Dear Reader, Let's Get Physical Again

 Dear Reader, Let's Get Physical Again –Times of India

Israel or Hamas? Whose crimes are greater, where did it start, where and why does your sympathy flow, and why are you viscerally threatened by those on the other side? Television and social media agitate us. They pierce our peace, they make us turn on each other.

 But if you read a newspaper, magazine or book, it's different. You go beyond simple reflexes to a fuller understanding. Reading a newspaper will provide you with perspective and facts you can trust rather than the web of misinformation and propaganda that social media weaves. Reading a non-fiction book will tell you about how their histories collide. Reading a novel set on either side, you see complex situations, emotions and experiences from the inside, challenging easy judgments of good and bad. Reading, when done right, can make your heart more humane.

Humans are a curious species; we are learning animals. And there's nothing like the printed word to satisfy that impulse. You can travel anywhere, explore anything you set your sights on. Reading turns you both inward and outward. You can roam other continents or galaxies, you can drift in other times, you can inhabit other lives - but you are creating them with your imagination. The writer's words are pulsing in your consciousness, setting off images and thoughts that are yours alone.

 And there's a reason people say, 'the book was better', when they compare it to a movie adaptation. When you watch a show or a movie, it's all readymade, her actions, his expressions, the clothes and setting. When you scroll social media, the algos enclose you in a pleasant monoculture made for you - fun, but limited. Only a book can provide the sense of true encounter with other realities.

 

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https://m.timesofindia.com/india/dear-reader-lets-get-physical-again/amp_articleshow/104681880.cms