PBS - The Great American Read: The Book of Books: Explore Americas 100 Best-Loved Novels

M ore than 300,000 books were published in the United States last year. This number encompasses romances, mysteries, Pulitzer Prize winners, true crime, thrillers, literary fiction, natural science, travelogues, and religious tracts. Memoirs, essays, pop culture. The book destined to become someones best-loved, the book that turned a reluctant reader into a passionate one, the book that made a child want to become a writer. All of these, and so very many more, appeared on shelves and screens.

Even as television and social media compete for our attention, books remain. Indeed, they thrive. When I was a child, if my local library didnt stock a title, I didnt read it. Today we carry entire libraries around on a device no bigger than a paperback. We order titles published anywhere, to arrive on our doorstep within 24 hours. Its a glorious time to be a reader.

The technology behind this growth in accessibility is extraordinary, but so is the technology at the heart of reading itself. Reading began as listening, when our ancestors started telling tales to pass collective knowledge from one generation to the next. In time, this transmission begat writing, which furthered the capacity for progress and widened humanitys imaginative scope. The development of literacy has no serious competition as our species most significant achievement.

A few years ago I attended a talk given by artist Chuck Close. Speaking about the purpose and power of his materials, he noted, Even colored dirt can make you cry. So can black marks on a white page. We weep with sorrow, or joy. Our cares disappear, as do our surroundings, and we are transported, as if by some supernatural sleight of hand, into other times, minds, and placesall by reading. To remind yourself of the mystery of this process of comprehension and imagination, have a look at a book in a language you dont know. Youll instantly appreciate the tremendous power of what amounts to just a bunch of lines and circles.

Tell me a story, a little one begs, and we oblige. Like our prehistoric relatives, we continue to rely on narratives to entertain, to inform, and to instruct. Reading broadens our perspective. In a world fraught with conflict, where terrible news is always a click away, we can fall into a novel and find solace and hope. Writing the entries that constitute The Great American Read reminded me of the importance of reading to the development of civil societyin every sense of the word, from politeness at the post office to supporting a meaningful discussion of ideas and issues. Some books propose values or promote behaviors that I find less than praiseworthy, but I believe in not only the writers right to espouse said views but also the absolute necessity of engaging with outlooks with which we dont agree. Personal and intellectual growth comes from reading widely and deeply, as well as from developing a willingness to push past the comfortable into the utterly strange.