Intoxicated with Search

Image credit: richdrogpa

I read The Remains of the Day and wrote the previous post before Google was the rage.

Today, you can search for information (eg. reviews, explanations, discussions) about any book from a dozen websites. And you can speed up your search with browser-embedded search tools and tab-browsing options. By typing the book title in quotes once, I can search Amazon, Google, Wikipedia, Answers.com, SparkNotes, WikiSummaries, etc. from Firefox without visiting those websites, and navigate the results in tabs within the same window.

Sometimes I get intoxicated with the power of search. The results are:
a) Information overload.
b) I need not read the actual text anymore, which is time-consuming. Reading the detailed summaries and notes about the original book is faster.
c) I don’t have to make sense of the stuffs I read anymore, as contemplation is too slow. The interpretations are all out there, on the internet, accessible from a few clicks. Maybe Google is making us stupid.

But the dark side has its uses. I am forced to make choices: to ruthlessly discard irrelevant information. With the help of concise previews, I can better decide on what to or not to read.

The insights from other people have deepened my own understanding. To end off with two examples, on regrets:

1. The book title, “The Remains of the Day”, has multiple meanings. The phrase refers to evening and old age, both periods conducive for reflection. The word, “Remains”, suggests that the narrator’s life had been a wreck, filled with regrets.

2. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the scene, when the dying Snape pleaded Harry Potter to look into his eyes, had an emotional significance that was not apparent. Snape craved to “see” his one true love, Lily Evans, for the last time (Harry Potter had his mother’s eyes). Perhaps Snape wanted to “tell” Lily (or really himself) that all the sacrifices he made for her were worthwhile, even if unrequited, and he would die with no regrets. This changed my whole perspective on Snape and ignited a brief desire to re-read the series.