Books again...
“The best books … are those that tell you what you know already.” – George Orwell
Before writing about books and writing, let me recap our discussions on this platform so far. I hope you enjoyed the Ramadan and caught with some reading and clearing of the bookshelves. At the heart of my postings is an attempt to understand Somalia’s challenges and its diaspora’s relationship with it. In the following posts over the next few months, I will attempt to draw together much of the thinking I’ve done during Ramadan and summarize my overarching position. I hope it proves valuable, and there will be more along these lines in the upcoming posts.
These days, strange new developments are being cast in front of all Somalis faster than we can process them. It’s hard to make sense of what’s happening back home. But our collective experience of this moment — and our attempts to understand where it’s heading — are being shaped, I hope, by a single, overarching framework: The need for a functioning government leading Somalia to: peace with itself and the world.
More on this in the next posts, but first let me complete the topic that we have been dealing with which was about books and being bookish as well as about Somali writers. And rapidly add that Hussien my friend who used to share with us about his experience of the Somali diplomatic sector and I finally put our thoughts together in a book format, standby for more updates regrading this.
We started with this.
and then we continued…
Given what’s unfolding right now around the world, it will come as no surprise that the future of books as we used to know them is uncertain. Digitization of books, the process of converting physical books and manuscripts into digital formats, making them easily accessible and searchable online has revolutionized the way people access and consume information, with a myriad of digital libraries and archives now available at the click of a button. This has taken many of us from the well-trodden trail to bookshops and libraries and onto online and reading from screens of different shapes. See table below to get a general overview of current status.
The pros and cons of this transformation has been debated for a while. The earlier assumptions that digitization will make paper-based books obsolete did not happen. Not yet anyway. Bookshops becoming museums and things of the past did not happen either. Writers are still with us, and book launches are happening, and writers’ festivals are becoming more popular, in fact Melbourne Writers Festival (mwf.com.au) is on as I write this piece. So, there is a hope, and those of us, bookish people should not worry… the end of books is not neigh. There are advantages of the digitization process as summarized below.
The delivery method may change, but I believe writers will continue to write, even if with increased listening of Ai enabled audio books, during walking session as well as even while on the road driving. Technological advances in the smartphone era or better sound systems in cars have brought accessibility and convenience. I believe methods of audio content consumption are stronger than ever.
When I get tired and my eyes need resting, audio books come in handy. The debate rages whether audiobooks have several advantages over traditional books, and in what Deloitte, the global consulting firm, describes as ‘‘a war between those who want to use their eyes versus those who prefer their ears’’? But the big question is: are audiobooks as good for you as traditional reading? Consistent reading improves your vocabulary, grammar, reasoning, concentration, critical thinking and ability to communicate.
One may get intense pleasure from losing oneself in a good book. But it does require concentration and absorption to the exclusion of all else. Reading is active in ways that listening is not: you have to keep reading to progress with a book, whereas an audiobook will keep playing until you stop it. Reading is something you do: listening is something that happens to you. Reading is more time-efficient than listening: the average adult reads about 250 to 300 words per minute, whereas the recommended talking speed for high comprehension is 150 to 160 words per minute.
So what are we doing in Somalia to prepare our students to develop the habit of reading and enjoying books. While almost all those in the Somali education sector that I am working with agree that learning to read is the single most important thing children do at school and yet too many children in Somalia never get to fully experience the joy of reading. That is sad.
During Ramadan I received these books (See top of the page) from Somalia. Apparently, these books are Grade1 - 12 Somali language text/exercise books used in Somali schools today. They are published by private company and one of them (Grade 6) is 2nd edition. My aim was to digitize them and make them available online for all Somalis including those in the diaspora. While this is technically possible, and I was/am quite happy to do it… it is not possible at this stage due to other reasons that I will write about in another post. Education in Somalia is no longer about teaching, learning and research, but unfortunately about money, making money and more money. Hence what I call the closing of Somali mind… to grossly mutilate philosopher Allan Bloom’s 1987 book where he asked about US universities ‘How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today's Students’.
So what are the chances of our Somali students of today using the above text/exercise books described above showing up in the table below in 20 years’ time. I will return to this issue in other posts in the near future.
I’ve also developed a unique fascination with history books. Maybe it is a sign of accelerated aging process. So will conclude with this amazing book, written by Steve Liddle a family friend who lives in New Zealand, and it is about his father’s role in the second World War. He self-published this book and that is what I call labor of love, in respect of his father as well as for future generation to know about the WWII.
WWII history is being wrested from traditional written forms with agreed notions of sourcing. It is being liberated from the roughly accepted, singular, culturally determined narrative. Here is a multi-layered story of multiple, sometimes conflicting and contradictory, accounts. This is a highly readable book written for a general readership, brimming with intelligence and fine observations.
Finally, what is the point of talking about books and writers without mentioning libraries.
Libraries…been there lately? I have and enjoy very much. With my access to four university libraries in Melbourne, I can’t complain. May I encourage you to watch the recordings of a discussion by Gigabit Libraries Network, in partnership with the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions.
I am working on project to link the Gigabit Libraries Network with Somali universities and (if any) libraries out there. However, no interested parties can be found so far. If you know any, let me know.
Comments and feedback as always welcome- mi@ayuub.org
My favorite writer this month see https://tinyurl.com/bdhnv2ze or https://tinyurl.com/579frp3b
My Digital Footprint: http://kajm.net/ https://twitter.com/misomalia https://www.facebook.com/mib2020 https://www.linkedin.com/in/mi2000/ https://www.instagram.com/mwze2020/ https://icannwiki.org/Mohamed_Ibrahim https://www.youtube.com/c/Mi2020