NON-FICTION

TECTONIC TAKES-PREETI BEHERA

Non-fiction is a gateway to knowledge a formal education often lacks. From history to business and religion to psychology, non-fiction illuminates all areas.

In the strict sense, everyone who is aware of his environment and its content is a non-fiction reader. From text books, to journals, magazines, newspaper, television or Wikipedia, all of it comes under the ambit of non-fiction. It is what we all do as a habit. It feeds experience and knowledge to humans.

Non-fiction in the form of self-help and spiritual books try to make life a little better. It is easier to read. The mind does not need to stretch itself. Reading becomes an act of humility.

The Social media and its overuse makes it difficult to define a boundary where sharing ends and prying begins. Non-Fiction books/articles are the best way possible to present yourself without being interpreted in ways only social media can do.

Non-fiction is interesting because it has real people. The success stories have a background of long and hard failures which go unnoticed by the masses unless explored deeper in their own biographies.

The best thing about Non-fiction is that it is not made up stuff. The characters are real, the emotions are real, the plot is real and the story also is real. As they say, “The best Non-fiction are those that read like Fiction”. Readers not only want to know what happened, but also how it looked, smelled, felt, what it meant then and what it means now.

Something that captivates me is that truth is stranger than fiction, and, truth empowers Non-fiction. This is particularly true when we consider the current political scenario of the world. But here’s a catch; History is what the historian says it is.

Non-fiction in the form of text books are the first learning we had as a child. The choice of the books we read shapes the person that we become. It creates empathy, changes fixed opinions and contribute to reforms.

The greatest people of our times were not born with the knowledge that made them great. They did so by consuming thousands of non-fiction books and doing so on a daily basis.

The book titled ‘Humans of New York’ by Brandon Stanton is a perfect example of how a non-fiction book can be sometimes funny, sometimes sober and sometimes brutally honest, touching on all the raw emotions of being human.

They say “Non-fiction for the mind, Fiction for the soul” But they also forget to understand that it is the mind which leads the soul. The real world is stunningly complex, diverse and fast paced. We could read for a lifetime and only scratch the surface.

Leaving you with a food for thought: Many a times, fiction and non-fiction have a fine line called “Based on a True Story..”