How to Read

Statistics show that the number of people who read has dropped considerably in recent decades. It’s easier to fill our time and minds with other input such as TV, the Internet, or movies. Since you are reading this blog, you are a “reader”. And there is one thing I know about you… that you are probably a “leader”. Anyone who reads to learn, grow and ultimately share is, by my definition, a leader.  My father, Charles “T.” Jones, was a big proponent of reading. He used to tell me: Don’t read to be big, read to be down to earth. Don’t read to be smart, read to be wise. Don’t read to memorize, read to realize. Don’t read to just learn, read to sometimes unlearn. Don’t read a lot, read just enough to keep yourself curious and hungry, to learn more, to keep getting younger as you grow older. But still the age old question, why don’t folks like to read? Joseph Addison said that, “Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation, as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn.” So who doesn’t want amazing gifts filled with timeless insights?  To read like my father told me, in the quote above, takes work. Frederick Harrison said that reading “is a faculty to be acquired, not a natural gift”. It takes work to read in order to grow. Just as a pre-law student reads countless case studies in order to develop their analytical mind, or a salesman in training reads countless books on how to deal with various personalities so they negotiate to a ‘yes’, it takes work.  Those who study words, whether they hear them on audio, download them electronically, or thumb through them on paper, are my heroes. They are doing the work required to grow. They are learning about things, events and people they will never physically see. Yet, they still have the desire to learn about them. These heroes will also be moved to share what they’ve uncovered.   This blog really isn’t for folks who are already hooked on reading and make it a part of their daily routines. This is for folks like me that were on the fence and tending to fill their time with other forms of non-value-added input. If you really want a great little booklet on the amazing power of reading and books, and what it can do for you personally, please check out this little pamphlet called Books Are Tremendous by Charles “T” Jones. It is filled with quotes and input from some of the wisest people throughout the ages and what the power of the word did for them.  Trust me. Coming from someone so full from digesting the amazing wit and wisdom of others, this little gem made me hungry for more!!