Summer Words in Snowmass: Reading and writing to enrich our lives

Summer Words includes a discussion on the unique power of books Will Schwalbe is leading this year’s Summer Words’ Readers Retreat. Books have informed or inspired nearly every significant social movement in the past several hundred years, according to Will Schwalbe, New York Times bestselling author of “The End of Your Life Book Club.” He leads this year’s Summer Words’ Readers Retreat, which focuses on how books shape people’s lives. “I believe that books change us not just after we have read them but while we are reading them. We are different people at the end of a book than we were at the start, even if we don’t think a book is changing us or don’t know exactly how it is — even books we don’t like,” he said. “If you spend many hours listening to what someone else has to say, it’s going to change you.” Yet, as he points out, people don’t spend much time — at least “maybe not as much as we should” — reading books these days. But simply reading one book exposes us to dozens, or even hundreds, of other books and ideas since most authors are so well-read and influenced by literature. “Books that helped shape the worldview of the writer … are present in echoes throughout,” he said. He believes they’re also still the best way to thoughtfully critique society and argue for better ways to approach challenges. “That was the case when Thomas Paine wrote ‘Common Sense’ — yes, technically a pamphlet— and is still true today. There’s still no better way to make a case for something you believe in, to lay out an argument, and to encourage action than in a book — especially an issue that is complex or divisive. And I’m not just talking about nonfiction; novels and poetry do it too,” he said, adding that if this nation ever outlaws capital punishment, “it will be thanks in part to the nonfiction writing of Bryan Stephenson (“Just Mercy”), as well as the fiction writing of John Grisham, who tackled this issue so powerfully in his […]

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