Print: Falling Man / On Not Buying A Book

 

RTomens, 2023

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Have you not bought a book recently? I'm sure you have not bought many. You've looked at them in shops and passed up on the opportunity to give them one a new home. On the subject, may I say that I can't stand the phrase 'pre-loved'. It's awful. If it was 'loved', why is it sitting in a shop? OK, the owner could have died, I'll grant you that. But in most cases the item wasn't loved that much.

The other day I didn't buy a book. It was the kind of book I want to read. It was also the kind of book I've bought before...and never read (or finished). It was the kind of book from which I hope to learn something about the world, albeit knowing that the information within is shaped by one person and could/should contain indisputable facts yet, still, must in one sense be subjective. It's not that simple, is it? One must be wary of the author's voice, sometimes cunningly present, buried within (or even obviously apparent) what is non-fiction. Yes, it's factual, but how are the facts presented and which ones are omitted to suit the author's view? In historical books this is important. 

This was a kind of history book...

...OK, to put you out of your misery, it was Political Order and Political Decay by Francis Fukuyama. At £2.50, the price was right. I held it, flicked the pages and...came to my senses! 'You'll never finish it!' my sensible self screamed. For once, the part of me that optimistically swears to finish a book remained silent. Besides, what would I remember of it should I even get to the end? Who remembers most of what they read in non-fiction? Or fiction, for that matter. What kind of brain does remember? Why or how does it differ from mine?

Yes, the shelves of a bookworm contains many unread books but they're more likely TBR than NTBR. The mild optimism, the inherent belief that you'll get 'round to all that unread fiction is nothing compared to the wild optimism of the learning book, the one that's going to make you wiser about the world. perhaps I should give up trying to gain wisdom. Better still, I might look for a book called How To Retain Information.