To read or not to read…is that the question?
Don’t just go and stand in your library.
That won’t make you a reader any more than standing in the garage will make you a car!
The only way to get the benefits of reading is to buy a book-and then read it!
Do you remember when I shared these less-than-ideal facts about reading?
There are millions of great books sold every year, but sadly, statistics show that half the books bought in this country are never read!
- What a waste of money.
- What a waste of paper.
- What a waste of a golden opportunity!
Unlike TV programs or videos, reading takes work.
- We have to concentrate.
- We have to use our imagination.
- We have to make an effort.
We value what we work for.
And that’s what happens when we get our information from reading books-we value it more.
As a result, we place more value on what we learn from reading because the mental investment is greater.
Our culture also places a great value on reading as a way of gathering information, more than any other medium.
Regardless of the 
statistics about buying books, most of us, and our youngsters, were raised to see reading as important if only to get an “education” and be able to compete in this world of ours.
And, in my earlier career as a bookstore owner, I was focused on marketing to the non-reader since the readers already knew about our store.
Non-readers were tempted with
- cookbooks and diet books,
- how-to books and joke books,
- books for youngsters and books as gifts!
It was fun and it worked!
Reading has become such an integral part of the way we think that it has spawned dozens of common expressions, like:
- Read you like a book.
- Read between the lines.
- Get a read on things.
- Your life is an open book.
- See the writing on the wall.
And the Mark Twain quote sums up the challenge that we folks face if we don’t utilize our reading skills to learn, grow, ponder, and choose which demographic we want to belong to.
(besides reading is really fun!)
So how do you feel about reading?
5 Comments
It’s a no-brainer for any Pflaum girl, Pat! Books! Books! Books! AND they are read. (I admit, though, to still being tempted by cook books…..) The stats you noted above are just appalling. Really. I love that mom taught new readers through the Frank Laubach society, and that dad read up a storm all the time. Great role models! I only have two books and a knitting magazine in process right now…..and the newspapers…..oh, and one cookbook….
Fay, how fortunate we were to grow up in a household with role models like mom and dad! And I still don’t want to believe those stats about books and reading!
I grew up with parents that read ALL the time and I am a reader too!!! Those statistics are appaling!I have joined the computer age though as I love my Kindle!!
In response to both Tish and Mary Kay,
we each grew up blessed with parents who encouraged reading! I think they would have been amazed at how we now have “books” that are available on our Kindles and Nooks, even now on our I-pads and computers. And we know that reading is reading, whatever the device that brings the words, ideas and stories to us!
As a child, I couldn’t wait to begin school cause I wanted to learn to read. They didn’t have kindergarten then. And once I did learn, I read everything in sight. I was fortunate that my parents didn’t censor my reading material. I spent my summers riding my bike and reading. As for Kindle and Nook, I do read some books on them but there is nothing to compare to the experience of holding a book in my hands. Or maybe I’m just getting old. Or maybe I already am old.