Why Physical Dictionaries and Maps Continue to Matter
Even in the Age of Google
Productive, Practical Reason
Phones laced with internet are a distraction as much as they are a source of information. Most of us need to place them in another room before sitting down to hold our attention meaningfully. It’s hard to stop using it after you’ve looked up the meaning of a word. Some convenience.
Regarding maps, Google tells you as much as you ask. Quick and efficient. Good when navigating. Also boring.
Creative, Relaxing Reason
Discovery and wonder. Not using dictionaries and maps only as reference sources, but as self contained guides. The joy of flipping through a dictionary-thesaurus and learning the origins of words cannot be discarded as romantic — it’s learning to discover nuances you didn’t know existed. It’s refinement of language. It’s learning the significance of picking the just right word for anything. More subtly, it is the quietude of stillness that is not passive.
To read a physical map is to be on a journey. Through space and through time. Was your city planned? How has it evolved? What do the public parks and public libraries and public museums mean to you? What does it say about the priorities of the urban planner of that era? What has it meant for civilization and for civility?
How many roads can you take to reach there?
Perhaps the most understated reason: you will stop caring about why you should care.
Dictionaries are needed to chart the movement of language as it passes through us.
Maps’ value lies in meaning-making (without constraints, but not without spirit) through time and space.
