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Editorial: Dust gathers on the old thesaurus
Commentary by Joe McWilliams
for South Peace News
The office I work in has a few reference books, some gathering dust more quickly than others. Dictionaries and thesauri (is that a word?) don’t get replaced anymore, because they exist online in such abundance.
Thus, the old Penguin Dictionary of Quotations, as wonderful as it is, will likely be the last of its kind to grace our shelves. Every time it’s opened, the spine disintegrates a little more. Soon it will not be a book so much as a stack of feuilles non lié (Thanks to the Alta Vista instant translation website for that).
Still, the old thing is fun to open, for the wealth that’s in it, if a fellow cares to take the time. I believe I’ve written before about how easy it is to sound learned simply by means of a few quotations. They give an (invariably false) impression that the writer is deeply well-read, when in fact he or she may simply be handy with a book of quotations. Winston Churchill appreciated this, saying, “It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.” Possibly he was referring to himself.
Just now I’m reading a novel, one of the characters of which is described as a person with no wit of her own; she makes up for it by means of an encyclopedic storehouse of memorized quotations. One for every occasion and topic of conversation. Another Churchill in the making, no doubt.
But, as I say, the resources for such knowledge are vast and free in the new online world. My mother won’t like to hear me say this, but the days of reference books are numbered – unless the whole Internet system crashes, (or takes over the world for its own purposes, as predicted in any number of science fiction stories).
People use such arguments, I’ve noticed, to back up predictions that books in general, and libraries by extension, are on their way out. Or should be.
The reasoning is definitely false on the library matter, because libraries are busier than ever, for all sorts of reasons, some of which have nothing to do with books. But although certain reference books are falling out of use due to their handier online counterparts, novels and other non-fiction books (such as the self-helpers) continue to be pretty well-read. And lots of us (yes, I’m one of them) would rather not spend money on books when we can borrow them and return them.
So the role of books is being re-defined, for the umpteenth time. Radio, once upon a time, was going to be the death of books. It didn’t happen. Movies too, and then television, of course. Each was to be the death of its predecessors, in fact.
Now the vast universe of online resources wields the undertaker’s spade.
However, none of these fabulous technological developments have quite managed to close the coffin lid on the good old book. But dictionaries, encyclopedias and the like – well, what’s important is that we have the information when and where we need it. The books will no doubt become collector’s items, like vinyl records are.
Meanwhile, storytelling is an art form human beings apparently can’t do without.
And its handiest format is still the book. At this point, at least, no ‘virtual’ alternative comes close.
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