The Absent Uncle: Age and perception

About 12 to 15 years ago, our son was home from college for a visit. He was studying to become a Mechanical Engineer, but that semester he was thrilled to be able to have an elective besides the rigorous classes dictated by his major. 

The elective class was some sort of philosophy course with various books assigned. He asked Sherrill and I if we have or have access to any of the books on his required reading list. We both spotted Siddhartha by Herman Hesse as a title we had both read, and as luck would have it, I had kept my copy and was able to locate it (saving him – and me – the cost of purchasing a copy). 

He was appreciative of having the paperback book, but he searched for an audio copy and found a set of CDs he could get for a small price, which would allow him to listen to a book while driving or some other activity.  

I didn’t remember much about the book, other than it was about a young man’s experiences of growing up and it was set in a place unfamiliar to me and in a much earlier time. I probably wrote some type of summary or report, but I didn’t remember much about it as I flipped through the barely used, perfectly preserved book. 

Sometime a bit later, he commented favorably about the book and offered me his CD copy to listen to as I drove around the territory I covered for the school bus company I was working for at the time.  

On one of my next journeys I did listen to the CDs and found myself totally engrossed in the story and quite often identified with and understood this young man’s story. I actually looked forward to the sometimes 3- to 4-hour daily drive through rural Kansas between appointments to just listen to the book. 

I found it fascinating to then – at age almost 60 – to understand completely something that I had read in my late teens or early 20’s and just didn’t get at all. I had never reread books in the past thinking that there are so many books out there to read, why reread a book? This made me think of so many books I had read that maybe I ought to revisit them just to see what I had missed.

Over the past few years of retirement, I have gone back and selectively reread some books that interested me, either because of the subject or the author. With a couple of them the perception of the book had significantly changed, similar to the Siddhartha experience. 

After realizing the “personal” phenomenon, I told myself to revisit Siddhartha again – after at least 10 years. This time I checked it out of the local library (digitally), and I can report that the perception of the book has changed again. That age thing – it can certainly help you understand yourself more fully and keep you thinking.