I work in a library. It's pretty amazing. Books are pretty amazing. When the internet was becoming mainstream there was talk about computers replacing books. I even have an ebooks file on my old computer, because someone at Microsoft thought electronic books were the wave of the future. But I don't know anyone who ever read an ebook. In fact we don't even talk about them at the library anymore. I think the ebook concept is dead. Plus it turns out that books became the most heavily traded commodity on the web. That, in case you were wondering, is irony.

Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, believed wholeheartedly in humanism and humankind's innate ability to transcend its own deprivations and moral ineptitude. That was the foundation behind his storytelling. For me, hanging out in a library confirms the Roddenberry-thesis. We really do have the capacity for transcendence.

My favorite time at the library is early in the morning on a rainy day. There's hardly anyone around. The smell of rain mixes with the smell of books. It's peaceful. It's great.