Since I was a small child, I've always loved books. When I was still in academia, I read mostly those books I had to read for professional knowledge, and they gradually came to interest me less and less. Since I left academia, I've been able to allow myself to read those books I really want for life wisdom and spiritual growth, but I also continue to read for knowledge and skills in a wide variety of areas.
There are, however, three genres of books I have no patience for. History books are one of them. When I was still a student at junior high and high schools, I disliked three subjects. One of them was history.
Since I left academia, I've tried to read quite a few history books, but every time I tried, I couldn't continue to read beyond the first ten pages or so. When I recently saw that I had no patience even for a history on one subject I've taken a renewed interest in, I realized that I really have no patience for history books.
The English words history and story are the so-called doublets, that is, they have split from the same etymon. They are expressed in a single word in some other European languages such as Russian - история, which means both 'history' and 'story'. There is no wonder why I have no patience any more for literature.
This week I stumbled upon one history book and found the following quote as the very first paragraph there:
"History is created, manipulated and written by those who are predominantly on the victorious side of the nation which has supreme political, and especially military, dominance. Any 'truth' which has the slightest potential of weakening their total hold over the masses is not tolerated. Any truth which can impact their power is squelched or cunningly hidden by them, usually in a manufactured media release to the unsuspecting public, often in a jovial manner to render the information a laughing matter and display it as harmless." - Former NASA astronaut, Clark C. McClelland
Since then I've been unable to stop reading this history book. If I should continue reading it with this enthusiasm, it may be the first history book I'll read until the end.
I may have instinctively sensed something fishy when I read conventional history books as if they had been trying to brainwash their readers with their narratives to perpetuate the collective ego of a group of people through their authors. Similarly, I find many literary works as products of the individual ego of their respective authors.