[size=14pt]Bibliophobia; the moribund art of Reading[/size]


So, what is Bibliophobia? Bibliophobia, simply put, is the chronic, pathological fear of books. In this piece however, I would like to extend its definition to mean the twofold irrational fear of reading and writing.

My smart money is on the educated guess that you have probably come across words like claustrophobia, agoraphobia, or even 'gynophobia': which stunningly is the 'fear of women'.

Surely that registers on the radar screen of the bizarre and the ridiculous. I mean, how on earth does one get the willies over women? But, believe me you, I have seen grown men on tenterhooks whenever they are approached by women, especially if these women are very wealthy, or worse, if they are on the uppermost rungs of the ladder beauty-wise.

In fact, there is this fellow I used to know, Tunde (not real name), whom you would without batting an eyelid profile as the prototypical extrovert. Tunde was a boisterous fella, and I make bold to say that he must have averaged no less than 6,000 words per day, or at least a figure that rightly placed him within the demographic of first-rate talkatives.

His bane, sadly, was 'gynophobia'. Put him in a room jammed to its rafters with women and the usually swashbuckling Hooray Henry would reflexively assume an uncharacteristically quiet disposition. And even when Tunde did manage to get a word out, it never rolled off his tongue as trippingly as it would have if he were hobnobbing with his male cronies.

Yet, Tunde's pathology is but a minor blot on the landscape when compared with the hydra-headed monster in form of Bibliophobia—a lethal virus which is rivering insidiously through every seal and gasket of our society. The freefall of academic excellence in our educational sector, and the alarmingly low literacy level—especially in a country that prides herself as the 'giant of Africa'—is a living testament to the bull-in-the-China shop status that Bibliophobia holds.

Backtracking to the annals of our historical records have proven one thing: Man is inquisitive by nature. And this inquisitiveness, this fevered curiosity, this burning desire to know, has led him to ask questions; it has led him to conduct scientific researches; it has also caused him to paw through books in a quest for wisdom and so on and so forth.

History also tells of how certain individuals—whom we greatly extol today—used knowledge gleaned from hours of studying to occasion the rise and fall of empires; to enact epoch-making policies; to cause the unsettling pendulum of the time to swing in their favour; to rise shoulder higher than their peers, and to gleam like the cedars of Lebanon under the sunshine, metaphorically speaking of course.

Did you know that people from as far afield as Europe and Asia traversed all the way down to places like Kush and Timbuktu (modern-day Mali) just to get a read of books which were awash in these ancient cities?

Did you also know that Ben Carson—a primus inter pares in 21st century neurosurgery—was initially regarded by his classmates in high school as 'the dumbest kid in class'?

The day Ben scored a 'D' in one of his subjects while he was a fifth grader was one of his happiest moments back then. But all of that changed when his mother made it mandatory for Ben and his brother to read a minimum of two books weekly, and to submit a written report on them to her. That marked the road to Damascus for young Ben—no wonder he unstintingly harped on about the importance of habitual reading in his very illustrious book 'Think Big' (Ben Carson and a team of neurosurgeons conducted the first successful Siamese twin separation surgery)

These men did not have their hearts set on money or fame—well, some of them did, but one thing that we know for sure is that they all recognized the importance of knowledge in acquiring that which they desired. No wonder the truism in Francis Bacon's golden pronouncement that 'knowledge is power' remains unchallenged till date.

Iamaromolaeran

And now, with the advent of the internet and its glittering concomitants, which has made information easily accessible to all and at laser-quick speed, one would expect an 'oil boom' in the reading department, or a generation of readers if you will.

Unfortunately, a downward trajectory in academics is the phenomenon de jour. Youthful hands that are meant to fan the embers of scholarship have been diverted and put to use in areas that border on the mundane, inconsequential and unproductive: ranging from petty Twitter squabbles to mindless Facebooking and celebrity gossips, to mention but a few.

If you tell a teenage boy that "the pen is mightier than the sword'', his rejoinder would most likely be: "Yes, I agree, but the blitz of Instagram is mightier than the pen".

The activities of our lovely ladies must also be brought to the front burner—the ones among them that regard books as an anathema, but idolize the 'selfie stick' the same way Mozart reverred the Harpsichord. Word on the street is that a certain Naija babe is prohibitive favourite to clinch the Nobel Peace Prize for 'most selfies taken in a month'. Okay, that was a joke.

Before you begin with the verbal missiles, I should make it clear that 'selfie-taking and co' are not bad per se, and that goes without saying that I too have had a fair share of social media razzmatazz. They only become a cause for worry when they are slide-stepping for the front row with the things that actually matter, or worse, take precedence over them.

As we all know, reading and writing are mutually exclusive: the less you do of the former, the more the latter suffers. Little wonder why poor writing skills stems from people failing to avail themselves of the serendipities that books are known to furnish one with.

