Reading @PandemicTimes (2 of 3): Books provide a structure that develops disciplined thought/thinking

Here is part two of my lecture about Reading @Pandemic Times at the Jose Rizal University last November 2021.

1.   2. Books provide a structure that develops disciplined thought/thinking.

So now I go to the second discussion point but before I talk about the structures inherent in books that shape and discipline our thinking, here is a video on the evolution of the book. It is a TEDTalk by Julie Dreyfuss.

What did you glean from the video we have just seen? Think it over in the next 2 minutes and post your thoughts and insights on the chat.

At this juncture of our discussion, I want to emphasize three things from the video. First is that the book is a technology. It was created out of a need to solve something and to achieve a purpose. Tablets and papyrus rolls containing important information were easily destroyed either by rain, humidity, disasters by nature of by men. Over time, stronger materials were used and its creation and production were limited to the learned. Those who can read and write make books. Because it was so laborious, the monks and the scribes who make them, put the books in chains. There exist stories and information that must be told and shared beyond the confines of exclusive communities like abbeys, palaces and churches. The implements used to create the book are taken from what inventors and craftsmen believe are sturdy enough to hold the pages together there by securing the information. They used what is available in their immediate environment. It is likely to say that the environment shaped this technology known as the book. What makes the book special rests on the fact that both the content it has and the format in which the content is stored or kept in is TECHNOLOGY. Furthermore, the thinking of the time and the age influence the technology.

The same process is happening today except that, we are dealing with and engaging with digital tools. The need to secure information and provide access to readers are constants. Be it an ebook or a printed book accessibility and security remain the truths that librarians and book industry role players observe, protect and advocate for.

The second point that I would like to make would be on the book’s standard format. This format presents information as organized following a framework built around a context, a culture and a world view.

 Do you still remember back in your elementary days when your teacher taught the parts of the book? What do you remember as important about the parts of the book to this day?

 Let’s do a review. I am going to read aloud this poem I wrote years ago.

 I am a book

 I am a book

And I have different parts

A cover to keep me clean

A spine so I can stand

 I have a body

With several good pages

Of facts and stories

You can read from start to finish

 Open me now

And you will know

The author who wrote

The illustrator who drew

 Don’t forget the title

That’s what I ‘m all about

Who put me all together?

Oh, it is the publisher

This poem is intended for younger learners emphasizing two things namely, that information is created and communicated through a book and two, information is organized following a purpose, a function as informed by its contents.

Needless to say, books remain an important technology that influences our thinking, frames and focuses our thought processes given the appropriate manner of reading instruction and formal literacy skills instruction. These are evidences that the humanity’s capability to create rests on collaborative endeavors with a community who supports it.