Por Diana Brown
DG Distrito 4250 2025-2026
To me, I see books as windows to the world! Not just the geographic world, a spiritual world also, a future world, a world where all ideas are possible, and that vison of possibility becomes a reality!
Case in point, many decades ago (I will leave that to your imagination) I began reading science fiction. Then, these topics were virtual fantasies (and not in the sense that we understand virtuality today!), ideas completely out of the box. There were monthly magazines, the most popular ones being Analog, and Fantasy and Science Fiction, full of short stories and novellas, novellas run from 20,000 to 50,000 words, approximately 120 pages, longer than a short story, shorter than a novel. Within these spectacular pages, I discovered and encountered extraordinary authors who introduced these incredible ideas that opened minds.
Here I met Frank Herbert, the author of the Dune stories, now an incredible movie series; Philip K. Dick, author of The Man in the High Castle, an astonishing series on Amazon Prime; Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale, is also on streaming; Isaac Asimov, who wrote over 500 books in his lifetime, we enjoy on Apple TV+, the Foundation series; Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers and more. And so many more creative authors that proposed incredible futures, that we are living today! Let’s just remember the Dick Tracy watch and today’s Apple and Samsung watches!
And this genre is only one within at least fifty, among fiction and non-fiction. There is the most wonderful treasure in books! There are topics to satisfy all interests; investigations that solve all questions; fiction books that entertain when a relaxing time is necessary; we discover learning in all topics; and spiritual books that feed our souls.
Reading is a pleasure; the feel of a book in your hands shares the essential weight of knowledge. Reading two or three books at a time allows an interconnection in awareness and understanding! And recommending books, sharing titles with friends, then afterwards, understanding and interpretation, allows infinite growth. And don’t forget to reread books, our focuses modify as we grow, and the same book may influence us differently years later!
When you travel, do you bring a book with you? Not the digital version, the physical one? Do you write out phrases that touch your soul? Do you have several books in line, waiting to be opened? Would you ask someone, anyone, what was her or his favorite book, and why? Did a book change your life?
Wisdom is an accumulative treasure, based on experience, the ability to listen, perceive and peruse; I propose that also includes our reading experiences. Books are faithful companions that provoke growth, and are always on hand!
What is your favorite book?
“Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” ―Harry Truman
