What is a book?

            To some a book is nothing, to some, it’s all they have. To me a book an essence of the writers true nature. When reading a book we don’t really notice how much it is about not just the inner meaning of the whole text, but also the outer appearance of the cover. It’s obvious that you’d rather take a book that relates to you more, it’s like talking to a person, you have to have similar ideas and/or interests, or otherwise it’s simply tedious. But why is it that we try to grip for the feeling of the book, and not just the text? The true answer to that is that the book is the writer. The writer chooses how it looks, sounds, even feels, it’s like their clothes and voice. But now imagine not having any cover, simply a text, rough and dull.

            Reading. If all of us try to deeply analyze what we actually do when we read, it’s not just the way that we see and read the text, it’s also our body feels it. If you never even thought about it, think of this; what would you do if you had a small paperback book, or a large hardcover book, different feel, different approach. Now imagine always reading on the same exact metallic machine, no feel, always the same. The author no longer can express his/hers’ persona and how they wanted the reader to see the story, before they got to read it.

            Tom Piazza had a very good quote about why a book just loses its nature if it doesn’t have a cover “But it’s like looking at a book of paintings where Guernica is the same size as a Holbein portrait. You get no sense of the scale of things, of the nature of the artist’s ambition”. The quote basically states that without a cover all books are the same in their nature and artist’s choice. I must agree with the quote, the cover is something that attracts you (Most of us), and there can’t be attraction to a specific book, if all books are the same, as simple as that!

            To summarize, my idea can be simply described in 3 easy questions. Does a book need a cover? “Yes, it does, without it, we would probably never notice the small jewels among the waves of glass”. Can a book still be special without a cover “Yes, it sure can, but the cover is still rather important on a psychological and physical level, without it, its just not the same, and you are left to hope that the plot of the book will pay for the price of not having a cover.” Lastly, if you had two choices of buying the same book, would you rather buy a digital one for less, or a real one but expensive? “Rather a broad question, it really depends on the price difference. But if the price for a good book didn’t come to a point where a physical copy would cost more than twice the price of a digital one, I’d still rather get a real one.”

Why Do I Read?

                Why do I read? A great question, to answer it I would love to go deeper on this one with you. What are we humans in general?  We are creatures that are limited in abilities; we can create a lot of things, that’s for sure. For thousands of years we had developed and grew, our minds breaking the border of what once was thought to be unreachable but we still wanted more and more! That never ending game of want, achieve higher goals move forward unwind the secrets but we can never satisfy ourselves simply because of one thing. That thing is known to all, it’s our imagination!

                Imagination is behind everything there was and will be ever created by us, it allows us to be free in this world of limitations: the magic, the power, the fear , the strength all that and more is so tempting to acquire but sometimes it’s simply impossible. So many great people were simply about their imagination, the greatest painters and writers, sculptors and designers they all have spent their lives trying to bring their imagination to life. To be an artist it doesn’t take great skill or age, it simply takes contribution to the cause, some of the greatest things seemed to be simple at a quick glance, but when looking deeper you could see the painters’ persona in it, every detail, so clear and seamless as if a part of the artist was left in the picture. So why don’t you try to create art?          

                But back to the idea of reading, I read because I love to. As simple as it sounds, I do, for me its like a breath of air. The ability to see through the reality, creating something in your own mind fascinates me, it should excite you too. I think I answered your question, so remember one thing, we humans can create a lot, but we can imagine much more.