"And the answers they do reveal themselves to me at the most unexpected times. I have been led astray more than once while searching books for the truth."
This short passage caught my attention when I first read it but I was totally unsure as to why I found it so interesting at first glance. Then I began to realize that I can relate to these two statements. I, like Sommers, had once held the belief that books always contain the truth; it just takes time for you to find it. Now I understand that books are only the gateway to truth. The author may state their own personal idea of the truth, in a sense their truth, but finding the real truth means creating your own. Now I'm not talking about basic facts in an encyclopedia or something. I'm talking about the truth regarding reality and the beliefs and convictions we hold dear. I think that's what Sommers is getting at as well. There's not going to be a book out there that has all of the answers laid out right at your fingertips. It takes some serious thinking and analyzing to get to your own personal truth. The book may have little bits of "the truth" scattered here and there but it's your job to connect them and make sense of it all. And it's not as if you suddenly have an eureka moment after pondering your truth for a little while. Your answer, aka your truth, will come when you least expect it. You'll be doing something completely random some day and then it will slowly dawn on you. And I don't think it will come all at once either. Slowly over time you'll discover little tidbits and pieces about what you truly believe deep in your soul and how you actually view and judge your world. That is the truth that Sommers refers to. The only way you can achieve that personal truth is by using books as a starting point, not an endpoint.
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