Books and Consequences

A simple idea?

Today I was writing code and made a very bizarre observation. I don't usually make observations while programming, but I've recently been a little distracted because of my site and my unfinished book. I was writing a program and then I encountered some bugs. 

Bugs are errors in programs. The funny thing is that they are called bugs because the first ever computer error was caused by a real bug, a moth that flew into a computer. Those were the times of the first gen computers. The date was September 9, 1947.

Anyway. I was talking about something else and noticed that seconds before I hit F5. the error caught my eye. It occurred to me that. I missed a lot reading the entire code and I wasn't being thorough even though I thought I was.

but does it happen to everyone or just when we are distracted or in a hurry?

Suppose you read a book and let it be a novel, not some book you read in school.

Now see. If you remember everything exactly as it is said in the book. Try and recall a paragraph. Do you remember each and every single thing the Author was trying to convey or was it your interpretation you remember?

I suppose you understand what I have to say. So let's talk about books and their effects on us. Now on the face of the earth would I say something like that?

We process information in words just like computers do in low and high-voltage electric charges or binary digits. Now every word has a meaning to us just like computers have every possible combination of charges.

When this information is processed by us for a prolonged period it burns into our memory. Just like a cache but that's not how the cache is made. Just had to prove a point.

Memory

Now when we talk about the memory the first picture that comes to our mind is the brain, what is the second? Yes, it's Books. Books and memory have a very long history over here now.

I am an introvert so I'm not gonna bore you with it. But I gotta tell you that. History is divided into two parts recorded and unrecorded. For the last 5000 years, we have recorded everything. But the unrecorded history came down through and then it was taken into a recorded document. So yes, writing helped us preserve history.

Books actually have a different way to change our process of thinking for good. Not just our memory but the thinking process. The power of problem-solving and developing logic has actually evolved by going through books.

But with another surprising effect books change our mental state.

Mental state

Now how would a book change our mental state? How can a bunch of characters on a dead tree change our way of thinking? Thinking about it is messed up but there is a very common and simple explanation for this which involves little to no science at all.

When we read a book, we are analyzing each character independently until we keep the meaning and context of it in our short-term memory. Just like we keep variables in RAM. We then piece them together just like a program when being debugged.

As a result, we come to know a fact after reading a passage or an entire book. But isn't that how everything works, we read and then we get to know?

When we are reading a book. The patience we are investing, the concentration to keep everything in your short-term memory. The quick traversal through it. Every conscious and subconscious activity your brain does is the mechanism of every novel ever made.

Conclusion:

Reading is a good habit but if books could talk. No, I'm not talking about audiobooks or AIs that convert text to speech. I am talking about real talking books you can read and listen to. Then it will be a good thing as our imaginations are our weapons. Visualizing a concept, a historical battle, or scenarios of how we speak to people these will benefit us more. But what is more is what they would say to you, beyond the contents of books.

think about it.

If books could talk, what would they say to you, beyond what they can teach?