Thumbs Up for Herodotus

The other day, I was in the underground. I was reading, as usual, and this time, I was reading a book that was given to me as a gift by a close friend, a few months ago, on the occasion of my graduation. It even had a message written inside, so unlike my other books, this one will remain in my bookshelf even when I am done reading it.

Anyway, as I was reading it, I noticed that a couple of people across the aisle took notice, and someone who didn’t see the cover even turned her head and angled it to see. I then noticed it, so when they noticed that I noticed them, they gave me thumbs up signs and commended me for reading the book.

So what was the book? It was “The Histories” by Herodotus. Not a lot of people read Herodotus nowadays. It was actually a fitting gift, as this friend of mine from graduate school gave me as a nickname, nothing else, but Herodotus.

Anyway, I was amused by the fact that people commended me for reading Herodotus. I told them that I think reading Herodotus is more informative and educational than reading Twilight, or 50 Shades of Gray, for example. They agreed.

That is something I like with the people here in Berlin. People still read books. You ride the underground and you’ll see plenty of people holding books in their hands, reading, in different languages, nonetheless. Back in Buffalo, all the people I see in public transportation have iPods instead. They were all just listening to music, with their earphones plugged in their heads.

(Quite Dreamy, from my Art Institute of Chicago Series)