Our View Of Reality Is Only A

If The Soul Cannot Find Its Jacket. It Is Condemned To An Eternity Of Wandering--naked And Alone

When The Irish Novelist John Mcgahern Was A Child, His Sisters Unlaced And Removed One Of His Shoes While He Was Reading. He Did Not Stir. They Placed A Straw Hat On His Head. No Response. Only When They Took Away The Wooden Chair On Which He Was Sitting Did He, As He Puts It, 'wake Out Of The Book'.

My Brother And I Were Able To Fantasize Far More Extravagantly About Our Parents' Tastes And Desires, Their Aspirations And Their Vices, By Scanning Their Bookcases Than By Snooping In Their Closest. Their Selves Were On Their Shelves.

Some Day, As Soon As A Book Is Printed It Will Be Simultaneously Put Into Digital Form. That Will Be A Wonderful Research Tool, But It Will Never Substitute For Holding The Book. I Feel Certain That At Least Within My Lifetime, Everyone Will Still Be Going To The Bookstore And Buying Printed Books. Thank God I'll Die Before I Have To Worry About Whether The Printed Book Itself Will Disappear. That's Something I Don't Want To Live To See.

I, On The Other Hand, Believe That Books, Maps, Scissors, And Scotch Tape Dispensers Are All Unreliable Vagrants, Likely To Take Off For Parts Unknown Unless Strictly Confined To Quarters.