Travelling vs Reading: Two Ways Of Experiencing The World

Why I'm Perfectly Fine Not Experiencing Everything Firsthand

Thanks to War And Peace, I got to experience a part of history I myself haven't lived through

Hello!!!

This is Joyie and welcome back to my little bookish corner of the internet where I talk all things books!

This week was quite eventful because it was my sister's wedding. Towards the weekend as I was travelling for her reception ceremony, I was even able to read a little from a book I was carrying– Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata. I also read a chapter from a book on film-making that my brother was carrying. So, reading-wise, it wasn't a bad week. Have you been reading anything this week?

I haven't had much time to spend with myself this week, so I couldn't think what I should talk about in my letter. Then, I remembered a conversation I had with my brother a few months back. It was something I thought I'd write about in my letter someday, so that's what I decided I'll talk about in today.

In May my brother went on a trip with his friends and he was showing me the photos. I am someone who practically has zero interest in travelling which my brother finds very difficult to process.

While showing me the photos, he jokingly said, how do you not feel frustrated knowing you'll die without ever having seen any of these places? So I replied, in the same way that you don't feel frustrated knowing you'll die without ever having read some of the greatest books of literature. He was like but travelling is seeing the world, to which my reply again was reading is also seeing the world. In the end we agreed that we both had very different ideas of ‘seeing the world’, and he is definitely going to die without getting to see all the places he'd like to see, and I'm definitely going to die without getting to read all the books I'd like to read.

When it comes to seeing the world through books, I do understand why a lot of people don't think it works. You're not exactly experiencing the things yourself, you're only seeing someone else’s secondhand account.

I agree that it is true, but I also don't think it's possible to experience everything firsthand. Sure, if I want to see Mount Everest, there is a way for me to go see it with my own eyes. But if I want to see the storms of Saturn, I can't really go see it with my own eyes. I also cannot go experience events that have already happened in the past. For example, I'm very interested in ancient Egypt, but I can't go see it myself.

We humans are very limited in how much we can experience firsthand. We exist with a lifespan of less than a hundred years in a universe that's billions of years old, where distance between things are measured in lightyears. We're just frustratingly limited. But literature allows us to experience other people’s experiences almost as if they were our own. So, I personally am perfectly fine with not getting to see everything with my own eyes.

Or maybe it's because I'm just very lazy and because I've found things are always a lot more interesting in my imagination than they are in reality. I'm not entirely sure.

What about you? Do you believe reading is a way of seeing the world? I'd love to know!!!

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Also, if you’d like me to write for you, you can contact me at joyiewrites@gmail.com

That’s it for today, I'll be back in your inbox next week.

Until then,

Joyie 🌻