Books Have Changed, Just Like Us

No one would deny that books are one of the great inventions of human civilization.

- KIM SEONG-KON

No one would deny that books are one of the great inventions of human civilization. From books, we learn about other people and other cultures, and we can indirectly experience a world we have never seen. By reading books, we can obtain invaluable information and knowledge, experience epiphanies and profound realizations. Books also broaden the horizon of our minds and quench our thirst for the unknown. In that sense, "A book is a gift you can open again and again," as Garrison Keillor put it.

Sages have acknowledged the importance of books. Carl Sagan once wrote, "One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for 1,000 years. To read is to voyage through time."

Indeed, by reading books, we can make a journey into the past as well as the future. George R. R. Martin said, "A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies." It is true that books enable us to live others' lives metaphorically and greatly expand the scope of our perspectives.