Return to Read

I found this week how interesting it was seeing another person’s approach to an academic paper. There’s guideline suggestions, a CASP paper at the ready, and the normal read is surveying the terrain. Reconnaissance.

Personally, I return to books to re-adsorb, especially in the case of a history book with many realities to teach, or a philosophy book with its own applicable lines of thought, or suggestions on approaching the experience of life. And of course, I’ve seen many other readers express the same warm feeling I have of returning to some texts the way we do a comfortable pastime, with it offering echoes of good memories, or timeless moments of pleasure and captivation.

Some books -although honestly not most- are one and done reads, but many profit greatly from a return to experience. I think that being discerning in which ones, where you want to spend your time is critical; but there is a lot to be gained due to the constant level of energy reading requires. It’s the steady flow of your own imagination connecting with text being seen or read aloud, and if nothing else that is it’s own unique experience.

Returning gives us a sense of re-affirmation, and in life’s funny way, it can also surprise us. We may find in a paper some startling information which affects how we live our lives, or the means to encourage our own avenue of research. There may be subplots we missed, a difficult word now understood like a missing puzzle piece, or like fitting a new shoe, we start that one book over again, aiming for the finish line.

I wonder how you feel considering this return, given each person has read their own library, and sometimes seeing something makes us immediately apply our own ideas on the matter. Consider perhaps those archives, those stacks of paper and books that may be lying in wait.