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Why We Need Libraries, Or, Memory and Knowledge


"Writing is thinking in slow motion. We see what at normal speeds escapes us, can rerun the reel at will to look for errors, erase, interpolate, and rethink. Most thoughts are a light rain, fall upon the ground, and dry up. Occasionally they become a stream that runs a short distance before it disappears. Writing stands an incomparably better chance of getting somewhere.

"... What is written can be given endlessly and yet retained, read by thousands even while it is being rewritten, kept as it was and revised at the same time. Writing is magic." 
Walter Kaufmann

We are able to know things because they happen again and again. We know about the sun because it glares down on us day after day. Scientists learn the laws of nature, and build confidence in their knowledge, by testing their theories over and over and getting the same results each time. We would be unable to learn the patterns and ways of our world if nothing were repeatable.

But without memory, we could learn nothing even if the world were tediously repetitive. Even though the sun rises daily in the east, we could not know this if we couldn't remember it.

The world has stable patterns, and we are able to discover these patterns because we remember. Knowledge requires more than memory, but memory is an essential element.

The invention of writing was a great boon to knowledge because writing is collective memory. For instance, the Peloponnesian wars are known to us through Thucydides' writings. People understand themselves and their societies in part through knowing their history. History, as distinct from pre-history, depends on the written word. For example, each year at the Passover holiday, Jewish families through the ages have read the story of the Israelite exodus from Egypt. We are enjoined to see ourselves as though we were there, fleeing Egypt and trudging through the desert. Memory, recorded for all time, creates individual and collective awareness, and motivates aspirations and actions.

Without writing, much collective memory would be lost, just as books themselves are sometimes lost. We know, for instance, that Euclid wrote a book called Porisms, but the book is lost and we know next to nothing about its message. Memory, and knowledge, have been lost.

Memory can be uncertain. We've all experienced that on the personal level. Collective memory can also be uncertain. We're sometimes uncertain of the meaning of rare ancient words, such as lilit in Isaiah (34:14) or gvina in Job (10:10). Written traditions, while containing an element of truth, may be of uncertain meaning or veracity. For instance, we know a good deal, both from the Bible and from archeological findings, about Hezekiah who ruled the kingdom of Judea in the late 8th century BCE. About David, three centuries earlier, we can be much less certain. Biblical stories are told in great detail but corroboration is hard to obtain.

Memory can be deliberately corrupted. Records of history can be embellished or prettified, as when a king commissions the chronicling of his achievements. Ancient monuments glorifying imperial conquests are invaluable sources of knowledge of past ages, but they are unreliable and must be interpreted cautiously. Records of purported events that never occurred can be maliciously fabricated. For instance, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is pure invention, though that book has been re-published voluminously throughout the world and continues to be taken seriously by many people. Memory is alive and very real, even if it is memory of things that never happened.

Libraries are the physical medium of human collective memory, and an essential element in maintaining and enlarging our knowledge. There are many types of libraries. The family library may have a few hundred books, while the library of Congress has 1,349 km of bookshelves and holds about 147 million items. Libraries can hold paper books or digital electronic documents. Paper can perish in fire as happened to the Alexandrian library, while digital media can be erased, or become damaged and unreadable. Libraries, like memory itself, are fragile and need care.

Why do we need libraries? Being human means, among other things, the capacity for knowledge, and the ability to appreciate and benefit from it. The written record is a public good, like the fresh air. I can read Confucius or Isaiah centuries after they lived, and my reading does not consume them. Our collective memory is part of each individual, and preserving that memory preserves a part of each of us. Without memory, we are without knowledge. Without knowledge, we are only another animal.




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New JHBS: Mind-Body Medicine Before Freud, Psychology and Biography, Jung and Einstein

The Spring 2020 issue of the Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences is now online. Full details about contributions to this issue follow below. “Practicing mind-body medicine before Freud: John G. Gehring, the “Wizard of the Androscoggin”” by. Ben Harris and Courtney J. Stevens. Abstract: This article describes the psychotherapy practice of physician … Continue reading New JHBS: Mind-Body Medicine Before Freud, Psychology and Biography, Jung and Einstein




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Murphy tells Trump at White House NJ will need billions




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Why Is This Teacher Running for Office? To Help 'Students Get What They Deserve'

High school teacher Jenefer Pasqua is running for Wyoming's state legislature to fight against education funding cuts.




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Why Troubles Are Mounting for Online Charter Schools in Three States

Officials in Illinois, Nevada, and Pennsylvania are proposing to close online charter schools over concerns that they're producing subpar academic results for students.




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Why Is Fidelity Always Seen as the New Four-Letter Word?

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Here's Why a Maryland School Finance Overhaul Could Prove Groundbreaking

Maryland's legislature has proposed a unique way to fund schools and also wants to hold school districts more accountable for how they spend their money as part of a new funding formula.




