Read a book, Pick it up and start reading.
For some people, they have heard this phrase multiple times throughout their life. No matter how old they are at the times, it is one of the things that one has heard or read about. And yet not a lot of people does it.
Through books we can garner knowledge from the pasts, the present and even at times help us predict the future. We can live through multiple lifetimes, and even see life through different eyes. Truly the wonders of books know no bounds.
Books are one of the inventions of the renaissance era, that we, in the modern age, took for granted. What we fail to realize is that for the most part of the human history, the sharing and passing of knowledge were done only through conversation. Not until after the 15th century, in Germany, that the automated printing press was invented.
But do not be mistaken, for before then books far has already existed, but it was all done by hand and only accessible for the richest of the rich. Back then, one hand-copied book could cost a small fortune, enough to buy a house, and the largest European library in 1300 was the Library of Paris, which only had 300 manuscripts. Books change history.
It jump started the spread of literacy and education during the renaissance in Europe. It revolutionizes countries, from the French Revolution in the 19th century and the Russian communist revolution led by Lenin in 1917. It helps humanity to transcend through age by facilitating the passing of knowledge through generations. And yet, for a lot of people books only meant to be put in their shelves as a decoration piece, and they never even lay a finger on it until it becomes dusty.
For most people, it may seem that flipping through those pages and reading the words that were written there, to be one of the most tedious things to do. If only they realize what they have been missing out on.
One of Indonesia’s founding father once said that, books are the windows of the world. This is how one can travel through continents by just flipping pages. Travel through times, with your fingertips.
And even travel through worlds. So, why wait? Pick that book that you have been wanting to read. Dust the bookshelves that you have in your house. Maybe, just maybe it will change your life.
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