I must admit that James Gleick's The Information is not the most exciting book in the world. As I get further and further into it, I find my mind wandering off more and more, causing me to have to reread the same passage over and over again. It doesn't help that the book isn't an easy read. There are some confusing passages that need to be worked out by reading them multiple times; it just doesn't come across as smoothly as Manguel's A History of Reading. That being said, through my multiple readings, I stumbled upon a rather interesting bit that I most likely would have passed up normally.
On page twenty five when discussing the African drums, Gleick says the language is redundant since many beats mean the same thing. In order to say something simple, the drummers have to add clarification after clarification to make sure the meaning is clear; the moon becomes "the moon looks down at the earth." But I think this stresses the importance of repetition in any form of communication; the more redundant something is, the easier it is for us to understand. As Gleick says, "It provides second chances." The best example I can think of is a romantic song. The singer spends three minutes or so telling his or her lover he loves them in every way possible, describing everything imaginable. It's so much more complicated than just saying, "I love you," but after those three minutes, the singer knows with absolute certainty that his or her lover knows he loves them. I guess it just never dawned on me how important repetition was in transmitting information and I'm interested to listen to myself speak and see what I write to see how much of that repetition slips in to my everyday life.
I agree with you completely, Samantha. I also found this text hard to read, considering the fact we never have to read anything this hard unless it’s assigned. Thankfully, I was able to keep my focus while reading, but I was very…bored, I guess you could say. The point you make is absolutely relevant to me; I think repetition is an important aspect in how I learn information. For example, when I write my notes in class, they’re messy and all over the place, which is something you don’t want to study with. When I’m at home, I’ll rewrite my notes – not only to make them look neater but to also get the information to stick in my head.
ReplyDeleteAs a said in my reply to Whitney's comment, I can't necessarily relate to you with rewriting notes since I don't really study, but can because of my need to write stories.
DeleteBut I believe describing The Information as boring is rather justifiable. It's a very matter-of-fact book, almost like a textbook. There's no conversational element like Manguel's History of Reading and there's no exciting plot point like a work of fiction may contain.
I also have to concur that the book is not one that I would have picked to curl up with on a rainy Sunday afternoon, but it has furthered my knowledge (somewhat) already! I agree that repetition is essential in language. This is especially the case with adolescents because they have a tendency to take varying meanings from what is said. I believe that a key aspect for an English teacher is the ability to be repetitive without being overbearing. I also learn information best when I repeatedly go over the material. I have often rewritten the actual text that I was reading just to help the information stick (much like Mahnoor.)
ReplyDeleteI don't retype my class notes (I don't avidly study), but I find myself repeating the same things over and over again while writing stories to help remind my nonexistent readers of important plot points or character features and to remind myself. The repetition is very useful for helping me memorize things like that how repetition is useful for you and Mahnoor when studying notes.
DeleteWhen I think of songs that repeat verse declaring love in a song passage I think honestly of words and noise filling space or just keeping the tempo, and yes to put an emotional declaration on what we are uttering. Repetition to me seems to driving home the point of the message or the subject that is being communicated.
ReplyDeleteGleck’s chapter 2 “Persistence of the word” expressed to me the point of how we use words or what we call slang. Have you ever thought about how we use jargon assuming that the other person we are speaking with truly understands our meaning? The chapter stated, “…To look up something”. I never thought about something as simple as that. I really did not even consider that to be slang until I read this passage. On page 31 he proposes words are immortal. Wow, until you sit down to think about it they are (bread crumbs). The only reference I could think of in this context was on a Spiritual level. The bible submits that Jesus is the Word and the word is everlasting. But we are speaking about dictation and another thought came to mind. Watch what you say to someone because it cannot be unsaid. I am starting to like this book the more I dig into it. It forces you think on a deeper, outside the box and on a different level.