Tonight: Censorship and the First Amendment ... and can a book change a life?

First, an announcement from Destinations Booksellers about tonight's program.

TONIGHT: ATTORNEY JON FLEISCHAKER, presented by the Media Law Resources Center Institute, the local chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and Destinations Booksellers.

TOPIC: Censorship and the First Amendment. 7 p.m. at Destinations Booksellers, 604 E. Spring St., New Albany, Indiana.

Following the same link, Randy "Bookseller" Smith considers whether a book can change a life.

I do come down on the side that asserts that a book can change a life. Sometimes explaining it is so simple as to be unnecessary, but most of the time it requires a story.

My answer is yes, and perhaps a series of books can do the trick, as with the set of circa-1960 issue Compton's Encyclopedia, which my parents purchased around the time I was born during the same year.

These books are among my earliest memories. I looked at the photos and illustrations, and almost surely -- to some extent -- taught myself to read by doing so. That's a life-changer in itself, but the sensation goes further. The photos that made the biggest impression were the ones of other countries and places, which led to a strong urge to read so as to learn more about them. Later I was able to visit some of these places. Some day, maybe others.