Books / Boeke

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“The love of learning, the sequestered nooks, and all the sweet serenity of books.”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Maybe I can get you today to reach out for a book and get you to read something noteworthy again. Maybe you are a reader, and that this discussion reminds you of that and of the fact that you have not read something for a while. Hopefully, you are like Thomas Jefferson who said that he cannot live without books. Whichever is the case, it is from books, says Victor Hugo, that wise people derive consolation in the troubles of life. Oprah Winfrey said that books were her passport to personal freedom. She said she learned to read at the age of three, and soon discovered there was a whole world to conquer that reached far beyond the farm where she grew up. You will not grasp the value of books if you have not yet lost yourself in the pages of a well-written piece of literature. It is through reading that you expose yourself to new things, new information, new ways to solve problems and new ways to achieve things. Reading will also help you to form a better you, and in the process of reading, you learn much from other people’s experiences. In this regard, I prefer biographies and non-fiction above any novel (excluding the classics, of course). Books are so diverse, and as Sir Francis Bacon said, some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some to be chewed and digested. Delve into a good book, make time for that, and remember, the wise man reads both books and life itself.

Good friends and good books,

and splendid meals from good cooks.
ah! That is the ideal life.
Free of unnecessary strife

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“Die liefde vir leer, die afgesonderde hoeke, en al die soete kalmte van boeke.”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Miskien kan ek jou vandag oortuig om weer uit te reik na ‘n insiggewende boek en jou weer aan die lees te kry. Miskien is jy ‘n gereelde leser maar het, as gevolg van die gejaagde lewe, die leeswerk bietjie afgeskeep. Hoe dit ookal sy, vandag se bespreking is juis daarop gemik om daardie flikkerende vlammetjie weer helder te laat brand. Hopelik is jy ook in die klas van Thomas Jefferson wie gesê het dat hy nie sonder boeke kan lewe nie. Dit is uit boeke, sê Victor Hugo, dat wyse mense vertroosting vind in tye van swaarkry. Selfs Oprah Winfrey het eens gesê dat boeke haar paspoort na persoonlike vryheid is. Sedert sy op die ouderdom van 3 begin leer lees het, het sy gou ontdek dat daar ‘n hele wêreld is wat buite die grense van die plaas lê waarop sy grootgeword het, en wat verower kan word. Jy sal nie die waarde van boeke begryp as jy jouself nog nooit verloor het in die bladsye van ‘n wel-geskrewe stuk literatuur nie. Dit is deur lees dat jy jouself blootstel aan nuwe dinge, nuwe insigte, nuwe informasie en nuwe maniere om probleme op te los en mylpale te bereik. Deur te lees sal jy ook ‘n beter JY skep, veral deurdat jy, in die leesproses, so baie kan leer aangaande andere se gedrag, optrede en lewenservaringe. Dit is waarom ek persoonlik biografiese en nie-fiktiewewerke verkies bo enige ander stuk prosa (behalwe natuurlik vir die groot klassieke werke). Boeke is so divers, en dit is soos Francis Bacon sê, sommige boeke moet net geproe word, andere moet ingesluk word, en andere moet weer gekou en dan verteer word. Doen jouself dus die guns en verloor jouself weer in ‘n goeie boek. Maak tyd daarvoor en onthou, die wyse persoon lees beide boeke en die lewe.

‘n Goeie vriend en ‘n goeie boek,

Wie sal dan na beter soek?
Dit is inderdaad die ideale lewe.
Iets waarna ons almal kan strewe.

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