I tell my sister that reading makes you psychic I tell her that reading gives you the same clairvoyance that French Quarter fortune tellers get from reading tarot cards She asks me how She is a skeptic and she demands to see the author I tell her publishing dates are lies and that the past and the future consort like elusive lovers, and literature is their unfortunate paparazzi That is the truth; the past only the past in calendars and we are obliged to imitate it again and again Books simplify by complicating, convoluting their intent into distilled metaphors, paradoxes so you’re forced to read with your intuition you’re forced to feel Reading dissolves your physical body it exposes the simple intricacy of humanity’s interactions: conflicts relationships loves hates triumphs failure reading lets us hear the single pulse that ties humanity past and present, far and near into one body Reading bestows upon us a profound sense of insight into ourselves and the world we inhabit