Flow: The Joy of Reading

Abstract

A few years ago someone sent me a picture of the school in Csikszentmihayt, which is the village from which my family comes. It was a close-up of the gate to the school. It’s a nice old wooden gate with a carved inscription at the top. I looked at it closely; it read in Hungarian, “A tudás gyökerei keserüek, de gyümölcsei edesek,” which I’m sure you know what it means, but for those who don’t know Hungarian, it means, “The roots of knowledge are bitter, but their fruits are sweet.” And I realize that all my professional life I have been trying to disprove that saying. In other words, not only in Hungary, but also all over the world, the assumption is that knowledge is bitter.

Rights reverted to author.