View Point: Wanna get smart? Do it by the book

Tasa Nugraza Barley ,  Maryland   |  Thu, 07/17/2008 10:10 AM  |  Opinion

If you asked me what makes Americans so smart, my answer would be very simple: It is because they read books. And by that, I mean lots of books.

In America it's not unusual to see someone hanging onto a strap in a subway car with their left hand and holding a thick novel in their right.

It seems reading is something that is valued and appreciated.

Unlike Indonesians, Americans have easy access to books. Finding books and reading them for free is not difficult at all.

In Jakarta, I remember, I had to find clever ways to read books for free at bookstores. The challenge for me was tough. Bookstores in Jakarta are probably designed to be as uncomfortable as possible for so-called cheaters like me. They just wanted me to pick a book, buy it and leave.

In America it's a different story. Bookstores like Barnes and Noble and Borders, to my surprise at first, let customers read as many books as they want and for as long as possible. They even provide comfy chairs. There are no sealed books or magazines. You can grab any book you want, get a perfect spot and read for free. If you have some money to spend you can buy a coffee and enjoy it with the book you've been dying to read. But let me tell you, buying the coffee is not obligatory.

Bookstores are not the only places to find books in America. For some Americans, public libraries are much better than bookstores. And I have to salute the U.S. government on this matter. Americans are indeed lucky to be blessed with such easy access to knowledge and information.

In the county where I live, there are 21 public libraries, which are always happy to serve residents. Getting a library card is easy, taking only a few minutes after you present your ID. The facilities are amazing.

I can borrow 50 books at the same time and I can return them at any library in the same county. Yes, 50. I couldn't believe it when a librarian unearthed that fact. I felt I had to make sure one more time and asked, "You mean 50 books at the same time?" The nice librarian nodded and smiled.

I can check the availability of a book online and I can place it on hold so that other people won't take it. I can even choose the location where I want to pick up the book. And yes, it's all free.

A new public library in the county where I live opened in late 2006. It's the biggest library in the area and it was built for US$26.3 million fund. It has everything you want: 200,000 books, 22 personal computers on each floor, free Wi-Fi and more.

And that's just one county. I believe other counties in America have almost the same facilities when it comes to public libraries. No wonder Americans are smart.

Some of you may not like America. And although I'm still a big fan of pecel lele and nasi Padang, I think at least there's one thing we can learn from this superpower; and that's their ability to provide books and knowledge to their citizens.

According to www.jakartalibrary.com, there are six public libraries in Jakarta. I don't really know who is to blame, perhaps the local government or Jakarta residents, but it seems to me that these libraries are completely unknown to the public.

I can't tell much about the facilities the libraries have, but six libraries is clearly not enough for a city as big as Jakarta.

I know it's not the wisest thing in the world to compare America with Indonesia, but that doesn't mean we can't apply some of the good things that advanced countries enjoy.

What we all have to understand is that making our children smart is the key to making Indonesia a competitive nation in this already competitive world. Depending on our natural resources is not enough. Our intellectual resources are what will lead to future development.

I do enjoy going to a public library or a bookstore in America. Although I have to admit that my first experience borrowing books from the library wasn't entirely perfect, because I wanted to read all the books, now I'm an addict.

And when I sit down in an air-conditioned library with my hands on a nice book, I sometimes think about how one small library in America is 10 times better than the library I used to go to during my university years in Jakarta.

It's time for us to think about books and how we can provide them for our people.

So next time you want to join a demonstration make sure that whatever issue you and your friends are protesting, you don't forget to bring a big banner that says, "Give us more books".

The writer is a postgraduate student in Washington D.C. His personal blog can be found at http://guebukanmonyet.com.

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Reader (not verified) — Sat, 07/19/2008 - 8:08pm

There are good books......but there are also bad books. Hitler's Mein Kampf is a book as well, right? Even some terorists do read books a lot.

The key is to train people to be more critical so that they can filter out the bad things.

Only critical readers and those who know how to filter out the bad things are deserved to be called smart.

Rafiq Mahmood, Bogor (not verified) — Sat, 07/19/2008 - 4:45am

If you do post my last comment, I apologise. It seems that Pertamina stopped adding lead in its refineries in June 2006 - more than 20 years after the west. It will take time for environmental lead to be reduced and in the meantime a whole generation has suffered unnecessary exposure and consequent damage to their brains.

I wonder how long it will take before Indonesia eventually bans cigarette advertising and sponsorship and smoking in public enclosed places, enforces motorbike safety, polices noise nuisance, controls vehicle emissions, has effective enforcement of workplace safety and has better management of the public storage and disposal of waste.

Getting smart is not just about reading books but about stopping being stupid.

Rafiq Mahmood, Bogor (not verified) — Fri, 07/18/2008 - 11:11pm

Europeans and Latinos love books as well as people in the US. But why bother to read if you'll be dead soon?

An important factor in keeping Indonesian children and adults dumb is lead pollution. But lead free petrol is not important for Indonesians. There are too many of them and they should be encouraged to die young and live stupid. This is the philosophy of Thomas Parson Malthus, an 18th century cleric, and has been part of US foreign policy at least since 1974.

It is not poverty which is holding back progress but a neo-malthusian devotion to high risk activities. Wherever you look people seem determined to die young: from families of five clinging to the back of motorcycles, sales of individual cigarettes to children and huge advertisements for the deadly product everywhere, stinking stagnant gullies, people exposed to the stress of motor horns and deafening music, insanitary street food vendors everywhere, belching bus and one-stroke bajaj exhausts - and leaded petrol choking and destroying our brains. In the developed world hearses drive stowly and ambulances have sirens and flashing lights. In Indonesia it is the other way around. The dead have priority and everyone seems to want to join them.

Brimstone (not verified) — Fri, 07/18/2008 - 10:40pm

This article is right in one aspect, but very WRONG in another aspect.

It is true that reading has not become a culture for most Indonesians. However, in many cases, it is because people do not have access to read books. A few months ago, this paper presented an article of a woman who organised a simple library in a village between Bogor - Jakarta. She struggled to get books because simply she doesn't have money.

I think it's very superficial to judge that Americans are smart" because there are more bookstores and libraries in America.

Has the author done a complete research on general Americans? Why is the author so confident to say that most Americans read? If they do read, what materials do they read?

I don't think we should discount the assumption among non-Americans these days who say that general american public have very poor knowledge of geography and history. And in all fairness many Americans are in fact rather ignorant of so-called "alien" cultures (read: non-American culture).

I think the author should look at how messed up our world is today. Maybe he should start questioning whether the horrible state of our world today is due to the ignorance of people who seem to read a lot, while in fact they either read rubbish materials, or just read only for the sake of reading, without ever wanting to contribute to the world.

miss june (not verified) — Fri, 07/18/2008 - 9:56am

No complain. In Indonesia, we treat books similar to jewelry. Luxurious and expensive. If we buy one, then it will end up on the dusty shelf.

Verlaine (not verified) — Fri, 07/18/2008 - 12:53am

the last time i check on youtube, there's this miss america candidate who don't know where Iraq is. Also, only 10 percent of American holds a passport and recently there is a new book, mourning over why Americans are getting dumber and dumber for watching too much TV and not reading books.

Vivi (not verified) — Thu, 07/17/2008 - 7:16pm

Great View Point, Hope Someone or somebody can do something about our library facilities,etc
Hope hope...
we lack of good Libraries

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