Накануне был несколько ошарашен постановкой вопроса: "Ты всё...

The day before, I was somewhat dumbfounded by the question: "Are you still buying paper books?" What's question? Of course.

I'm not a hypocrite - I read from the screen, and from the tablet, and from the phone. During long trips by car I do not disdain audio books, and, to be honest, sometimes I watch some screen versions.

But to go to Bukvoed and spend there not only all the money that is, but also a good half of the day - the sweetest thing.

Many have completely switched to electronic books. Even my grandfather, who turned eighty this week, gladly switched to audio books - his eyesight is no longer that. But I can not.

I read the cosmic amount of business literature. As a rule, I read these books from the screen - it’s so much cheaper, and reading diagonally on the tablet is more convenient than reading in real life. In the car I’m listening, or, again, something about business, or something that I’ve already read. New art books - only in paper. And that’s it.

Cool to read a book, and then - watch a movie. Turn off the head and see the same thing, as it were, with different eyes, in a different reading. You can read in a different way only ingenious books, there are few of them. And the movie is almost always somehow not the way I read it. Except, probably, again, a brilliant movie. On the contrary, however, even ingenious cinema does not work well. Book first. Cinema - then.

Understand life, ponder, invent some meanings and find invented before you. Some - to accept and develop, some - on the contrary to debunk. Think. There are other emotions in books, not like in movies. The reader does not shout "wow." Books have a different aftertaste. Afterbirth. Book culture is deep, eternal. Cinema - superficial, disposable, consumer. Even the deepest film is on demand. Because the meanings in the movie are conveyed by the actors, the author’s intention is confused in the director's. Ideally, cinema is a crowd of geniuses arguing among themselves.

The book is a genius in itself. Despite the fact that the book is simple to disgrace. This is the most reliable mentor repeater. No matter how much time has passed, the reader is in touch with the writer, and only with the writer. And there is no difference between Akunin and Homer. At the time of reading, they are contemporaries of the reader. Although the Iliad was written, it seems, in the seventh century BC.

Coming into contact with the writer, we accept wisdom. Even if the book is so-so. The writer always knows more than the reader, knows in advance what will happen next, that the killer is a butler. The reader always draws this knowledge, this wisdom, always follows an invisible thread. And this thread is sewn thinking. Not modern, twitter, but true - multivariate, diverse, intricate. A book is always a source of knowledge. Even if she is stupid. Because no one bothers to make smart conclusions from a stupid book. When you read, no one bothers you at all. There is no director, no script, no dresser who likes orange or green. No colors, no colors, no faces, no shapes. There is what happened in your head, there is a connection with the author. And the reader can easily turn out to be more talented than the writer. And what will happen in the end is unclear. Where will the thought process lead?

There will be credits in the movies, and then everyone will go to the toilet. The afterbottom works differently. I am not saying that books are better than cinema. There are bad books, and there is a good movie. But the book is always first, the movie is always later. Cinema is always tea in a bag. The book needs to be brewed. And better a few times. The taste of the book is always revealed in the head. The movie is laid out on the plates of visual images prepared. You can think about a film, a book - you have to think.

Reflecting is a characteristic feature of Russian people. Previously, in the most reading country, even the missing goofs at the kiosk were deep thinkers. Now, the best people of the fatherland love everything prepared. Like ourselves, our brain is what we eat. Culture becomes fast food, and it is in our head. If this goes further, other peoples will devour us. They will devour with their damn ketchup, which will make everything food.

Read, Russians. Meditate. Be deep, keep yourself that way. Read anything, but read. And think.