Turn The Page

Pleasure to Burn

Ray Bradbury's, Fahrenheit 451, stresses a dystopian society in which books are burned. People who still had a book in their possession would be subjected to harsh punishment. As the Digital Age gives way to a death sentence to traditional, paperback books, this is one variation that has an ambiguous value, changing and resurfacing within the trends of our advancements. While all sorts of gimmicks are amongst us, there is no question that traditional, paperback books are still valued just as much. While there have been many perceptual differences in how paperbacks are portrayed, the information stored in books will never be reduced in its value. 

If we were to take our interests and niches away from mainstream fiction, romance, and young adult novels, we can definitely watch the small markets bargaining for a Nobel prize in the book industry. However, these small markets have so many unconventional variations that we would find them skeptical at first. But, they still contain a bunch of knowledge that we would still want to skim through depending on what topic it would be about. Looking into the archives of libraries while digging through inquiries in the shelves of the bookstores, there are so many varieties, such as Theology or even Magical Realism to Esoterica. 

Going through these variations, most of us have bookshelves around our living spaces. Having this collection amongst us is a reminder, a record of our own personal journey. These collections of timeless classics to imaginative fairytales through the use of eloquent prose convey a bunch of expressive insights that become personally catered to us. The expressive insights become a mixture of energies that are meant to bring us greater nurturance of wonder. Even though wonder is inside each of us, at times, it can be reduced or gradually taken away from us. What we often forget is that each book was actually forged from one idea. There, the author decides to project it out to the third-dimension. The author actually preserved their energies in that book. Each line, narrative, and symbolism transcribes these energies into vibrations. Whoever picks up the preserved energies in those books is taken into those vibrations. We can even say each book, no matter the genre or market has a specific set of functions designed to mix with other energies or vibrations that are amongst us. But, there is no correct distinction to how they can all complement each other. The transcription of these energies also build, re-arrange, or even alter our heuristics and schemas, leading us to a greater awareness of our perceptual experience. 

For those who are not bookworms nor avid book readers, we can still appreciate the structures and variations of each book designed to impress, reveal, and transmit a bunch of waves that we do not know much about. While there is ambiguity in the variation of books, it is a timeless variation. I do not think that this timeless variation will ever have a greater reduction in its value, but if it ever comes to that era, then there must be some tradeoff that can make up for it. If that is not the case, it will be considered a bootlegging profession. Perhaps, in the future, there are underground book markets. It is difficult to imagine Fahrenheit 451 coming to life, yet these variations constantly transform and transcend the current value it used to have.   

Come to think of it, the Library of Alexandria had been slashed away from revealing more esoteric knowledge on the universe. As history records itself in the archives, there may have been plenty of works that were destroyed by secret governments or spiteful people who saw the information as threatening. Now, we can only imagine what books were actually in that library...if there are other sources of UFOs or even a how-to guide in activating the Bermuda Triangle with different sources of energies and waves.    

It makes us think about how every book is. Books that are stored in bins, waiting for another owner to pick them up is an ideal representation of this variation. Surely, it is not the societal impression that makes the book impressive. In fact, its appeal is the don't judge a book where each book transmits different waves we have not expected nor thought much about. Shuffling through those bins might be where our favorite book lies, but the tradeoff is the risk. The representation of this variation becomes far, far greater than the societal impression that is meant to rehearse, impress, and charm its way to our lap. It outplays the gimmicks in order to reveal the knowledge it preserves right in the page-turning narratives that unfold in between our palms.

The next time we think about our next favorite book, it just might be in one of those bins that are less appealing, yet even the mystery book dates found in small bookstores to Barnes and Nobles have greater representations of variations than the ones found on the shelves.