[The World on the Page] What Happens Within Us When We Practice "Book Exchange Reading"

Sharing Personal Impressions to Build Friendship
A Traditional Method Used in Education
The Growing Importance of Focal Activities Amid Information Overload
Opportunities for Mindfulness and Deep Self-Reflection

'Book exchange reading' is gaining popularity among young people these days. Book exchange reading is a method where two or more people take turns reading the same book, freely underlining passages and leaving notes in the margins or between the lines, sharing their impressions together. It often starts with a few close friends or is organized through social media, with participants passing the book around to read. In an era when the phrase "reading is my hobby" has become unfamiliar and it's rare to see people reading books, this is a very welcome trend.

The underlines and notes we make while reading a book are active acts of understanding its content and meaning, and they are intimate evidence of a person's individuality, preferences, raw senses, and thoughts. Exchanging these is, at its deepest level, an act of sharing friendship and forming bonds of affection. It is very similar to the childhood experience of passing around a shared diary with a friend to deepen your friendship.

Book exchange reading itself is not a new concept. It has long been used in school reading education and is known to be highly effective for reading and understanding literary works such as poetry and novels. In "Why Should We Read Literature at School?" (Norwegian Wood), Dennis Sumara, a leading literacy researcher and professor at the University of Calgary in Canada, describes literary reading as a "focal activity that enables deep insight," and recommends book exchange reading as a way to promote this. Book exchange reading helps students go beyond passive reading-where they are forced to read works for grades and accept predetermined interpretations-and instead immerse themselves deeply in the work, actively interact with it, and internalize its meaning. In today's digital society, overflowing with information, this kind of active meaning-making is extremely important in a person's life. It allows imagination, interpretive power, insight, and creativity to grow within us-qualities that information or knowledge alone cannot provide.

To truly understand the meaning of an object, person, experience, or event, one must set aside immediate understanding or intuitive judgment and spend a long time persistently examining it from various contexts with deep focus. A focal activity means fully immersing oneself in something and repeatedly reflecting on its meaning. The accumulation of such reflection leads to insight, which suddenly emerges within us. In other words, to gain insight, one must go through focal activities. Most people have insights about their own profession or favorite activities, and these are the result of repeatedly engaging in those activities over many years and reflecting on their value and meaning through focal activities.

In an age where anyone can easily obtain information by entering a few keywords, and artificial intelligence (AI) can instantly provide plausible answers to any question, focal activities become even more important. This is because "access to information does not guarantee understanding," nor does it "create the conditions for deep insight." Understanding requires interpretation, and interpretation is only achieved through learned activities. No interpretation can exist without the consciousness and unconsciousness that have been internalized in one's body and mind over a long period of time.

Intense contemplation and repeated reflection on the meaning of all the events and incidents that arise in the details of one's life lay the foundation for understanding and interpretation. Tasks can be automated and entrusted to machines, and knowledge can be outsourced to AI, but only I can know why I do a particular task or what that knowledge means to me. The problem is that deep insight, which is built up through a layered and prolonged exploration of meaning and value, is not easily gained. This is because "deep insight only arises through the arduous process of multilayered examination and interpretation of our relationships with other people, with objects created by people, and with the world beyond humanity."

Moreover, since life happens only once, it is extremely difficult to maintain a certain distance to examine the context of one's life and reflect on its meaning and value. The reason all kinds of religions urge people to let go of attachment to the self through meditation or contemplation is to encourage them to examine the true meaning of their lives. Reading literature is also one such method. When we read literary works, we accept the senses, language, emotions, thoughts, situations, and events of others and experience living a different life. This experience of becoming someone else is the same as taking a step back from our own lives. As these reflective experiences accumulate, deep insight that examines the meaning of life to its roots naturally arises within us. Literature, even when read alone, naturally leads to focal activities.

Book exchange reading, where people read a literary work together and share various thoughts through underlines and notes, further stimulates these focal activities that lead to deep insight. Underlines on sentences different from mine, notes containing thoughts different from mine, and patterns or drawings casually sketched in the margins of the book spark diverse imaginations in my mind and teach me how to view the work from multiple perspectives. This expands my sense of self and liberates the imagination and interpretive power trapped within me.

Book exchange reading involves repeatedly reading a book and reflecting on its meaning, awakening thoughts I never had and stimulating senses I never possessed. It creates a space within me "for creative and critical interpretation." Only those who possess a reflective mirror to look upon themselves can truly see themselves. Furthermore, literary works contain the entirety of life and events. Exchanging and reading literature encourages us to repeatedly reflect on the value of life and reconsider the meaning of events from various perspectives. Through such activities, people can gain deep insight as a work becomes fully integrated into their lives, and furthermore, learn how to understand, interpret, and ultimately reach insight regarding any experience or event.

Sumara says that rereading texts through book exchange reading "creates a mindfulness state similar to meditation." "Readers continuously gather new information and interpretations in the shared space created by literary participation," and through others' underlines or notes, they notice things they would not usually pay attention to, thereby gaining deeper insight into their own lives. Ultimately, book exchange reading is about nurturing an eye for self-reflection within ourselves. Human beings cannot live a good life without such an eye for self-examination.

Jang Eunsu, Publishing Culture Critic