One of the interview questions asked in the reading study I talked about last week has been stuck in my mind ever since. The question:
What would it be like if for one reason or another you couldn’t read?
My mind shies away from even wanting to think about it. Yet I keep going back to it, wondering, what would I do? I would be devastated I think. I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. Sure there are audiobooks but they aren’t quite the same experience. I’ve been reading for as long as I can remember. Books are a part of who I am and if I couldn’t read it would be like losing a limb or something.
Granted, I would certainly have more spending money, but there is nothing I’d want to buy instead of books. And the idea of having to fill all that reading time with something else makes my mind go numb. It wouldn’t be television. I’d probably spend a lot of time staring at a blank wall until I could find something that would be as engaging as reading. Maybe I would take art lessons. Or music lessons. But I don’t think either of those could fill the hole in my life that not being able to read would create.
Past experience tells me I would be sad and cranky all the time. Whenever I’ve moved and had to pack up all my books I find I become oversensitive to everything. Stressed beyond all reason. And even mean. Most of the rooms in my house would be nearly empty without the books. I’d have to figure out a new decorating scheme. My garden would probably have fewer weeds. The house might be tidier since I wouldn’t have an excuse not to clean and a lot fewer things that collect dust. I might go out more often to places other than bookstores. But I would be unhappy.
And you? What would it be like if you couldn’t read?
I just went through the experience of not being able to read for about a week (due to a very bad infection of my eye lining).
The first 2 days weren’t too bad, I got caught up on housework. But that third day it really got to me, I couldn’t concentrate on anything and really dwelt on my inability to read. My hubby took me book-shopping to cheer me up but afterwards I felt even more dismal. I was in a very dismal funk with my emotions completely out of whack.
Now I am so thankful that my vision has returned completely and I’m much more appreciative of my reading time.
I think about this sometimes but only in the context of what if I went blind? As in, would you rather be blind or deaf? (why do I think about these things?) But if you were blind and could still ‘read’… Then at least you could learn braille, I suppose, or audiobooks… but that would just *not* be the same.
But not reading at all? What a void. My entire day revolves around reading. I can’t even imagine. I would probably become mute as well; what would I talk about? Seriously. I guess I would probably exercise more, and do art. And cook. But the best part of cooking, to me, is the part where it has to simmer or bake for 35 minutes and I have to sit down at the table to read (remaining in the kitchen to ‘keep an eye on things’).
There is that Andrew Weil Six (8?) Weeks To Optimum Health thing that I’ve wanted to try, but one of the things is a week-long ‘media fast’ which is all well and good, but not reading for a week… I just can’t do it! That is what prevents me from doing the whole thing.
What a mean question! I’d be lost. On the other hand, I’ve often thought that I’d rather be blind than deaf. Life without music would be even worse than life without reading. Audiobooks would work for me—stories were told long before they were written.
I’ve thought about this question (too often) as well. The only thing I could come up with is that I would then have to write my own stories (which as a writer, I do anyway) to take the place of what I’m missing…but then…I wouldn’t be able to read them, would I? Geez…quite a quandary. And it is the writing of others anyway that inspires mine. Hmmm.
No, audiobooks just wouldn’t do either. It’s something about the page-turning and the actual book in your hands. I guess I could only hope that –ala the heightening of the remaining senses of one who has been deprived– music would sound even 10x better or another soul-filling pastime would present itself. And it still wouldn’t replace reading.
Enjoying your blog, Thanks!
Dale/Mpls
It’s fascinating. How do we lose the ability to read? Do we go blind like Borges? Then I’ll have to make do with audio books – sort of like how he got people like Alberto Manguel. But I am a visual reader. I read faster with my eyes than when I have to listen.
Or will it be a brain disorder? Where you can still see – but for some reason you just can’t make sense of the words on the page.
I forsee greater involvement in other hobbies – like music. Learning to play a new instrument.
And I might still be so upset I will eventually throw away all my books, because they remind me of what was taken away!
I would turn into some Dickensian character and force young adolescents to come and read to me at my bedside (because the shock would inevitably have sent me to my bed and there I would stay). Hmmmm, perhaps that’s something I can get my son to do over the summer holidays, although I can imagine the protests I would get whilst I am still (thankfully, gratefully) able-bodied!
When I have really bad fibro flare-ups I can’t read, so I didn’t pick up a book for about two weeks. I hated it-I felt like my brain was all goopy, and that my world had gotten smaller, and that everything was just a little off kilter.