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Murphy tells Trump at White House NJ will need billions




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Why Don't Struggling K-12 Districts Just Dissolve?

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Why Some States Keep Schools Closed, Even as Businesses Move to Reopen

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NJ Schools Closed Until at Least May 15, Gov. Murphy Says

New Jersey's schools will be closed because of the COVID-19 outbreak at least until May 15, Gov. Phil Murphy said Thursday.




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Decision on NJ schools likely on Thursday, Murphy says




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Murphy tells Trump at White House NJ will need billions




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Resurrection of reality : Cougar Bible / Timothy Jaquier.




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Unfair contract terms / presented by Matt Murphy, Anthony Mason Chambers.




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Carly Tarkari Dodd : shackled excellence : 1 October - 10 December 2019 / curated by Adele Sliuzas ; photography by Morgon Sette.

Carly Dodd is a KaurnaNarungga and Ngarrindjeri artist. Carly mixes traditional and contemporary techniques, to produce works that are conceptually and culturally driven. Jack Buckskin is a Kaurna, Narungga and Wirangu man, born in the Adelaide Plains region, who has dedicated himself to learning and sharing the Kaurna language and culture.




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Reading a balance sheet / presented by Kathy Mazzachi, PKF Adelaide.




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Forum 2019 : 2A: Competition and consumer law update 2019 : slides / presented by Matt Murphy, Anthony Mason Chambers.




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Forum 2019 : 5C Competition and consumer law in the digital age / slides presented by Thyme Burdon and Johanna Croser, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.




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Music in words : Music making with rhymes for early childhood.




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Reading a balance sheet, slides - Kathy Mazzach.




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ONE TO ONE: The family history and autobiography of Gary Robert Toone - a boy from Kendenup, Western Australia.




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Haijo's Dog, Murphy.




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Indo-Pacific immune systems to enable healthy engagement with the Chinese state and China's economy / Michael Shoebridge.

This paper sets out three challenges to the creation of a future for Indo-Pacific states and peoples consistent with the visions of a ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’ (FOIP) expressed by Japan, India, the US and Australia, and now by the ASEAN outlook on the Indo-Pacific. It also describes a path for states to operate in an environment of coercive Chinese state power that seeks to influence how states relate and how they operate within their domestic boundaries.




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A reproducible framework for 3D acoustic forward modelling of hard rock geological models with Madagascar / Andrew Squelch, Mahyar Madadi, Milovan Urosevic.

"A special challenge of hard rock exploration is to identify targets of interest within complex geological settings. Interpretation of the geology can be made from direct geological observations and knowledge of the area, and from 2D or 3D seismic surveys. These interpretations can be developed into 3D geological models that provide the basis for predictions as to likely targets for drilling and/or mining. To verify these predictions we need to simulate 3D seismic wave propagation in the proposed geological models and compare the simulation results to seismic survey data. To achieve this we convert geological surfaces created in an interpretation software package into discretised block models representing the different lithostratigraphic units, and segment these into discrete volumes to which appropriate density and seismic velocity values are assigned. This approach allows us to scale models appropriately for desired wave propagation parameters and to go from local to global geological models and vice versa. Then we use these digital models with forward modelling codes to undertake numerous 3D acoustic wave simulations. Simulations are performed with single shot and with exploding reflector (located on extracted geological surface) configurations" -- Summary.




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Michael P. Vort-Ronald : autobiography : rough diamond and man of note.




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Notes on cinematography / John Watson.




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The philosophy of war films / edited by David LaRocca.

War films -- History and criticism.




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Winx : the authorised biography / Andrew Rule.

Race horses -- Australia -- History.




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Emotions -- Religious aspects.




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Self harm : why teens do it and what parents can do to help / Michelle Mitchell.

Parent and teenager.




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Rusted off : why country Australia is fed up / Gabrielle Chan.

Country life -- Australia.




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The death of expertise : the campaign against established knowledge and why it matters / Tom Nichols.

Ability -- United States.




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Catholic Church -- Clergy -- Sexual behavior.




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Architects' houses : twenty Australian homes / Stephen Crafti ; photography by Gorta Yuuki.

Architects -- Australia -- 21st century.




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Applied empathy : the new language of leadership / Michael Ventura.

Leadership.




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A manual for heartache / Cathy Rentzenbrink.

Rentzenbrink, Cathy -- Family.




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Capturing nature : early scientific photography at the Australian Museum 1857-1893 / Vanessa Finney ; foreword by Kim McKay.

Krefft, Gerard, 1830-1881.




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Macquarie atlas of Indigenous Australia / general editors, Bill Arthur & Frances Morphy ; [foreword by Patrick Dodson].

Aboriginal Australians -- Names.




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Tell me why : the story of my life and my music / Archie Roach.

Roach, Archie, 1955-