Did YOU KNOW
Books
are used to decorate interiors, they’re also sure-shot cures for insomnia. Here
are a few other off-beat reasons why they rock!
THERE’S THIS wonderfully pithy
headline from an insightful, award-winning ad that says, “You can take a book
anywhere, and vice versa.” And just in case you belong to the cynical set who
don’t believe what advertising tells them, here’s something on a more
intellectual note: The immortal wisdom of Groucho Marx, which tells us “Outside
of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to
read.” Clear proof that books are among the most exalted inventions ever. They
are unrivalled as mind-transport devices (some might say Scotch whisky is a
competitor in this area), and they are loyal friends who will never desert you.
Look beyond the obvious, and you
will find that books enrich our lives in many more varied and unexpected ways.
Books do so much for us just by being books – over and above what’s actually
printed inside. A brief enumeration:
Reason # 1 Interior décor: Nothing
can quite match the retro appeal of an overflowing bookshelf. Strategically
strewn around the house, books convey an image of intellectual depth and cogent
opinions. Leather-bound encyclopedias, dog-eared, second-hand paperbacks and
issues of National Geographic are now eagerly sought by newbie homeowners as
decoration items.
Reason # 2 Personal décor: Sitting
in a conference room at a recent meeting, I noticed the person next to me was
carrying a copy of Moby Dick. Being casually acquainted with the works of
Herman Melville, I was quite impressed by this young man who seemed to
willfully dive into the classics for en-Metro entertainment. But a couple of
minutes later, he pulled out a Parker, opened the book and started taking
notes. Moby Dick was revealed to be a cover, in more ways than one.
Reason #3 Higher efficiency:
Notwithstanding the popularity of auto-spell checks, online thesauri and
Wikipedia, I still love my trusted old Oxford English Dictionary. In fact, the
expanded 2008 edition enjoys pride of place in the exact centre of my table.
Every morning when I walk into my office, I bring out the laptop and gratefully
place it on the dictionary. This effectively raises the laptop by three inches
and brings the screen to eye-level. The OED has worked wonders for my posture
and the state of my neck muscles.
Reason # 3 Healthy repose: Across
the world, sleep therapists regularly prescribe the classics in particularly
stubborn cases of insomnia. Ten to 20 pages of Charles or William, taken at
bedtime, is the recommended medium dose for adults. Similarly applied physics
textbooks have produced excellent results in children. And for emergencies,
Forrester’s Classification of the Types and Subspecies of Tanzanian Speckled
Mushrooms remains unrivalled.
Reason # 4 Pre-anesthesia: Ever
since this technique was perfected in 1952, dentists have been using back
issues of film and gossip magazines to dull the senses of patients in the
waiting room. So when it’s time to extract a molar or go rooting about in a
root canal, the dentist can use just a small top-up dose of Novocain. Much more
economical, and less trauma for the patient too.
Reason # 5 Self-preservation:
Frequent flyers use this to pre-empt unwelcome conversations. At the merest
suspicion that a neighbouring bore is about to open his mouth, they dive into
the pages of a hefty paperback. Even seasoned bores have been known to change
seats when confronted with a terror tome like Techniques in Differential
Calculus.
by
Siddharth Prasad HTBR 130303
No comments:
Post a Comment