With Christmas approaching like a speeding train, time is running out to get Christmas gifts for family and friends. My suggestion: give them a book.
And while I’m at it, let me also suggest this. Give a printed book, what I might call a real book, as opposed to a digital book.
There are people who may call me old-fashioned, out of touch with today’s world of technology. Why bother to read a printed book, which takes time and concentration, when you can just pick up bits and pieces of information on the screen of your choice?
But I have current research to support my suggestions for both reading and reading a printed book. Last year author Bijal Shah published a book entitled “Bibliotherapy: The Healing Power of Books.” Shah contends, and I agree with her, that reading can be healing, medicinal, therapeutic.
As Shah explains on her web site, “Whenever I explored a personal issue, I instinctively turned to books to better understand the context. My therapist would often recommend books, Greek myths, or simple stories to illustrate key points, and I found this immensely helpful in deepening the therapeutic process.
“It was then that I realized,” she said, “the profound power of literature as a tool for healing and self-discovery.”
Shah is not an English major. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and then went to work as an investment banker. But she became so fascinated with reading as a way to heal, that she began looking into bibliotherapy research and found that it has been considered for many years to be a useful approach to improve mental health.
She found that reading – including fiction, nonfiction and poetry — could significantly help people “across a diverse range of mental health themes from anxiety, depression, mid-life crises, relationships issues, grief, bereavement and many more.”
All of that research and some experience in bibliotherapy prompted her to write a 320-page book about it.
I am not a mathematics or a psychology major; I majored in English. In college, reading (especially reading fiction) helped me realize that I wasn’t odd, that characters in novels thought similar thoughts and had similar feelings as I did.
As I continued to read in college, I found that poets likewise gave me insights not only about life in general but about my life. Later I discovered that well written, articulate books of nonfiction could do the same, especially autobiographies and memoirs.
So it’s easy for me to recommend books as gifts. Now let me explain why I recommend printed, not digital, books.
In an article published last year in Psychology Today, author Heather Rose Artushin wrote that “research suggests that comprehension is six to eight times better with physical books than e-readers.” I had to take a moment to digest that. Not just two to three times better, but six to eight!
“Though many people find they can read faster on a device,” Artushin went on to say, “the distractions, like social media scrolling, advertisements and email notifications, often hinder memory retention.
“Physical books,” she adds, “provide an immersive experience, resulting in readers who absorb and recall the content more effectively. Holding the weight of a book in your hand, turning the pages, and even highlighting your favorite passages are all experienced in the body.”
The simple act of turning the pages of a book, she wrote, “creates an “index” in the brain, allowing it to retain information better than when reading a digital book.
Artushin adds something I hadn’t thought of. “Reading physical books,” she wrote, “offers a uniquely social experience that e-readers miss out on. Whether you’re perusing the shelves at the bookstore, asking your local librarian for recommendations from their collection or passing along your copy of a favorite book to a friend, interacting with fellow book lovers is one of the aspects of reading that people most enjoy.”
I especially like the part about asking your local librarian for recommendations. Los Banos, Dos Palos, Firebaugh and Santa Nella, all of which are covered by this newspaper, have a branch library. Each has friendly, helpful library clerks that help you find good books.
And, of course, there is the pleasure of just walking through shelves in those libraries and finding an interesting book you didn’t even know was there.
Now back to Christmas gifts. As the days dwindle down to a precious few before Christmas, I suggest you go to a store that sells books (perhaps along with many other things).
Downtown Los Banos is fortunate to have a whole store devoted to books. The proprietor of Phoenix Books, Joanne Hoefer, has been selling books for decades. She knows books and she understands the joy of reading.
Once you get into her store you can either ask Joanne for a recommendation or wander through the stacks of books in search of just the right one for a family member or friend.
I particularly encourage you to find books for children. For very young children you can read a book TO them. As they get older, you can read a book WITH them. And then, in their adolescence, you can give them a book so they can go off to a quiet place to read on their own.
When all else fails, you can buy a gift certificate and encourage the recipients to come down to the store to find a book that appeals to them.
Let it be known, I am not a public relations rep for Phoenix Books or any other store that sells books. If you need to, you can order a book online from places like Barnes and Noble or Amazon. But, I suggest, although you’re ordering online, that you buy a printed book.
Recent research says that if you do so, you’ll be giving someone you care about not only a thoughtful but a helpful gift.
John Spevak’s email address is john.spevak@gmail.com.
