

We all have opinions. For most of us, they are like prize orchids that we raise and tenderly nurse and dearly love to show to friends and neighbors. To friends and neighbors, our opinions are (unless asked for) preferably kept out of site. In any free and pluralistic society, opinions should be as wide and numerous as fingerprints.


In our society, currently, we are preyed upon by those agencies and entities that want to get us to change our opinions and come alongside their way of thinking. We are always under attack; the inundation of bad ideas, snippets, soundbites, ads and “news” outlets, newsfeeds and jingles keep us foaming at the mouth with equal parts outrage and impulse. And, once a century or so, we see that opinions cease to differ greatly and that, generally speaking, things move toward a very tribal “us and them” mentality.


When this dual centralization of ideas occurs, it means that our opinions are losing their uniqueness. It means that we are selling out to thoughts that are not our own. It further means that, within a very short period of time, one side or the other will raise up and then there will only be one set of opinions. All others will be forbidden. It hasn’t happened here, yet, though we have gotten eye-wateringly close a number of times in our country’s brief history. I believe we are close again.


The solution is not to get even more entrenched in our single-mindedness. Rather, we must explore new ideas and broaden our horizons. There’s nothing like literature to solve our ethical dilemmas and there’s nothing like nonfiction to shake away the monochromatic opinions that crop up.


If the opinions of the rest become one, there’s nothing so dangerous to that structure than someone who thinks for themselves.


Last year, I tried to read one nonfiction book for every fiction book I read. These books could be history, genealogy or biography. This 1:1 ratio was actually a good balance and kept things interesting.


An old adage suggests that there is nothing like travel to burn away prejudice. To me, there can be nothing so enlightening and refreshing as getting a glimpse of some information that doesn’t come from TV, radio, social media or the internet. There is nothing inherently wrong with these platforms, but they cannot hold a candle to getting your learning from books.


Libraries are a wealth of carefully curated and cataloged materials specifically designed to educate and enhance the critical faculties. You cannot spend time reading nonfiction and continue to think that your prize opinions are informed or even right. Nonfiction challenges us to confront our opinions and change them. And whenever we are challenging our own opinions, it means we aren’t drinking the kool-aid of tribal us-and-them movements.


To Ray Bradbury’s point, though, it’s true that burning books to keep them from people isn’t necessary. You simply have to get people to not want to read. This is accomplished by convincing people that their own opinions (and how they come to them) are stronger when they buy into opinions being pushed from talking heads and social media news feeds telling people what they want to hear.


Reading nonfiction also has the bonus effect of wearing down certainty. It is hard to be sure about anything when there is so much information to read through. And if the only thing you’re certain about is that you’re not certain, then things move back into a broad and homogeneous situation as far as opinions are concerned.


If you’re interested in developing some new ideas or if you want to branch out into nonfiction, give your local library a try. We have books on every topic imaginable, and if we don’t, we can get it for you. Librarians will be glad to recommend some interesting topics, too.


Fiction is fine. Literature is grand. For keeping your crop of prize opinions fresh and healthy, there’s nothing like a good nonfiction or biography book to break you out of the tribal mindset and stop the flow of black/white and duckspeak (Orwell’s newspeak term for parroted or echoed political dogma).


Here’s a few for summer you may enjoy, just for starters:


* Sapiens, by Yuval Noah Harari.


* The Better Angels of our Nature, and Enlightenment Now, by Steven Pinker.


* A Walk in the Woods, or any book by Bill Bryson.


* An Appetite for Wonder, by Richard Dawkins.


* Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert M. Pirsig.


* Also, any book by Stephen E. Ambrose or Ron Chernow is bound to excite your beach reading.


Happy Summer and Happy Reading!


* Dave Bare is Teen Services, Reference Librarian for the Randolph County Public Library. Have questions or topics you’d like Dave to address? Send an email to teenzone@randolphlibrary.org.
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