A Low-Maintenance Art

One convenient aspect of reading is that it requires no equipment and little expense. Aside from procuring the book itself at a bookstore or library, or from a friend, nothing else is required. Other arts and avocations generally require more. Visual art requires trips to museums and galleries; music requires going to concerts or at least regularly stocking one’s I-Pod or CD player; dance and theater require going to performance spaces; and so on. Books have a few available accessories – e.g., shelves, bookends, reading lamps, dust covers, bookmarks – but these are optional. Books are gloriously portable, unencumbering and unencumbered; we can throw them into briefcases, book bags, beach bags, purses, or pockets when we go out, thus having them available to read on buses, subways, and planes, and in cafes and parks. Books are also sturdy, not fragile, so (except for the occasional rare or valuable book) we don’t need to fuss over them or be overly protective of them. And there they are, always ready to be opened up and read, always ready to provide enjoyment, information, enlightenment, connection, and so much more. Think of it: little alternative (yet familiar) worlds always at our fingertips: what could be better?