"We've mentioned the incomparable pleasures of rereading here before, but lately I've been intrigued by another book habit you'll probably recognize and understand. Let's call it the art of "rerouting," which happens when you are fully engaged with a great book and then discover—after, during or, in one recent case for me, before—reading it that you have been sent in unanticipated new directions."
This has happened to me many times. It is another reason why reading is such a captivating and enriching experience. I have been "rerouted" time and again from fiction to fact, music, poetry, art and film. And yes, I have often been prompted to travel the Internet.
Isn't this what happens in our lives? As if in a "Skinner Box," we scurry about in a maze of opportunities, seeking rewards. At each turn, we choose which way to go. Sometimes we enter empty cul-de-sacs. Occasionally we come to intersections we have crossed before. At other times, we follow paths which lead us to pleasant, unexpected and rewarding discoveries.
Writer Paul Theroux has reminded us that it is the journey, not the destination that counts.
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