Finn guarding my “books to read” bookcase!
… that besides being an artist, I am a bibliophile?
bib·li·o·phile / ˈbiblēəˌfīl/• n. a person who collects or has a great love of books.
I love books! This past weekend was the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books; I attended both days and bought 12 books. For the record, I have a two-shelf bookshelf by my bed filled with books I haven’t read. I had just started making some headway and had a little space in it but now it’s gone and there are books stacked on top. Of course, this does not take into account the books I have on my e-reader! Sigh. My Mom and my Papi both loved books. She was a librarian and he was a college professor so you might say that my love of books is genetic.
I thought for today’s post, I’d share some interesting facts about books –
- A book is a set of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of ink, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side.
- A single sheet within a book is called a leaf, and each side of a leaf is called a page.
- A set of text-filled or illustrated pages produced in electronic format is known as an electronic book, or e-book.
- Books may also refer to works of literature, or a main division of such a work. In library and information science, a book is called a monograph, to distinguish it from serial periodicals such as magazines, journals or newspapers.
- The body of all written works including books is literature.
- In novels and sometimes other types of books (for example, biographies), a book may be divided into several large sections, also called books (Book 1, Book 2, Book 3, and so on).
- An avid reader of books is a bibliophile or colloquially, bookworm. (That’s me!!)
- A shop where books are bought and sold is a bookshop or bookstore. Books can also be borrowed from libraries. Google has estimated that as of 2010, approximately 130,000,000 unique titles had been published.
- The word “book” comes from Old English “bōc” which (itself) comes from the Germanic root “*bōk-“, cognate to beech. Similarly, in Slavic languages (for example, Russian, Bulgarian, Macedonian) “буква” (bukva—”letter”) is related to “beech”. In Russian and in Serbian and Macedonian, another Slavic languages, the words “букварь” (bukvar’) and “буквар” (bukvar), respectively, refer specifically to a primary school textbook that helps young children master the techniques of reading and writing. It is thus conjectured that the earliest Indo-European writings may have been carved on beech wood. Similarly, the Latin word codex, meaning a book in the modern sense (bound and with separate leaves), originally meant “block of wood”.
- Reading improves your ability to comprehend written material—a skill helpful in any career.
- Neurobiologists have tracked increased blood flow in the brains of readers as well as improved cognitive functioning. Add a purring cat and you’re golden!
- Reading improves your vocabulary and makes you a more creative thinker.
- Reading is more demanding on your brain than processing images or speech. This neurobiological workout keeps your brain sharp, and improves powers of concentration.
- The structure of fiction—with a beginning, middle and end—trains the brain to think in sequence, to link cause, effect and significance.
- The average reading speed is 200 – 250 words per minute.
- Modern life bombards us with too much information, which we learn to tune out. Reading reduces stress by allowing your brain to focus on one task.
- Reading improves the relaxation response, lowering heartbeat and pulse rate.
Finn helping me read
Relax with a good book today!! I know I will!
Cheers,
AV
