Editor’s note: “The Spoken Word” is shared by Lloyd Newell each Sunday during the weekly Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square broadcast. This was recorded at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. This will be given Sunday, Jan. 29.
Books have been a centerpiece of civilization for centuries. And nowhere is the precious legacy of books more apparent than here at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, home to one of the most impressive libraries in the world.
Especially remarkable is a room called “the Long Room” — a two-story chamber more than 65 meters long filled with over 200,000 of Trinity’s most ancient books. Among them is the Book of Kells, a revered illustrated manuscript of the four Gospels of the New Testament, created by monks more than 1,200 years ago.
This library has been in operation since 1732, almost 300 years. At first, the Long Room had only one level, but eventually the room was expanded, and this dramatic barrel-vaulted ceiling was built to make room for the rapidly growing collection. This was necessary because since 1801, the library has had a right to a free copy of every book published in Britain and Ireland.
Contemplating Trinity College’s amazing library, you can’t help but wonder about the place of books in our modern world. Their place in history is undeniable, but with the ease and popularity of internet searches and viral social media videos, is there room or reason for books in our lives? Or are books destined to become artifacts of an earlier day?
It’s true that watching a short video clip or reading a quick social media post is faster and easier than turning page after page in a book. But there’s something irreplaceable in the effort and patience that reading a book demands. Books, whether they be ebooks or the old-fashioned paper-and-leather kind, invite you to slow your pace in this hectic world. The time you invest in reading a good book is richly rewarded with a heightened imagination, enhanced empathy and the thrill of peering into the minds of some of the world’s best thinkers.
One of these great thinkers was philosopher and poet Henry David Thoreau, who wrote in “Walden,” “Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations.”
Libraries exist because we still believe that this treasure, this inheritance is worth preserving — not just for its historical value but also for its current value. Today is a good day to open a book.
Tuning in …
The “Music & the Spoken Word” broadcast is available on KSL-TV, KSL Radio 1160AM/102.7FM, KSL.com, BYUtv, BYUradio, Dish and DirectTV, SiriusXM Radio (Ch. 143), the tabernaclechoir.org, youtube.com/TheTabernacleChoir and Amazon Alexa (must enable skill). The program is aired live on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. on many of these outlets. Look up broadcast information by state and city at musicandthespokenword.com/viewers-listeners/airing-schedules.
