Comment/Pin This Up
In praise of the printed book in the digital age At The Conversation http://theconversation.edu.au Nathan Hollier discusses the value of concentration There is an old saying that anxiety is the enemy of concentration. One of the best pieces of sports journalism I ever read was by Gene Tunney, world heavyweight champion of the 1920s, writing about how reading books helped him stay calm and focused in the lead-up to his most famous fight against former champion Jack Dempsey. While members of Dempsey’s camp ridiculed Tunney for his bookishness, Tunney kept calm, and went on to win. Most of us would feel stressed at the prospect of stepping into the boxing ring, but stress-related illnesses, especially depression and forms of anxiety and attention disorder, are becoming increasingly prevalent, especially in wealthy societies. According to a major 2006 projection of global mortality by Mathers and Loncar, by 2030, unipolar depression will be almost 40 per cent more likely to cause death or disability than heart disease in wealthy societies. Stress can of course have many causes, but in the most general sense, it spreads from factors that impact negatively on focus and concentration. We fear interruption or a surplus of tasks, responsibilities or options to choose, leading to heightened stress levels. The digital age is an age of distraction; and distraction causes stress and weakens concentration. Concentration, as the philosopher William James argued in his classic 1890 work Principles of Psychology, is the most fundamental element of intellectual development. He wrote: The faculty of voluntarily
bringing back a wandering attention over and over again, is the very root of judgement, character, and will … An education which should improve this faculty would be the education par excellence. Concentration is equally important emotionally, as is being increasingly revealed by new research into ‘mindfulness’ and meditation. The inability to focus is associated with depression and anxiety and, amongst other things, an underdeveloped sociability and human empathy. Tests have revealed that people report greater happiness from being effectively focused on what they are doing than from daydreaming on even pleasant topics. How many memoirs include stories of the author surreptitiously reading books by torchlight underneath the blankets, with parents fearful of the child reading too much? (In my case I was reading The Hardy Boys so my mother’s objections were probably justified.) As James Carroll has argued, at its core, reading is ‘the occasion of the encounter with the self ’. In other words, the ultimate object of reading is not to take on information but to absorb and reflect upon it and, in the process, hopefully, form a more developed version of one’s own identity or being. It seems likely that the concentration required and encouraged by books is extremely valuable. Reading books is good for you. And this seems especially so in the case of print books, where a reader is most completely free from distraction.
)<;*/,9@ ;OPZ >LLRZ ZWLJPHS
OK
7%:)
7%:)
7%:)
+SEX 1IEX %ZEMPEFPI
*VMHE] SR[EVHW 1MPO :IEP %ZEMPEFPI
E-books, and more pertinently perhaps, the digital reading environment, are unquestionably transforma- DEADLINE FRIDAY NOON tive in the opportunities
Get your sustainability or biodiversity message out there by running a film screening, forum or key note speaker event. Venue and promotion supplied by Council. Visit www.byron.nsw.gov.au/sustainability
for more information and application form. Applications close 8th February 2013
cation, transport and practical assistance to patients and their carers living with multiple myeloma, lymphoma, leukaemia, MDS and related disorders in WIRES training the northern rivers. For more The NSW Wildlife Informa- information contact Cathy tion and Rescue Service is an Paine on 6663 1288. See also all-volunteer organisation that www.leukaemia.org.au. needs new members throughout the northern rivers. WIRES Library closes offers a weekend course that Byron Bay Library will be closwill teach you how to safely ing its doors from 5pm on Frirescue and provide emergency day 18 January and reopening care for injured and orphaned in new premises on the corwildlife. The next course will ner of Lawson and Middleton be 16–17 February. Call 24- Streets, Byron Bay at 9.30am hour hotline 6628 1898 or see on Monday 11 February. For www.wiresnr.org. further information please contact Richmond Tweed ReSenior citizens gional Library on 6625 1415. The first meeting of the year for the Mullumbimby Senior Citi- Seniors computers zens Association will be held The BSSCC classes will resume at 1pm on Monday 11th Febru- on Tuesday 29 January at 1pm ary at the Cook Pioneer Hall, with Don. Wednesday classes Gordon St, Mullumbimby, resume 30 January at 1pm with followed by the AGM for the Gloria. At the Ocean Shores 355 Committee for the Cook Community Centre. Enquiries Pioneer Hall at 1.30pm. Gloria 6676 1891.
Pin This Up
Byron Shire Council is seeking expressions of interest from community organisations who would like to participate in the 2013 Sustainability and Biodiversity Seminar Series.
www.echo.net.au
OK
OK
Applications to Present Now Open
6626 7305
2013 Sustainability and Biodiversity Seminars
or call
and experiences they offer to readers. Great oceans of knowledge otherwise only obtainable through tracking down print books or physical archives and records, have become available and, much more easily searchable. Hyperlinks mean readers no longer have to read in a straight line, as it were, but can follow innumerable paths of interest. Web2 technologies enable ‘talking back’ to publishers and media, the formation of groups of readers with common interests, easy (sometimes too easy) sharing of files and other information. Stories can be enriched by animated graphics and interactivity. And so on. No-one in their right mind would imagine that the ereading environment can or should somehow be wound back. Nonetheless, by their nature
e-reading devices facilitate and encourage the constant, inevitably distracting consideration of other reading options, more or less instantly attainable. This is probably their main selling point. Maryanne Wolf has even asked: ‘if the assumption that ‘more’ and ‘faster’ are necessarily better [will] have consequences that radically affect the quality of attention that can transform a word into a thought and a thought into a world of unimagined possibility?’ It is interesting to consider, in light of this possibility that the greatest benefit of reading may come from its capacity to assist in the development of focus and concentration, that the print book may not actually have been superseded or, indeed, be supersede-able. This, I think, is what the novelist, critic, philosopher and communications historian Umberto Eco means when he argues: ‘The book is like the spoon, scissors, the hammer, the wheel. Once invented, it cannot be improved.’ Nathan Hollier is the director of Monash University Publishing at Monash University. Disclosure statement: Nathan Hollier does not work for, consult to, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has no relevant affiliations.
Q
Cookery contest will be held February 20, open to all in the community, at the CWA Rooms, corner Tincogan and Gordon Streets, Mullumbimby.
Shopping Bus Encouraging frail aged residents living independently or younger people with a disability to utilise a weekly community bus service. Byron residents every Tuesday. Ocean Shores and Brunswick residents Thursday fortnightly. Please contact Amanda on 1300 875 895.
Mullet throwing
Mullet Throwing World Championships, Australia Day at New Brighton Oval 4pm. Can you throw a one-kilo wooden ‘mullet’ 40 metres? All age categories. Contact the Ocean Shores Community Association for more details 0431 477 445. Please note: this section is intended for the benefit of nonprofit community groups, not Leukaemia Fdn Mullumbimby CWA for invitations to free events to The Leukaemia Foundation First meeting for the year is be followed up by paid workprovides caring support, edu- on February 13 at 10am. Land shops.
<echowebsection=News Extra>
The Byron Shire Echo January 22, 2013 47