Book Tuesday

Book Tuesday

I had planned to stop doing book reviews at random times and just do one every Tuesday. I expected that I would have enough books that I would be able to rotate through and keep things read and ready to post.

Well, the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray…usually distracted by cheese. The plan has faltered. First of all, there was a shipping delay with one book. Then two of the books I’ve gotten are not easy enough reading to knock out in a day, so those will have to come in another week or two. Finally, one of the books I’ve gotten is actually a scheduled blog tour, and I don’t even think it’s on a Tuesday.

So, I don’t have a book review for you today. I do, however, have a recommendation for you. It’s an important recommendation, one I feel well worth your time. Ready for it?

Read.

Read books.

Not just blogs or websites or magazines or even newspapers, but books.

E-books are good, especially if you get an Amazon Kindle and start loading up on out of print and public domain works that you’re not going to get anywhere else very easily.

Books. Those things that are often dismissed as long, boring, out of date, and many other derogatory terms, those books. They need to be read. Pondered, considered, and remembered.

Why?

I’m sitting here in a hotel room where I last night I watched a couple of History Channel specials about mysteries of history. These shows were about trying to decode what remained of evidence from prior civilizations. There are the hints of a double-hulled oar-powered ship that had 4000 rowers, a wooden ship that carried thousands of tons of cargo, and a Pharaoh that was thought to have been a traitor.

There was much effort spent to explain if each of these assumptions were true or false. The end result? Further guesses, doubts, and wonderings.

Because there are no major written records to actually answer the questions.

Were there no people that understood what was happening then? No, there were people that knew. They just lacked either the ability or, more likely, the desire to write it down. Along the way, it just wasn’t important enough to record.

We have to choose to first of all, learn from the past, learn from those who have gone before.

Once we do that, we need to pass on the knowledge. Both the practical knowledge and the pure knowledge, both directly to others and by preserving the information in ways we can be reasonably certain will endure for generations.

So don’t let your ability to read to go to waste. Use it to help you grow and use it to help others.