare off into the distance, and think about what I just read or heard. I can fine tune my world view, my weltanschauung. In the end that room may well be the only footprint I leave behind. If it is, at least you’ll know where I stood, if not the details.