My Passion With John Wilson

I AM absolutely passionate about reading and always have been since my childhood. Give me a good book and I will be entertained for hours.

In my younger days I was called a bookworm. Rather than kicking a football about I would much rather bury my nose in a good book. Thankfully I have found that, as I have grown older, the rather derogatory remarks have now given way to more flattering comments about being ‘well read’.

However, I am not into all books per se. Sci-fi, whodunits and thrillers don’t entertain me greatly. Instead my passion is for biographies, especially about those people who are no longer with us.

I am fascinated about what people did with their lives and how they had an impact on not only the people around them but also on modern day life.

I am particularly interested in those who achieved so much from humble beginnings. Recently I have been intrigued by the lives of Charles de Gaulle, Lyndon B Johnson and Albert Einstein. All wonderful characters, with incredible stories to tell.

You can learn so much from such books but I fear in these modern times, when many seek instant gratification, reading books will take too long for the vast majority of people and the art will slowly die out.

After all there is so much more demand on our time and if you want to know about someone or something you can simply go online and read about them on Wikipedia. But how can a few paragraphs on some online encyclopaedia really give you a proper insight into that person’s life?

It may tell you what you need to know, but does it give you an insight into their character, idiosyncrasies or foibles? And it is not just the particular person who is of interest; it is also those around them whose lives they have had an impact upon.

For example, after Einstein died the pathologist, Thomas Harvey, who performed the post mortem was so intrigued by his intelligence that he pinched Albert’s brain. He kept it in a jar and took it everywhere with him, often slicing pieces off to give to scientists so they could perform experiments. Fascinating stuff and not something you would necessarily discover unless you were looking for it. Don’t get me wrong; I am not one who stands in the way of progress. I don’t believe that if you are going to read a book it must be printed and in hardback. I am all for electronic gadgets that store lots of books. However, it is not the way the words are delivered that concerns me it is the fact that less people appear to be reading them.

I know how entertaining, educating and insightful books can be and I am concerned for their future.