At some book fairs in Iraq, it is common to leave books out on the streets overnight, confident that they will not be stolen. The phrase “The reader does not steal and the thief does not read” reflects a culture of trust in the honesty of the people who frequent these fairs. This practice demonstrates a faith in the integrity of the community and the importance of reading as something that builds character and wards off the desire to commit dishonest acts. 🇮🇶📕
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132 sats \ 0 replies \ @elvismercury 18h
I love this, glad @siggy47 highlighted it.
I've been to a number of countries where I've been struck by the flavor of the literary culture. My favorite was when I was in Amsterdam a long time ago, and a guy who looked like he must have been homeless, or close to it, had a bunch of old books set out on a blanket. I wound up buying a hundred year-old copy of Polybius, in Greek, with a Latin facing translation. Really beautiful book. The guy talked excitedly about it. I felt like, in the moment, we were brothers.
My favorite book culture city is Buenos Aires, but I have no anecdote as pithy to illustrate it.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @carlosfandango 31 Dec 2024
Hard to reconcile this… Iraq with an 85% literacy rate and ‘it’s safe to leave your books out’ policy and the US at 79% literacy rate and ‘we will steal your Amazon parcel even when we can see it’s a book we can’t read anyway’ porch thief’s.
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