On Sunny Lane: Books and More Books
- Editor
- Jul 20
- 2 min read
I was reading a book the other day.
It was one of six books that I had ordered from an unsolicited catalog I had received in the mail. The catalog had a selection of a couple hundred books that were available for purchase. Upon its arrival, I unpacked the box and a catalog was enclosed that listed thousands more of books that I could choose to purchase. I didn’t open that one.
As I was reading, a postcard fell out of the book on which I could order another catalog that was geared toward the subject of the book that I was reading. I assumed the catalog would list another couple of hundred books from which I could choose. I threw it away.
That got me to thinking.
That’s a lot of books. It took a lot of people to write them. They wrote about a lot of things—people, places, animals, events, ideas. Every person who wrote about those people, places, animals, events, ideas had a different—sometimes opposing—viewpoint.
In fact, two of the books I read had different topics, but dealt with a similar sub-topic, only from a different viewpoint. One treated it negatively and one treated it positively. I didn’t know which one to believe. I was reading the books for edification and those authors had done the research.
Their approach was colored, however, by biases reached through their upbringing, education, experience and the audience they expected to reach—or lack thereof.
The fact is that people have different interests and opinions and that influences what they write. The thousands of books and authors listed in those catalogs is just a drop in the bucket of those that exist worldwide and some that have existed over millennia.
Who is right about each subject? Maybe, there is no right or wrong about some things. Maybe, we don’t need to pass judgement. Maybe, we just need to take some things under advisement and let others do the same.
Dorothy is the author of two books—“Miles and Miracles” and “Getting It All Together “. You can purchase a book or send a comment by emailing her at dorothybutzknight@gmail.com