The Book Fool

This chapter interested me from the get-go. I have certainly recognized glasses as the symbol of reading, but I have never thought of it in the way that Manguel portrays. He calls these glasses "a mask through which the world can be observed" (291) and permits that they have become "the reader's emblem, a mark of the reader's presence, a symbol of the reader's craft" (291). I enjoy this chapter so much because there are so many eloquent descriptions of everyday things that we often take for granted within its text. As well, I never thought of the reader as a fool - I always thought of reading as an act of intelligence. However, when reading about Brant's "folly of the scholar" (297), I quickly realized how it could be seen as foolish. When reading was more of a form of entertainment, it could be seen as indulging when someone read often. Nowadays, because of technology advances, the ability to entertain ourselves requires little effort. Therefore, reading is seen as quite the task and an intellectual form of entertainment. Especially when you can readily turn on the TV to Jersey Shore and let your brain rot without any difficulty at all. So it makes sense that reading would be seen as a more prestigious form of mind stimulation today.