#valueofreading

[studious-musings]

The Value of Reading

Hello, Internet Void;

I saw a quote on a certain social media site that asked a question that you can now see in my description: 

Why would they burn the books people do not read? 

The quote is rather simple to understand - people in power have no need to use force when the people act so dumb and unaware. Yet this question also speaks to the deeper power that reading has. And so, as my first blog post, I want to muse on the value of reading - is it actually as important as I feel it is? 

My first reaction is obviously, yes! Reading has given me immense value over my life - it has transported me to other worlds, it has stretched the boundaries of the world I live in, it has added flavour and texture to the meal that is life. I accredit a large amount of my empathy to the vast range of life experience I have lived through second-hand as my favourite childhood character embarked on journeys and experiences that could never. My reading allows me to have an immense range of skills both directly and indirectly related - I can normally have a decent definition for a new word based on its context, I have brilliant comprehension, I have well developed critical thinking skills and I have a vivid imagination - all of these skills can be, and have previously been, accredited to my reading as a child. 

Yet what happens now that I am definitely not a child, and imagination is not as important anymore because I live in the ‘real world’? Many people slow down in their reading as they finish highschool - university and adult life come into the fray. Suddenly you have a million and one things to do and the last thing you want to do is sit down with a book and have to read it for the self-care guru’s recommended thirty minutes. Reading becomes a hobby, something to do when you eventually get the time, and it is no longer an essential part of daily life. 

I think that it is times like these when you really need to dedicate more time to your reading. Reading does far more as an adult than it did when we were children. It still does the basics of working on your imagination and critical thinking skills, yet it also does so much more. You can be inspired by people doing amazing things in an autobiography, or have your ideas challenged and expanded in a piece of social commentary. You can have your worldview change entirely by a piece of political or social theory, and be radicalised [see radical: (especially of change or action) relating to or affecting the fundamental nature of something;] by the history of your fellow man. You can live many different lives, all in an afternoon, through exploration of fiction; travel the world in even less than 80 days. 

Reading has immense value in many different ways, yet the value I want to focus on is its political and social value. This sounds basic, yet bare with me: words are how humans communicate. And the written word is one of the most common ways we are communicated with. And in this sense, I speak not of blog posts like this, or articles or books. I speak of advertisements. As human beings we are constantly bombarded by advertising, most of which we ignore. Yet we are also bombarded by advertising by governments. We are told constantly what the people who control our world want us to think. We are told to agree with this or agree with that, all in order so they can have the legitimacy to do as they please to enrich themselves and their friends. 

Reading teaches you the skills needed to resist their attempts to control your consent. 

Reading teaches you from a young age to think critically - it begins as ‘do I like what I am reading?’, yet that quickly develops into ‘do I agree with what I am reading?’. Reading teaches you how to read between the lines of what has been said because every word has many meanings, even more so when combined with a second, third, fourth word. Reading teaches you to formulate your own opinions and more importantly, it keeps these skills sharp. Reading regularly ensures your skills remain at a high enough level to be able to effectively resist - and that is not a high level at all. All that is needed is an ability to ask why, and follow that up with a second, or even third question. Questioning is such a crucial skill and yet it is so sorely lacking when I look around myself at people who blindly accept what is told to them. When we do not read we are easy to control. 

So again, I ask the question,

Why would they burn the books people do not read?

Happy musing Friend.