Mrs Dale, Teacher of English writes part 3 for us, asking the question, 'why do we read?'
'As World Book Day approaches, falling on Thursday 2nd March this year, I asked staff to think about their favourite book, or their favourite book from childhood, in preparation for our World Book Day assembly on Wednesday 1st March.
Why do we read?
“We also read to recognize what is true of human nature, and fiction most adequately grapples with what motivates us. Our values and assumptions are challenged; we are invited to empathize with entirely alien points of view.” Injustice, unfairness, or powerlessness in a dystopian world, like Katniss Everdeen in Suzanne Collins’ YA trilogy “The Hunger Games” or Tris in Veronica Roth’s “Divergent” YA series. Or – more classically, perhaps – the characters in Huxley’s “Brave New World” or Guy Montag in Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451”.
But to recognize what is true of human nature can also be found in the pages of non-fiction, in biography or autobiography, or history. Take “Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography” (by Walter Isaacson), for example.
Mrs Arthur (Head of Computing/ ICT) writes of her favourite biography, “The book envisages this digital visionary; it depicts a man so convinced of his vision he was almost brutal to ensure that his vision was realised. It showed the rise and fall of a company he built from the ground up in his father’s garage, the brutal clashes and destroyed friendships and careers of any one who dared to contradict him except for those with a brilliant mind of course! He was a man who was complicated, obsessive, loathsome; at the same time charming, impatient, creative and inspirational. He had a vision to make machines personal and in turn fashionable accessories and because he stuck to that vision he was instrumental in shaping some of the greatest technological innovations of our time.”
Look out for part 4 tomorrow...