10/9 Readings

Scrolling Forward by David M. Levy

Levy impresses me with this book. He makes an entire chapter out of a deli receipt, and it is actually interesting reading. He goes into great detail about the history behind different documents, the invention of paper, the invention of script, all sorts of human innovations, leaving little to be desired. But what I enjoyed more was how he examined documents from a philosophical viewpoint. He compares documents to creation. We as humans make documents in our own image. We take earth (tree fragments) and breath into them life, our voice, as Levy points out. In this way we are analogous to God. We have our own power to create objects in our own image that can talk to, inform, delight and appall others. This truly is fascinating if one looks at it from Levy’s perspective.

Another excellent point that Levy discusses, concerns personalities of people. On the one hand there are Melvil Deweys: people who are constantly rushing about against time and death. They are efficient and great organizers but are obsessive compulsive in their pursuit of trying to maintain order and become successful. On the other hand there are Walt Whitmans: people who take things more slowly and insouciantly. This way of thinking celebrates life as well as death and values contemplation and taking things as they come. Recognizing the beauty in all things especially in the mundane is the central tenet of these people. This is often hard though, especially in our current situation. Everyone rushes around to work, to class, to the gym, to pick up their kids, to the mall. In our society it is very hard to slow down and not get caught up in the swift current. This is where libraries come in. They are places where one can just be, without being hassled to buy something, without having a deadline on the Johnson account. Time if you let it, moves a bit more slowly in the library.