why

“Curiously enough, one cannot read a book; one can only reread it. A good reader, a major reader, and active and creative reader is a re-reader.”

Vladimir Nabokov, c.1980, in Lectures on Literature

Last week I found myself in a conversation about the meaning of the word read, prompted by debate on whether listening to an audiobook could be considered reading.

While in an audiobook you might be listening rather than interpreting visual symbols — letters — and their compounds — words — the spoken word is no less meaningful than its written manifestation: if you don’t understand the language the sounds are just sounds.

Reading comes down to the fact that symbols must be understood (as words, for example) or they have only been viewed rather than read. Further, to read is to interpret and understand in context. Therefore, listening to an audiobook can indeed be considered reading if the listener is actively paying attention and making meaning from the words offered.

And texts made up of words are only one kind of text. We read images, music, and yes, we read buildings. Not only the plans, elevations, and details (“blueprints”), but the buildings themselves can be read/interpreted.  

I started playing around with a few words that invoke the layers of meaning, to parse out why I’m setting aside a few minutes each week to write here.

Rereading

Revisiting

Reflecting

Repeating/rehearsing

As I sit here with at least three icons for AI apps staring at me from the side of my screen, you might be wondering why I would write anything instead of composing a prompt to create content.

I began with that quote from Vladimir Nabokov, the Russian writer, professor, and lepidopterist (study of butterflies), because it encapsulates my understanding of what it means to encounter/observe a subject in detail and take time to reflect, rehearse, and integrate that knowledge. To wonder. The act of diving into the deep waters of a given subject is a process I love. As is revealing/sharing what I’ve learned.

My formal training in interior design included a weekly ritual required for each class in the form of a brief reflection on the design-related topic of the week. Re-reading my own impressions gathered through the week and using the act of writing and drawing for an implied audience/reader is a process that helped me organize and better understand my own thoughts. I want to revisit that practice.

There is a secondary benefit to capturing one’s butterfly-like thoughts: it becomes possible to share them with you.

These notes offer a way to get to know more about my way of thinking, through discussion of spaces I’ve visited, design-related events, design theory, problem solving, inspirations, and my special interest areas of environmental psychology, sustainable design, health and wellness, and access/equity.