Carl Sagan Quote on Books and How They Are Proof That We Are Capable of Working Magic

“What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.”

Carl Sagan, Cosmos

Beyond the Quote (303/365)

Breaking the shackles of time? Getting to curiously peer inside the mind of another human being? Communicating with people who have long since passed away? Well, when you put it like that, how could you NOT believe in magic? These little “flat objects” containing “funny dark squiggles” are nothing short of astonishing and are some of the most uniquely magical objects that you might ever find grasped within the palms of your two hands. Carl Sagan makes a convincing case.

This is all to say, “do you even read, bro?” Or, maybe more importantly, do you live your life with this type of understanding and appreciation for books or have you forgotten about the magic that they contain? Because the vast majority have forgotten. Or, maybe more specifically, have forgotten about the magic since most of their reading was assigned, force-fed, tested, and graded. It’s one of the greatest contradictory effects of the formal education system, in my opinion—that people graduate wanting to read less than they did when they started their education.

In fact, in more cases than I’d care to research or look up, the magic of books completely dissipates as a result of formal education. As soon as you force someone to read something that they’re not interested in and then proceed to grade them on what they read—the funny dark squiggles lose their flare, the pages lose their vibrance, and the book itself turns into nothing more than a chore. It becomes a task and even a resentment rather than a step into another world or a conversation with a citizen of a distant epoch. And what an absolute travesty that is.

Now, this isn’t to say that we should never push people to read or challenge them on their comprehension. If left to our own devices, most of us would opt to sit on the couch, watch the tube, scroll through the never-ending timelines, and eat junk food to no end. Reading is an active task and active tasks usually require a little push to start. But, the push should be just enough to get the motor going so that it can sustain itself from there forward. Like the yank on the lawnmower cord to get the engine going. After the initial yank, the magic of the mower carries it away from there.

What I feel happens all too often in formal education settings is that rather than yank and let the magic carry the students away, educators push students the whole way through. The engine never catches. It’s as though they are being forced to cut the grass with scissors. There’s no magic in that—it’s tedious, annoying, awful manual labor. And whenever grass cutting gets mentioned it will put a bad taste in their mouth and make their fingers quiver because of those past experiences. And as soon as they aren’t required to cut the grass anymore, they’ll probably never want to do it again—even if someone paid them. And who would blame them?!

But, as you and I both know, grass cutting doesn’t have to be done with scissors! There are magical machines that you can lightly push, ride, or even swing to make the task easy and enjoyable! The same is true for reading! It doesn’t have to be awful. It can even be more than enjoyable—it can be astonishing. And if you don’t believe me then you haven’t read the right books. And that’s what I would honestly say to anyone who doesn’t love reading. It isn’t because reading isn’t magical. It’s because you haven’t found the right books for your engine.

Just because you always cut grass with scissors doesn’t mean there aren’t any lawnmowers out there. And just because you remember always hating reading doesn’t mean there aren’t any great books out there that will light your engine up. It might take a few tries—like the yanking of the lawnmower cord—but I promise you, it will eventually start. And when it does, you too will gain the power to break the shackles of time, travel and peer into the minds of some of the most interesting people on the planet, and explore worlds that are beyond anything you could ever imagine. All you have to do is fold back a single page—no yanking of a cord with all of your might required. And your engine should take you from there.

In a Tweet:

Have you ever really thought about the magic of books?

Like, you can peer into the mind of a person on demand.

And it doesn't matter if they're dead, alive, ultra-successful, or from an ancient civilization.

It's the mind preserved in paper and scribbles.

And for what? $20???

— Matthew Hogan (@MattHogan123) November 2, 2020

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This post became the introduction for: 40 Astonishing Quotes on Reading To Remind You Of The Magic Of Books

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