"I taught myself to read, I’m not sure exactly when, as if it were something as natural as walking. I have often wondered whether the ability to read is built into our brains as a potential skill, or whether perhaps we inherit it from our ancestors who learned to read during their lives, in which instance I suspect it would only go a few generations back. In my case this ability was definitely to do with the fact that I was brought up among books – my dad ran the school library, and I dug around in them from early childhood. They weren’t books for children at all. One of my favourite early books was a collection of partisan songs. I knew how to sing them, so reading with understanding came to me naturally and easily. Among the hundreds of volumes eagerly borrowed by the pupils there were also art books and encyclopaedias. I can boldly say that encyclopaedias were my favourite literary genre throughout my childhood – my first “constellation” reading matter."
When did you learn to read?
Olga Tokarczuk tells us about how learning to read opened up a new world for her: https://bit.ly/3cQzHcB
#InternationalLiteracyDay
🎂 Happy birthday to Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2017), American author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, a dense and discursive novel of ideas which became an unlikely publishing phenomenon in the mid-1970s and a touchstone in the waning days of the counterculture. 👇
"When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called a Religion."
"The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there."
"The truth knocks on the door and you say, 'Go away, I'm looking for the truth,' and so it goes away. Puzzling."
"To live only for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the top."
"The only Zen you can find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there."
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Photo: Mariner Books
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