SUMMARY

Oliver Sacks spent his childhood in a library with oak panels that belonged to his father, a Hebrew scholar, who was a fan of the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828–1966). Henrik Ibsen's plays, poems from his father's generation, and brothers' adventure and history books filled the entire library. He read The Jungle Book, a short story book by an English author named Rudyard Kipling. He enjoyed reading about Mowgli's adventures in the book.

His mother was also a voracious reader. As school awards, she had accumulated a library of literature books by American poet Emily Dickens, English writer Anthony Trollope, Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright Rudyard Kipling, English dramatist William Shakespeare, English poet John Milton, and poetry books. In addition, there were medical books in a particular cabinet in the surgery of his parents. He had a small lab, in addition to the most magnificent library, where he could immerse himself in books for hours, even forgetting to eat lunch or dinner. He first remembers going to the library and reading books when he was three or four years old.

He spent the most joyful hours of his adult life at London's Willesden Public Library, which is located in Willesden Green. There, he received his formal education. He was an active reader and self-learner, so formal schools made him dislike passive reading. He enjoyed reading any book he wanted in company of other readers and was a good library student. He began studying chemistry and astronomy as he got older. Since the Walker Library at St. Paul's School did exclude science books, he had the option to visit the Science Gallery's library with the assistance of his head master and learn science books there.

He visited the Bodleian Library and the Radcliffe Science Library while attending university. He made the decision to write a biography of Theodore Hook after reading about him. He wrote about him in the Bodleian Library and gathered information from the British Museum Library. His favorite library was the Queen's College library in Oxford. He looked at ancient works like Gesner's Historiae Animalium (1551), Agassiz's books, Charles Darwin, Sir Thomas Browne, and Jonathan Swift, as well as works by Samuel Johnson, David Hume, Alexander Pope, and John Dryden from the 17th and 18th centuries.

He moved to New York City in 1965 and lived in a small apartment there. He did write some of his book Migraine, though it was hard for him to read and write in the apartment. He found that it was simple for him to read and write after he was accepted into Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He went to a second friend's house in search of the same 1890 book, Volumes of Brain. Reading and exchanging information helped him establish a strong connection.

Sitting at a table surrounded by mountains of books, he continued to visit libraries. He discovered in the 1990s that students were avoiding bookshelves in favor of using computers to access information. The college decided to get rid of the books because the majority of students were not using them. That took place in the AECOM Library as well as other libraries worldwide. Most of the books had been thrown away. He considered this to be a crime or a murder. It was the demise of centuries' worth of knowledge. Despite the fact that the most important books had been digitalized, the loss of books upset him. It's possible that digital literature won't inspire or delight in the same way. A few books are precious. Most libraries had special areas for old books in the 1960s.Megrim (1873), written by Edward Liveing, inspired him to begin writing.

UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT

ANSWER THE QUESTIONS BELOW.

a. If the author was running late for lunch or dinner, where could he be found?

When he was late for lunch or dinner, the author could be found in a small lab in his father's oak-paneled library.

b. Describe his earliest memories.

The writer's first memory was of the library with its stunning oak paneling and its books.

c. Why was he unhappy in school?

The author disliked school because he had to passively follow the teachers' instructions. The author liked to learn for himself in libraries, where he could choose the books he wanted to read.

d. What was his opinion of the library?

He was free to look through thousands of books at the library, to wander around, and to enjoy the special atmosphere and the quiet company of other readers who were all on the same quest as him.

e. Why was he so partial toward the sciences, particularly chemistry and astronomy?

Because science was his field of interest, he had a strong bias toward it, especially toward astronomy and chemistry. Any library could have books on a wide range of subjects and fields, but it would be impossible to read them all. For this reason, the author concentrated his study on astronomy and chemistry.

f. Why did he find Hook to be so captivating?

The writer was captivated by Theodore Hook because of his wit and ability to improvise musically and theatrically in the nineteenth century. On the spot, he is said to have written more than 500 operas.

g. Describe the Queen's College library.

A constituent college of the University of Oxford in England is The Queen's College. One of the most acclaimed English architects of all time, Christopher Wren, created the magnificent library building there. The extensive library's subterranean holdings are located beneath the building.

h . In the 1990s, why did students ignore the bookshelves?

Because they have access to electronic books, students in the 1990s ignored the bookshelves.

i. When he went to the library a few months ago, why was he horrified?

When he went to the library a few months ago, he was horrified to see that most of the shelves were empty. The majority of the books had either been discarded or digitized.

REFERENCE TO THE CONTEXT

a. The author states, "I was not a good pupil, but I was a good listener." Use the textual evidence to support it.

Oliver Sacks writes in the essay, "I was not a good student, but I was a good listener." To be a good student, one must have a positive relationship with teachers. He or she is required to regularly attend class in accordance with the instructions given by the teachers. After the lectures, s/he must complete all assignments assigned by the instructor. However, Oliver Sacks was not like that student. He disliked passive learning. Instead, he enjoys actively learning by selecting books from libraries. He enjoys the wide range of books he can read for free at the library.

b. According to a proverb, "Nothing is pleasanter than exploring a library." Does the essay make use of this proverb? Explain.

The best thing about library is that they are great. A library, big or small, has a lot of books and information to read. For those who like reading, libraries are the best place to be in. Oliver Sacks is an avid reader who started his journey of reading when he was 3 from his father’s oak-paneled library. So much so that he favored staying in the library more than any other rooms in the house. Moreover, he also enjoyed the company of other readers and he found it the best to sit at the top of a pile of books at a library table.

c. Would you like to see the library offer any additional services?

Everything else is evolving and libraries too should. In the past the technology was not so advanced but now it is not the case. In the past, people had more free time which they could invest to go to libraries, search for books, find a place and read. However, now that is not the case. Therefore, library should be digitalized as much as possible. There are some people who wants to access the Queen’s Library in Oxford, but could be in the different part of the world. Therefore, as education is the fundamental right of every human being, books should be available for free for the genuine readers in digital forms. There are people who cannot see, for them audio books must be available and for the ones who are busy they should be able to hire books. Overall, libraries all around the world should be connected to the internet and while preserving the paper-back versions, they should digitize themselves.

REFERENCE BEYOND THE TEXT

a . Write an essay about how students can use libraries.

Libraries are the place where all kinds of knowledge are available provided that one has that zeal to read. Most importantly, libraries should be mostly used by students.

Teachers are human beings and human beings have their own way of understanding ideas, opinion and information. Therefore, students, in some cases, could be misguided by the teachers. In such cases, if the student has access to library, one can find the related book to study and clear the doubts. In some cases, teachers may be only able to teach what is on the syllabus; in such scenarios also students can visit a library and gather more information because libraries are the store house of knowledge and information irrespective of time.

In the libraries, students can choose those subjects or books which interests them. For example, a student may be studying hotel management, business management, and science, engineering or medical but has some interest in studying stories and poem or other types of literature, in such case they can always use their free time to access books on literature as per their interest because libraries do not ask about your choice of sector or faculty.

Similarly, suppose a student might want to do an in-depth study or a research on a certain topic and only limited information is available on the course book, in this case too students can read other books on the same topic written by a different writer. This not only broadens the knowledge of the student, but also s/he can excel in the field because of the knowledge on the topic more than others.

In conclusion, libraries can be very useful to the students because libraries are for all as books do not discriminate between rich and poor, and foolish and intelligent. Having said that, it depends on the student’s enthusiasm to study and read.