"The Castle of Adventure"[^1] by Enid Blyton was the first "real", non-picture book[^2] I remember reading as a child. This one book made me fall in love with reading. It showed me how fun and exciting it can be. How fascinating it was! As I absorbed the letters on the page, images appeared in my mind. Images of people and places I had never seen before. It triggered my fantasy and I felt as if I was right there with those kids. I can still exactly recall the imaginary places and scenes my mind conjured. Reading allowed me to discover a "second world". The inner world of my imagination. Where, through reading, I could experience anything I wanted, be anything I desired, do anything that I wished for.[^3] I still live in that world half of the time. [^1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Castle_of_Adventure [^2]: The particular copy I read was bound in gray textile and worn on the edges. It had been a hand-me-down from my mothers side of the family. I do not know where it is today. [^3]: This reminds me of other books that helped me dive deeper into my inner world of imagination: [[Jenseits der grossen Sümpfe by Erwin Moser]], [[Siddharta by Hermann Hesse]], [[Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea]] and [[Narziß und Goldmund by Hermann Hesse]].