The Curse of Illiteracy
I have come to a realization and a complete understanding. As has already been pointed out, I am illiterate. I read one book or less a year, and by the popular definition that means I can't read at all. I would like to read, I really would, but sadly not even RIF can help me.
It has nothing to do with mental capacity, it was in my second year of third grade they figured out that I was dyslexic and developed methods to allow me to translate giberish into English. Now anything written in the Roman alphabet gets filtered automatically in my brain into English. French, Spanish, all of those written languages get processed through the same filter. If at the other end of the filter, I still can't get meaning from what I am seeing, I get an error message in the form of good old fashioned lizard brained fight or flight response. Thus, interpretitors like those that work at the UN hold superhero status to me. Foreign language classes cause tramatic stress.
At any rate, I can overcome the defects but I can't defeat the curse of illiteracy. I have only just now identified it as a curse, and I know it is older than I am. I have no idea how far back it goes. My grandfather couldn't read, my father who seems to be able to repair anything man can create has never read anything more than newspapers my whole life. At first I thought it was just me, but based on family history I think it goes farther back.
For me the curse works like this. If I attempt to read a book, everyone around me sees instead of me sitting look at a book, they see me sitting with empty hands looking at them waiting with interest to enguage them in conversation. When I was younger, any time I had a book in my hand and my mother was around she would immediately start talking to me. She would not stop. I thought all that time she was just being rude. I had no idea she literally couldn't see me trying to read.
It didn't occure to me when I was in college and no one could seem to tell I was trying to read. It didn't occure to me with the various girlfriends who always managed to get chatty whenever I had a book in my hand. It didn't acutally occure to me until last night as I was sitting on the couch trying to read Radical Evolution. I no longer blame my mother, friends, and ex-girlfriends because my wife helped me to see what was really going on. The good news is the curse only seems to work on actual books. I can read online all day with no unexpected problems. All I have to do is get one of those reader things and read electronic books. I still wouldn't be literate according to the National Endowment for the Arts but why should I care what they think. Infact I think I'm going to add them to the generic threat of bodily harm list. I'd better make it an electronic list, else I won't ever be able to read it.
Comments
Longest Comment.....Ever!
1. If you can find away to work it into the conversation, please mention to my daughter, Jaime, that you are dyslexic. This is to complex a thing to go into further in a comment section.
2. I reread your post and I am not truly sure what parts are humor and what parts are truth.
Humor being based on truth complicates it even more. If I took part of your post TO seriously, I apologize for the following errors.
Woody:
You are one of the MOST literate people I know. In point of fact, I often think of you as a modern Renaissance man. Don't get the BIG head. ( "Renaissance man" meaning to me one who seeks knowledge of a broad array of subjects). Okay....your approach to this frightens me sometimes, as it seems that they might be coming in alphabetical order....or maybe stuck on "F." Film...Fairlanes...Fidldles....Fencing. It believe I missed a few "F's." Reading on the net counts. You are pursuing information on an interest. You are pursuing Art.....Current Events.....now music. You are a writer. ( See....blog.) What the heck is MORE literate than that?!! I use to be an avid reader. Job; family and fencing at least three times a week pretty much cuts into that these days. It is the same for you. Dyslexic aside...how much time do you think you have in a week? I think I might thump the back of your head the next time I see you. Maybe something is jammed in there and that is why you are stuck on "F." I don't know if I should praise your literacy some more or thump you in the back of the head again. I am leaning toward thumping.
Right now I need to join the 3 other musketeers and head down to Charlotte.
Jim
Posted by: Jim | January 14, 2006 8:17 AM
some one tell me about about
illiteracy is a curse of our society.
plz....
Posted by: harshit | September 5, 2008 9:35 AM
I spent the last month trying to decide whether I wanted to purchase a Kindle or a Nook. After significant examination of merit and shortcomings of both, I chose the Kindle. I'm sure that I couldn't go to far wrong with any decision that I made. But, I feel that I made the right decision for me. The purchase and set up was a cinch! I purchased a platform type case and really appreciate hands free reading in bed!
The big pluses of the nook were not important to me. I don't have a need to share books for two weeks. Although an Android operating system opens the door to other applications, I wanted an ebook reader, not a Blackberry or "grocery list maker",etc. The epub format for nook vs the proprietary format of the Kindle was an issue that I thought about. Kindle has a wealth of free books,including a lot of classics that are out of copyright. So, access to that material isn't a problem. However, for copyrighted material, I feel that a proprietary format(Kindle) might be more secure and appealing to publishers.
I compared a list of about 30 books that I wanted to read. About 14 were not available either as an ebook on Amazon or BN. Three were available on BN and not Amazon as an ebook. Seven were available on Amazon and not BN.The others were available on both. These were not the best sellers that I knew would be available, but rather, more obscure titles.I did see a few big price differences eg.- New York by Rutherford -9.99(Kindle version) 14.99 (BN ebook) Clinton Tapes 9.99(Kindle)28.00 (BN ebook).
Finally, I looked at the way both companies handles electronic delivery of "peeks" or "samples"on their websites. I have always found the Amazon method more fluid and less time consuming. To me, that says a lot about their ability to understand electronic dessemination for the reader. With all that in mind, I chose the Kindle -keyboard and all!- and I am really pleased with my purchase!
Posted by: Jarred L. Mumphrey | December 14, 2009 12:04 AM