Working magic…

Great things last and in my book there are few things greater than that incomparable piece of information technology – the book.

Carl Sagan nailed the enduring brilliance of books in Episode 11 of his outstanding series The Cosmos:
“What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree, with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person. Maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other – citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic, and this [library] is filled with magic.”

Portable, durable, magical – it’s no surprise that books continue to appeal. Indeed, despite the inexorable rise of all things online, sales of physical books are increasing. Long may that last. Long live books. And long live humans working magic everywhere.