Years ago I lived for a brief time in Phoenix. My apartment complex resembled a motel, complete with flimsy hollow wood doors, a kidney shaped pool, and palm trees. One of my neighbors was this slightly creepy guy who would watch my front door from his living room and make any excuse to pop over when he saw I was home. Any small talk between us was awkward partly because I was always trying to cut things short.
Inevitably when he saw me books were around: stacked up near my couch, under my arm as I walked back from the library, or sitting near a rocking chair that had come with the place. One day, after some time had passed and he was aware of my habits, he said to me, “So are all these books you’re reading teaching you anything?”
I guess I understood where he was coming from. Many people associate books with school. The purpose of reading is to gain knowledge, skills, training. I read enough for pleasure, though, that I wouldn’t say that learning is even among the top three reasons I read.
Thinking back to that time, I will pick up the gauntlet and answer his question. Here are five books and what I learned from them.
The ancient Roman world was “grazed thin by death” with a short life span and high infant mortality rate. It was not uncommon for prominent men to have sex with both male and female prostitutes: prostitution was in fact legal and taxed. Adultery was punishable by death… if you were a woman.
2.
The Hebrew Bible was stitched together from tribal sources: different communities wrote down long-held folk histories. The source material was edited together with some inaccuracies. For example, in Genesis there are two creation stories. In one, Adam and Eve are created simultaneously. In the second, Adam is created first and Eve is then formed from his rib. Some scholars explain away this lacuna by stating that Adam had two wives: Eve and Lilith.
3.
I still have not technically read the book this series was based on. I watched the lecture series instead. In it, I learned that there were many stories in the ancient world of men who claimed to be the sons of gods. Alexander the Great was the most famous.
4.
Until I read this true crime story, I did not know that in medieval Italy they used to grill people over an open fire.
5.
This is probably my favorite of all these books. Consider the premise: after a woman hangs herself in the backyard, her grieving husband is convinced that their dog saw what really happened. There is a subplot in which he learns of a community that believes you can teach your dog to talk. I think there is even a video of a talking dog. I have never had the heart to find out if such groups exist. I’d like to believe they do.
Books Smitten 