The Private Reader

I.

I read a book last year called "Inventing the Individual"(1). It was about the origins of Individualism
as a movement, or a way of thinking. The book approached this topic from a historical point of view, beginning from early civilization to medieval times. The question of "How did we break away from traditional family values and become individualistic" was explored in the book by studying history through the written works of people in the past and trying to understand where individualism came from.

According to that book, it didn't start with the Renaissance, at least not originally, as was usually thought. The seeds of individualism were planted even further back than the Renaissance, and that was during early Christianity. It was during the early Christian age, that people were told that all were born equal. Before this period, it was generally accepted that we were not equal - some born to a higher status and others to a lesser degree. In this sense, the book argued, the people began to strive for equality and individual rights.

I think what the author have not stressed enough, was the role of technology in creating the Individual, especially with the invention of the printing press. What was revolutionary about the Gutenberg technology in the mid 15th century, the printing press, was that it allowed the mass production books. Before this technology, books used to be hand-drafted and copied. The mass production of books made them cheaper, more readily available, and hence books had a wider audience among the population than ever before.

II.

The way that books affect our mode of thinking and how it indirectly influence our way of life was extensively explored by another author, Marshall McLuhan(2). He found that books made people more private. Before books became popular, McLuhan suggested that the people lived in an oral world - knowledge and other information were passed around through the oral mode, that is by being spoken aloud or recited. Books changed that by allowing private reading, in contrast to public recitation.

McLuhan went further. He discovered that books also changed the way we process information, as they encouraged more systematic thinking. Books, through the written language, forced people to read word by word, paragraph by paragraph, and go from chapter to chapter, the way they were originally written by their authors. This is in contrast to the spoken language, which is more dynamic, as speakers may naturally vary their presentation even when they were presenting the same idea.

McLuhan also found that books changed language and literature itself. The printed word demanded more accuracy in terms of spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Compared to the spoken language which put less emphasis on these constraints, books made language itself more systematic. Authors would discover that books have the potential to replicate errors in great proportion - as terribly exemplified by the mistake in the Wicked Bible that read, "Thou shall commit adultery"(3).

III.

Where do we stand today? Naturally we feel that we are at the frontiers of progress in the history of mankind. As technology get increasingly sophisticated from the 20th into the 21st century - from radio to television, computers to smartphones, internet search engines to social media - one may be forgiven to believe that we have progressed further than our predecessors. But not all of us would agree on this.

An easy challenge to the delusion of our progress, is to study and compare the effects of books (as we have discussed above), and the effects of the modern technology like the television and the internet. This task was done at least twice before, firstly when McLuhan compared books to radio and television (4), and more recently when Nick Carr compared the effects of books and the internet (5). What they have both discovered paid more homage towards books, than the rest.

Although radio, television and the internet are faster, more readily adapted, easier to use and much more updated compared to books, they fall behind on other aspects. Books may be slower to read, more cumbersome to carry around and take longer time to write and publish. But books, as we discussed before, demand more accuracy, more systematic thinking, and allow for deeper understanding in a subject. While having references, books are complete in themselves - they are devoid of hyperlinks and advertisements that serve only to distract us from the main content.

IV.

We must not forget these virtues of reading, as we readily embrace the latest gadgetry and fashion. As we lose the habit of reading, we lose along with it our connection to the past. The history, folly and wisdom of our predecessors are forgotten. We would also lose the virtues of reading itself, that would have made us not only wiser and learned, but also aid our critical thinking and reasoning.

Some may claim that we have not lost the habit of reading - it is only that we are reading on a different medium nowadays. Granted that, I suggest that he picks up a book now and then. I would also add that he should choose a good book, one that was written in earnest from the heart of the author. Then he can judge the difference between reading on a screen and on a printed page.

History has come a long way in creating the Individual out of the general public, but we are today quickly dissolving into the masses again. Public opinion takes a stronger hold on us today, as news spread like wildfire on social media. Gossip, slander and biased views also travel further than ever before, only to corrupt our minds. So let us not dismiss the Gutenberg technology that once produced the private reader. Every book stands quietly independent in itself, and in this way every individual must follow suit.

...


References / Recommended Reading 

(1) Inventing the Individual (2014) by Larry Siedentop

(2) Gutenberg Galaxy (1962) by Marshall McLuhan

(3) The Wicked Bible (1631) published by Barker & Lucas

(4) Understanding Media (1964) by Marshall McLuhan

(5) The Shallows (2010) by Nick Carr

* Image: The Astronomer (1668) by Johannes Vermeer