What is the importance of books in the memoir, A Walker in the City?

Books are portrayed by the author as a trigger for both passion and wonder, a source of ideas and possibilities, inspiration and intimidation. His experiences and perspectives are profoundly enriched and defined by what he reads, everything from the Old and New Testaments to the poems of Emily Dickinson to contemporary novels and plays and essays. In other words books are, for the author, yet another way for him to look, and dream of, "beyond".