The problem with books

...and part of the reason for book clubs. The greatest invention in history is the printing press. That's my opinion of course, but impossible to disprove so....Maybe it's because I love to read and don't get to read enough that I've developed a slightly jaded attitude toward books lately (a shunned lover?). There is a very strong possibility that I might not be able to say this all like I want but I'll give it a shot....

Books have enabled knowledge and ideas to spread faster than than humans can responsibly absorb them because they tend to be absorbed by individuals at individual rates, not by groups at the same rate. What happens when ideas hit an individual who ponders and processes it all internally? What becomes of knowledge and ideas that are absorbed by individuals and mixed with other fermenting ideas within themselves that have not been thoroughly vetted by others? Have books added to the great conversation or subtracted? What happens to a society when all the individuals are absorbing different ideas at different rates? (I'm not suggesting that this is altogether bad)

Before books how did knowledge transfer? How did ideas spread? How was history documented? Oral tradition. People had to talk it out, they had to repeat it over and over- many times in group settings. What did this cause- discussion? Conversation? A shared experience? Growing together? Is this a good thing? Could they retain their own identity as a person and still have greater bonds with others?

Now, with books, we 'hear' ideas in the silence of our mind as we read isolated from our community- even if it's in bed at night, on the couch at Starbucks, or right next to a friend reading another book. Don't get me wrong- I think books are powerful, they have the power to move mankind in amazing ways. Remember, I love to read. BUT....but what I'm wondering is- What are missing out on by reading a book to ourselves and not reading it with others? Our culture values individuality possibly to a dysfunctional extreme. How can we expect to live in community, to encourage the brotherhood of mankind when we are each pursuing our own individual "idea agenda"? Even if our community is pursuing the same goals, are we sabotaging our efforts with our approach to absorbing and assimilating ideas and information? If not sabotaging, then at least retarding?

I guess this boils down to a personal revelation that I think (because I've been told) that I think too much and can over analyze. Why? I honestly believe that it's because I have read so much that has gone unfiltered by the people around me. I read a book and it has had tremendous impact on my thinking. Books have literally shifted my paradigm and yet I sense an inability to fully communicate and reveal the extent of that impact- because (my opinion)I was not communicating during the transformation. Information and ideas were hitting my grid and reforming it without input or exchange from anyone else (to a large degree). Something about that doesn't jive with what I've come to understand about life the way it was supposed to be. (If you've made it this far, you might be thinking about how I came to that conclusion-yes through reading on my own BUT...there has been dialogue with others)

Ideally - I'm just putting it out there that I think we were made to live together, not alone, not lonely. This includes conversation, dialog, exchanges. Maybe I've over thought and overreacted. If so, it's because- well, I've been thinking too much on my own.