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"It is not important to read a lot, rather it is useful reading." - Arnold J Toynbee
was browsing the shelves of a library in the city, looking for a certain book. As I was moving slowly, I thought about thousands of titles of the books of all types, and how the author gets the name of the book to be indicative of the subject and express its idea. It logically supposed that the title will be unique. The author will, of course, take into consideration the attractiveness of the book, with the cover being expressive, in addition to other concerns, the least of which is what font to use.
While I was thinking about this, I remembered the suggestions of some friends to have a book of many of my writings and published columns. I am not enthusiastic towards this idea, and this has reasons I think have merit. The first is that what will be published in the suggested book are columns, which a researcher can access at a click of a button through the Internet, so there will be nothing new in the book.
Even if I write exclusive columns for the book, I do not think this will add to the value of the book, and most importantly, I do not know the intellectual and cultural value of what I write. Here I mean that my writings are not presented for evaluation by specialists, and I am compelled to only publish what is recommended by specialists, which did not happen. I am convinced that the publication of a book without meeting professional and scientific rules is not a good decision, as the ethical responsibility compels the author not to decide to publish until after all conditions are met.
Also, the publication of the book has to be profitable, or at least cover its cost, but it is more likely to make losses. Also, there are columns that were published in English, so do I reprint them in English or be satisfied with the Arabic version only?
Back to my tour among the bookshelves and their titles, and suggestions of my friends to publish a book, the truth is that I do not know if it will be possible to publish according to the conditions I mentioned. What is certain is that I remembered my three friends who love books and writing with much gratitude, and remembered my friend who is outside Kuwait, news about whose sickness made me sad, and I wish him speedy recovery.
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