I have two answers for the question of why read. We need to read because only through practice can we master the most important of the academic skills. Skills like playing a musical instrument, drawing, writing need a coach but students can improve their reading effectively on their own. We live in an ever increasingly sophisticated society. This makes literacy paramount. People read constantly because of technology that requires it but do they read effectively? They must learn to do so. Through enough practice they can become masters or outliers of the skill. Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers suggests 10,000 hours of practice. This takes about ten years so start today. Set a schedule and a place to read regularly. Create your own bookroom where you can go undisturbed to read, think and analyze.
I write this today though because of the second answer. We need to read better because without it we can’t even begin to succeed in a sophisticated society such as ours. In every field we continue to witness innovation and advanced technology and practices. New textbooks reflect these advancements. Soon even the best minds won’t be able to read said textbooks without superior reading ability.
Master readers can make themselves rich. The most successful in any field read better than their competition. Take John Paulson for example. As president of Paulson & Company he manages people’s money. He decides in which companies to invest or divest his clients’ money and he does it well. Last year as we heard constantly from reporters and politicians about the recession, the weak economy and high unemployment Paulson earned five billion not million but billion dollars. How did he do it? He reads masterfully. He reads better than other investors. He probably reads better than most professors. He reads about the economic health of companies around the world and makes extremely educated and intelligent decisions about whether or not and how much to invest in those companies. He sits, reads, thinks and makes himself and many others rich. Not a bad way to spend a day.
Master readers can impact history. Take Malcolm X for example. He spent six years in prison and during that time he read more than most people probably read in a lifetime. He wrote in his autobiography that he wanted to imitate his role model John Elton Bembry and, “command total respect with words.” Malcolm X read everything prison administrators permitted and things they didn’t permit too. Reading had a cathartic effect on him. He turned his rage into reason. He changed himself and with his mind began to change those around him. He created work for himself. He became perhaps the best public speaker and lecturer of his time. He read, wrote and spoke about myriad topics and left the world a different place than how he found it.
Master readers increase their intelligence. Some psychologists believe humans have a fixed intelligence. I disagree. Take the expression that knowledge is power. I interpret power to mean intelligence. More knowledge means more intelligence. We gain knowledge through limited sources. Longfellow wrote, “A single conversation across the table with a wise man is better than ten years’ study of books.” I agree but how many of us could find such a person? We need to read for pleasure and information. Information, ideas, facts, opinions constitute the ingredients of knowledge. Reading is our best source of knowledge. To paraphrase Franklin, reading can make us healthy, wealthy and wise.
Copyright Bert Lorenzo, 2010