A major bête noire for me has always been the grammatical and spelling errors that are rife on social media platforms—a huge chunk of the culprits being youths and young adults—. In a bid to 'feel among' and follow fad, in a bid to short-circuit conversations, people resort to using slangs or writing in short-hand when passing their message across—all of which inflicts a heavy toll on their writing skills in the long run.

I used to joke with my buddies that a time would come when formal and application letters would look like this: "Hey yo, I reli nid dis job, sir. Pls, I wuld appreciate if u gave favourable consideration 2 my letter. Tnx, urs faithfully". Funny, right?

The reading-solely-to-pass-exams syndrome is also another corollary of Bibliophobia. To worsen matters, most of what is 'crammed' is ultimately forgotten on completion of exams since information is never transferred from short-term to long-term memory. The rationale behind this practice is not far-fetched: many people consider reading to be a Donkey work (students being the most culpable)

A seismic psychological shift away from this wrongheaded mindset would not only help in engendering a habit of reading, but also aid in removing the blinkers off people's eyes until they begin to view books as therapeutic and fail-proof mediums in sating intellectual curiosity.

Some people also take to selective reading. And their reason is usually predicated on the grounds that certain books have no utility in praxis. While I can slightly identify with their viewpoint and think a signal-to-noise ratio would help in preventing information overload, or what we call 'infobesity', I am still of the belief that no knowledge is wasted.

Another old chestnut you hear ad nauseam is that too much reading overworks the brain. A joke of the century I must say, considering the fact that the human brain is made up of over 14 billion cells and connections, which when optimally utilized is capable of storing all of the information in the world.

I would part on this note: while money like oxygen is necessary for survival, it is not the purpose of living; for the renown that wealth confers on an individual is fleeting and frail; mental excellence on the other hand is a lasting possession; seek it, acquire it, and even the sky would not be your limit, but rather a springboard to greater and more giddier heights.

Nice article! Very educative...





Thumbs up, OP!

It is a beautiful piece. Noteworthy of reading.

I'm only surprised that the issue of dyslexia wasn't addressed as a reason why some people don't read

Or ADHD or other mental disabilities!!!

Perhaps researches should have been done or quoted to butress the points/issues raised

Hmmn. Nice write up but your grammar is too strong. It's still very early in the morning to be cracking my brain with a dictionary

The long epistle is enough to give people "bibliophobia".

Can someone summarise in one or two sentences pls..

Most black men suffer from bibliophobia sadly
See people already asking for summary...

Strange " words" everywhere.

Beautiful

grammar gallore.i learnt another grammar.today,swashbuckling,will goan use it for that my nonsense boss

Nice read.

Just that I feel this article would have been better understood if written in simpler terms.

#justsaying.

Ichliebedich:
Beautiful

I love YouTube!!!!

DICKtator:


I love YouTube!!!!

LOL, good to know

Sometimes I wonder why some people hate reading.

Science gives an excuse for everything...

Me i cannoh shine my eyes to read dis thing dis morning oh

Ichliebedich:

LOL, good to know

I actually meant ichliebedich!!!!!

And you know what I mean!!!!

Twaci:
Nice read.

Just that I feel this article would have been better understood if written in simpler terms.

#justsaying.

Don't you like an article or writing that makes you learn new words everyday?

That type that makes you open your dictionary and learn the meaning?

Nice article but i still maintain that though no knowledge is a waste but not every knowledge is necessary. The brain selects the ones needed and discard the ones not needed so as to avoid chronic information overload which could lead to mental problem. You can't be jack of all trade

DICKtator:


Don't you like an article or writing that makes you learn new words everyday?

That type that makes you open your dictionary and learn the meaning?

Not everyone is always in that mood, y'know.

Imagine waking up to this

I have bibliophilia. If there's any word like that

Very true , Nigerians are lazy in mental challenge. If it's to watch film or play games, they can spend a day and half , but to read an educative article like this one, mbanu. Thumbs up Op

Xblink:
Can someone summarise in one or two sentences pls..

This is one of them, spot diagnosis
But Op, you should know that there is no time na , aiye o po!
Early mo mo like this when peeps are rushing to work/school you coman be putting one very long article.

I love this article, I feel like I v not been reading for over a century now. lol.

fine article OP

You've got brilliant writing skill...good read

I try to read as often as possible, always a refreshing feel

Nice Piece...


But I hate reading!!!


How can I improve on this?




********** SUMMARY************

I would part on this note: while money like oxygen is necessary for survival, it is not the purpose of living; for the renown that wealth confers on an individual is fleeting and frail; mental excellence on the other hand is a lasting possession; seek it, acquire it, and even the sky would not be your limit, but rather a springboard to greater and more giddier heights.