by Nathan Baldwin, YourPace Contributing Writer
A paperback opens in Charlotte. An e-book glows in Akron. Between those pages and screens, two women from different parts of the country discover the same thing: books that stretch the mind, stir the imagination, and draw readers into a wider human story.
Lisa Whittle, 55, a nine-time traditionally published author in Charlotte, North Carolina, said library trips with her mother and long walks through bookstores shaped her childhood and fed her drive to write.
Lisa Kaulback, 66, a former paralegal from Akron, Ohio, considers browsing bookstores her favorite pastime and recalls libraries as the setting for many study sessions. Both women read in print at least occasionally, but format marks one point of departure. While Whittle reaches for paperbacks, Kaulback prefers e-books and hardback offerings.
On the central question, though, no split appears. Both women claim books still matter, even with phones, laptops, and streaming platforms competing for attention. “Books continue to inform the way we think about the world,” Whittle said.
Kaulback struck a similar note. Reading, Kaulback said, shapes thought, expands knowledge, and pushes the mind past the quick pull of digital media. For Whittle, library aisles and bookstore shelves hold deep meaning and purpose. Bookstores, Whittle said, “created an appetite to become an author.”
For Kaulback, libraries were once the main source for school assignments, and bookstore browsing became a ritual built on curiosity and choice. On culture and country, the women hold similar stances. Whittle called reading “a universal language of the written word and humanity,” one that helps people understand unfamiliar lives. Kaulback framed the idea plainly: “Reading about other cultures helps us understand them.”
Each interviewee views reading as essential for youth. Whittle said reading acts as a “perspective-shifter” and helps create empathy and mold futures.
“Readers become writers,” Kaulback answered with a picture instead of a slogan, saying the sight of a young person with a book in hand still carries hope. Where Whittle leaned toward craft and imagination, Kaulback cited knowledge and mental sharpness. Whittle said reading demands discipline and delayed gratification in a culture built for quick dopamine hits. “Critical thought happens,” Whittle said.
Kaulback made a related point, saying, “Books offer critical thinking in a way television often does not.”
According to Whittle, if reading lost relevance in society, people’s vocabulary, imagination, and critical thinking skills would greatly diminish. Kaulback warned of a future with fewer resources for knowledge and fewer people prepared to think with care.
From Charlotte to Akron, the picture holds steady: shelves, stories, and long stretches of quiet thought still matter. In a digital age built on speed and swipe, Whittle and Kaulback make a case for the page.
