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February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
Oct. 29, 2003
/ 3 Tishrei, 5764
We can't live fully without books
By Bill Tammeus
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http://www.jewishworldreview.com |
WASHINGTON — When author Pat Conroy addressed the opening session of the recent National Book Festival here, he offered two reasons for the central role books play in creating a civilized society.
The first has to do with the way books can be a vehicle for the transmission of love. When he was a boy, Conroy said, his mother read books to him every night. Now when he writes, "it is still my mother's voice that I hear." He has carried that expression of his mother's love with him for decades.
The second has to do with the way books can help transmit values. Conroy told the story of a woman who read "The Diary of Anne Frank" to her children. When she finished the book, she told her kids this: "I want to raise a family that will hide Jews." When a Jewish family moved in next door to that family, one of the children went over and announced to the new neighbors: "I will hide you."
From my earliest childhood, I have loved books. But I've never given much systematic thought to why they are so crucial to the kind of world most of us want to live in - one that values each human being, that frees people to reach their potential, that cares for the most vulnerable.
The National Book Festival and my concurrent visit to the special Anne Frank exhibition at the Holocaust Museum here provided the occasion to think about the role books play in our lives.
Even in this time of technological change - when packets of zipped-up information blaze around the planet at the speed of light and land on our computer screens - nothing has come close to replacing books. They are culture's building blocks, so essential to the shape of our world that it is nearly impossible to imagine how different and impoverished life would be without them.
Think just of Conroy's first point about books as a means of love.
When I sit now with my 16-month-old granddaughter and read books to her, their content is of only secondary importance. Oh, yes, she's learning that "A" is for apple and that Olivia the pig has four aunts. But she's learning something much more important - that someone besides her parents loves her and wants to spend time with her.
Each time we read, she's discovering a little more about who she is but also who her grandfather is and why I love to read to her. She will understand the concept of love and family more quickly because we spend time together with books.
Conroy's other point about books as transmitters of values is more complicated but no less crucial. The reason it's a less-simple concept is that ideas can be both constructive and destructive. Imagine the values that might be transmitted, for instance, if the books adults read to children were mostly propaganda supporting the moronic ideas of white supremacy.
Some books contain ideas that, if adopted and implemented, will lead to disaster. So because books can transmit both good and evil notions, they must be understood as morally neutral carriers of ideas. They are fire, which can either destroy or give light. How we use them is up to us.
Conroy didn't say this, but books also are important agents of democratic ideals. It is no accident that when tyrants want to control people, they ban or burn books. Books provide the means for the nearly the whole population - not just the elite - to be educated and empowered to think critically. A large middle class was impossible before Johannes Gutenberg invented moveable type.
It was, of course, theologically important that Gutenberg's work made the Bible available to the masses. That contributed to the Reformation. But it was perhaps more important for the creation of our modern (or now post-modern) world that Gutenberg's work allowed the whole garden of human ideas to be harvested by those masses.
When first lady Laura Bush opened the National Book Festival, she said a "good book is like an unreachable itch. You just can't leave it alone."
However inelegant her way of putting it, that's true. But her focus in the remark was too narrow. Books indeed can absorb us and take us away. But they are far more than items of personal escape.
When I think of my own book, a collection of columns called "A Gift of Meaning," I like to imagine that in a small way, I have joined my voice with the huge chorus of voices that books let us hear. I tell myself immodestly I am helping to undergird civilization. That's the job of all writers. Our job as readers is to discern gold from fool's gold and to celebrate our fortune to live when books are so widely available.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes uplifting articles. Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Bill Tammeus' latest book is "A Gift of
Meaning." (Click HERE to purchase. Sales help fund JWR. )
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© 2003, All rights reserved Reprinted by permission, The Kansas City Star
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