This question reminds me of the book “The Man Who Forgot How to Read” by Howard Engel. Engel wasn’t only a voracious reader but a popular Canadian writer. The one day, after having suffered a stroke, he woke up to find that he’d literally forgotten how to read. I haven’t read the book myself, but Engel recently had and interesting interview on NPR here:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92875639
Scary stuff. Reading is such an integral part of who I am that I think that if and when I ever loose the ability to do so I’ll have lost a significant part of me.
I’ve learnt two very scary things over the last two days – the Howard Engel thing was the second and it’s tough to know whether the fact about blood sucking parasites is really scarier than the thought of not being able to read one day.
And here I’d only worried about going blind. Forgetting how to read? Oh my.
I did go through a period right after a truly awful divorce when I couldn’t finish reading a book. Magazines were about the best I could do and I can only describe it as being not myself in the most profound way.
An interesting question…
The internet would certainly lose a lot of its appeal! I’d listen to audio books if that were allowable (but that sort of seems like cheating). If I couldn’t read or listen to others read…hmm… I’d sorely miss it…I suppose it would push me to go out and actively engage the world a bit more. I have a tendency toward hermitry…without reading, I’d probably have to leave my ivory (adobe?) tower and become a “joiner”.
i would have to play a lot of music. it’s the only thing that comes as close to creating another world as reading.
and i’d have to find a new job. no point in a PhD student who can’t read!!!
Oh God. I don’t even want to entertain such a horrible, horrible possibility. Hmm. I wonder if my other senses would compensate? I’m a verbal person in general, so hopefully that wouldn’t be impacted. I’m not a big video person now, so I wonder if I would become more reliant upon video.
I cannot imagine my life without reading! Reading has gotten me through so many difficult situations in my life. It’s my comfort, it’s my refuge, it’s so important to me. And reading has made me a better student, a better thinker, and in many ways, a better person.
I guess it’s stories that are so important to me, so maybe if I couldn’t read, I would seek out stories in another form. I would listen to storytellers, watch movies, drink in stories in whatever form I could without reading them!
A life without reading, what a scary thought!
There’s the quote, ‘A home without books would be like a house without windows.’
Not being able to read books, newspapers, magazines would be like the person chained in a cave with a sliver of light coming in. You are trying to comprehend what is being reflected on the wall; what is life all about?
You want to discover truth but it’s far too illusive.
Funny that you ask that question because I can’t read… well, at least I can’t read very well. I am living in Japan and couldn’t read much of anything beyond “No Parking”, “No Smoking”, “Push”, “Pull”, “Mens’”, and “Womens’” when I moved here 4 years ago. It was horribly frustrating and motivated me to hard study. Passing fourth grade level was very liberating; however, I have found it hard to motivate myself to get into junior high level study. One reason is that my speaking is much more advanced so I can ask questions to get information I need. Another reason is that the burden of learning gets harder with each level; particularly with kanji characters having more and more strokes. I just have to remember that good feeling and focus, but this has given me more appreciation for how illiterate people get by.
Joanne, so glad your eyes are ok. What a hard week you had!
Daphne, going blind or deaf one would be able to adapt eventually, but as you say, not being able to read is a whole other thing. I’ve heard of the Andrew Weil plan, actually had a co-worker who did it. She wasn’t a reader but had a really hard time not watching television or going on the internet. Like you, I couldn’t do that week without reading.
Sylvia, can’t do without Wagner, eh?
Dale, you would be able to write all you want but not read it which would make writing rather difficult. I would hope that there would be some compensation, but I don’t ever want to find out if that is true or not!
Dark Orpheus, even Borges never threw out his books. He said that even though he couldn’t read them he was still comforted by their being there.
Litlove, LOL! I love it! Perhaps you have just hit on something to threaten your son with when he complains about being bored
Eva, I’ve only ever not been able to read for a few days but I understand what you mean by feeling off kilter and goopy brained.
JS, thanks for link. What a scary story! I think I am going to have to read that book!
Jodie, yes, it is a tough call.
Carrie, I feel like I wouldn’t be myself either. And several people in the study also made comments to that effect. It is curious how our identity is so entwined with our reading.
wil, become a joiner? I don’t know. I could see you continue your hermitry by taking up painting on remote mountaintops in Switzerland
maggie, having to find a new job, now that would add to the dilemma and make it even more painful!
bibliophylia, it horrible to think about, isn’t it? I hope you never have to find out if you would watch more video!
Gentle Reader, reading has gotten me through difficult situations too. Maybe you would have to become a storyteller, sitting in the square every afternoon telling stories to anyone who will sit and listen
Paul, nice analogy!
Bikkuri, what an interesting perspective you have just provided! Thank you!
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