Let's Start A Conversation

In the beginning of my postgrad degree one of my lecturers got us to read some articles on the differences/similarities and benefits/deficits of oral and literate societies.

One main point that stood out to me was the idea of a conversation. In oral societies, stories were never told the same twice. The performer would draw off the reaction of the crowd to emphasise certain ideas or draw on your emotions. With the spread of literacy, this conversation seemed to halt. You could no longer stop an author mid-sentence and asked them what they meant. You could not longer ask them to back up their statement. You had to read it, hope that they provided enough information for you to get by, and do your own research later if you didn't.

The thing is, literate societies can't function without an oral component. This is why we have a chat/comment function on YouTube, why we still go to university and sit in LIVE lectures, or why we even just to out to coffee to 'catch up' with our friends instead of just sending long emails detailing everything that happened, not expecting a response.

This idea of a conversation is partly what led me to start this blog. I'm reading all of these books and not really talking with anyone about them. I'm actually also learning a lot from these books, valuable information that I am now implementing in my life, things I wish I had known years ago.

And so I thought I would create this platform to open a conversation. Not because I think I am über smart, but because I want to chat. I want to know what you think and I want to share what I am learning.

I hope that someone out there will benefit from this knowledge as much as I have. Because when it boils down to it knowledge is power.

So let's chat. What is your all-time favourite book and why? Why have did you learn from it aaaaaaaaaand, how many times have you read it?

Until later,

Michaela.