On Libraries by Oliver Sacks Exercise & Summary

On Libraries Exercise and Summary

Summary

“On Libraries” is written in praise of intellectual freedom, community work, and the ecstasy of serendipitous discovery. Among the titans of mind and spirit shaped and saved by libraries, Oliver Sacks was the great neurologist, author, and voracious reader.
This essay is a personal essay about Oliver Sacks, who was a bookworm and fond of reading books in libraries. While growing up, Oliver Sacks lived in an oak paneled library left to him by his father, a Hebrew scholar and admirer of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906). Books by Henrik Ibsen, poetry by his father's generation, and adventure and history books owned by his siblings filled the shelves of their family's library. He'd read Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, an English short story writer. He was captivated by the story of Mowgli, a fictitious character in the book.

In the library, There was a separate cabinet reserved by his parents, where medical related books were kept. His mother also possessed a large collection of literature, including works by American poet Emily Dickinson, English novelist Anthony Trollope, Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, British author Rudyard Kipling, and poets William Shakespeare and John Milton, as well as poetry volumes she'd won in school contests. His mother, like him, loved literature. Since he was three or four years old, the library and books had been a fond memory for him. The library was stunning, but he also had a small lab where he could lose himself in literature and forget about food for hours at a time.

He received a proper education in Willesden Public library. St Paul's School's Walker Library lacked chemistry books, so he went to the Science Museum Library with his schoolmaster and picked out what he needed from their collection of chemical books. When he was an adult, he developed into fields like astronomy and chemistry. He was an excellent student in libraries and a voracious reader who enjoyed the company of other bookworms as much as he did his own work. One of his favorite places to spend time as an adult was the Willesden Public Library in Willesden Green, London. He disliked passive reading in formal schools since he was an active reader who was used to studying on his own.

When he was a student, he went to the Radcliffe Science Library and the Bodleian Library in Oxford. After reading Theodore Hook's work, he made the decision to write a biography on the author. A biography of him was published in the Bodleian Library after he had gathered documents from the British Museum Library. He studied old works like Gesner's Historiae Animalium (1551), Agassiz's writings, Charles Darwin, Sir Thomas Browne, and Jonathan Swift, as well as 17th and 18th century works by Samuel Johnson, David Hume, Alexander Pope, and John Dryden. The library at Queen's College, Oxford, was his favorite.

He was awarded a full scholarship at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he had no trouble reading or writing. He formed a strong bond with a fellow reader, with whom he enjoyed reading and conversing. The year was 1965, and he had just moved to New York City, where he had a little apartment. Although reading and writing were tough in the flat, he nevertheless managed to complete portions of his book Migraine. He ran across another person looking for the same old book, Volumes of Brain from 1890.

Oliver went on to other libraries, where he sat at a table surrounded by piles of books. In the 1990s, he saw that pupils were using computers instead of bookshelves to gather knowledge. The college decided to get rid of all the books since most of the students weren't utilizing them. A similar occurrence occurred at the AECOM Library as well as in libraries located in other countries. The vast majority of the books had been discarded. To him, this amount to a murder or other serious offense.

The eradication or replacement of the books amounted to the eradication of centuries' worth of knowledge. His heart was broken when he saw how many precious volumes had been destroyed by fire. Digital books lack the ability to wow and thrill the reader in the same way physical books do. There are certain novels that can't be replaced after they've been read. In the 1960s, most libraries had separate areas only for ancient books. This things have been analysed in this essay. Hope you liked the summary.

Understanding the text

Answer the following questions.

1. Where could the author be found when he was late for lunch or dinner?

- The author was the voracious reader and fond of reading books. His only time pass was to study books. He used to go to library in his spare time. That's why he could be found in the library if he was ever late for the dinner.



2. What are his first memories?

- When author was a child, he was introduced to books and library since his parents were fond of books, specially his mother. So, we can say that books and libraries are the first memories of the author.



3. Why did he dislike school?

- Theoretical and obligatory teachings methods of the school were not liked by the author. Studying becomes easier and matter of interest when student studies with his/her own genuine interest, not by any obligation or instruction. Since, the school was not as he thought, he disliked it.



4. What did he feel about at the library?

- Library was silent, providing him a peaceful environment to study and ponder in his studies. It gave him the freedom to browse through tens of thousands of books. He was free to wander around the library and read whatever he wanted. He also used to be joined by other readers who shared his passion for learning.



5. Why was he so biased about sciences especially astronomy and chemistry?

- From the childhood, author was keen of reading books in science field because it was the curious and ponderous subject for him. Because science was his field of study, he had a strong predisposition for fields like astronomy and chemistry. Focusing our research on a particular topic is necessary to get a broad understanding of that topic, which is why the author studied astronomy and chemistry to gain more specialised knowledge. One cannot possibly read all of the books in a library's collection since they cover a wide range of topics and abilities. So, he narrowed down his field of study.



6. Why did he become so fascinated by Hook?

- He became so fascinated by Hook because of his satire and operas. The early nineteenth-century theatre and music worlds adored him for his humour and musical improvisational ability.



7. Describe library at the Queen’s College.

- The Queen's College Library is a revered baroque building in Oxford. In addition, the 17th-century Upper Library is available to students as a reading space. The renovation was required to maintain the space's historical importance and to offer readers with a pleasant and engaging environment. The restoration, initially intended to be part of the Library's expansion, was completed between June 2013 and January 2014. It is now cleaner, brighter, and more inviting to study.



8. Why did the students ignore the bookshelves in the 1990s?

- The students ignored the bookshelves in the 90s because they had electronic gadgets and devices from where they could access the PDF and electronic forms of their books.



9. Why was he horrified when he visited the library a couple of months ago?

- He was horrified when he visited the library a couple of months ago because, He discovered the shelves, which had previously been full, were then empty. It seems that most of the books had been thrown away in the past several years, with surprisingly little opposition. He felt as though a murder, a crime had been committed by the erasure of centuries' worth of information.