2 What Happened to Reading?

By: Marvin DeBose

I have a long history when it comes to reading. As a young child, my mother would buy me countless "Read Along" books that came with cassettes that I'd play on my Playskool tape recorder.

My father also was a huge influence on my reading habits as well. He'd read newspapers daily as well as countless books on history, ranging from books on the Moors in Spain to the history of the mafia. As fate would have it, he eventually became a librarian for the Free Library of Philadelphia, one of the largest public library systems in the world.

Needless to say, books have played and still play a tremendous role in my life.

When I got to college at Edinboro University, at one point I'd make it a habit to get a new book from the library every Friday afternoon after classes. I'd read biographies, books on history, politics, sociology, business, self-improvement and many other topics as well.

Many people couldn't comprehend why I'd read even more literature than I had to, after all, we already had to read for classes. But I saw this reading as a necessity, sort of a mental exercise... as well as a waste of money to not make use of the seven-story campus library which I was already paying for out of my student fees.

For me, reading was something that I felt I had to do in order to help me to grow as a person. That's probably why it confused me when I'd hear adults, many of them being college students, say things like, "I don't read."

This is a point that I can't emphasize enough; We have to read.

I'm not talking about just reading any garbage that you can get your hands on, because just like there is garbage on TV, there is garbage in some books as well. But my point is to read things that are worth your time, things which will enlighten you, that will help you to grow, and that will help you to be extraordinary at your craft, whatever it may be. 

We also have to take the time to read things which may challenge our own preconceptions and our own perspective.

I believe that as citizens of this world, we also have a responsibility to learn about the world as well as how we fit into it and how we can improve it. So, we have to read about cultures different than ours, countries outside of our own, and people from different walks of life than us.

In a world full of so much misunderstanding and ignorance, would it really hurt to have more readers in the world?

So, READ... and don't say that you don't have time, make time. Turn off the TV, turn off the computer, party less and limit the video game time. The world needs more informed, analytic, reflective people.

As Napoleon Bonaparte once said, "Show me a family of readers, and I will show you the people who move the world.” 
  

Marvin's recommendations
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by: Alex Haley

48 Laws of Power by: Robert Greene

People's History of the United States by: Howard Zinn

Do You! by: Russell Simmons

Lies My Teacher Told Me by: James Loewen

Feel free to share any of YOUR book recommendations in the comments section