I recall speaking in not too distant past with a friend and I asked him what was the latest book that he had read. He answered that he thought that he had only read one book in the intervening period since his graduation over twenty years previously. I only hoped that he was joking as he holds a responsible lay position in his church.
We have an
obligation, almost a duty, to carry on being educated, to continue the process
of learning, for as long as we draw breath. There are so many people who
consider that the time of learning concludes at the time when they leave school
or college – they are wrong, as we should absorbing facts, finding fascination,
for all of our lives.
Neil Postman
noted once that the enormous fear of George Bernard Shaw in his novel 1984
was that the authorities would ban books. It is evidenced in the movements that
wanted to suppress thought and understanding, like the Inquisition and the
Nazis, having bonfires of books, set alight for no other reason than they were
scared on the written word. In more recent times, the communist states and the
Islamic states have punished people for even possessing what they would
perceive as subversive books, more notably the Bible. It was and is though people,
particularly regimes, are afraid of people reading and then challenging the
worldview that is around them, it is almost like thinking is a crime. Another
author, Aldous Huxley, went one step further in Brave New World as he
asserted that there would be no need to ban a book, because no-one would want
to read one – a condition that seemed as though it was coming true until the
current resurgence in reading, both in Kindles and the like but more so in the
rediscovery of paperbacks.
The lack of
reading is an international malaise that has spread without any resistance
being given. The café culture of continental Europe where reading broadsheet
newspapers or a book that delved into the innermost being of a person’s soul
whilst drinking a coffee (seemingly preferring an expresso) seems to have
disappeared into the distance. In France, for example, 65 per cent of people
aged 15 years and over wished that they had read more books, a statistic that
rose to 77 per cent of those members of the population who are reading at an
average level (cited in ‘Wish to read more books among the French population,
2019,’ Statistica Research Department, 25 October 2019).
In the United
States, a survey discovered that more than one third of adults desired to read
more, with reading books being the second most wanted-to-do activity after
exercise (Harris Poll ‘Reading makes you feel more relaxed, informed and
happier’ cited in ‘How reading more can make you feel more accomplished (and
other great benefits), Scribd, 9 August 2019).
Ed Newman, the
editor of the books review magazine Strong Words, commented: ‘Sometimes,
you just need the slightest encouragement to displace something that isn’t
earning its keep in your routine. I remember [the US filmmaker and writer] John
Waters saying he found it really easy to read every night because he never
watched television. That made me realise it is really easy to stop watching
television, because I get more from books than I do from the vast majority of
television programmes’ (quoted in ‘How to read more books’ by Christian Jarret,
Psyche, 21 June 2020).
The important
matter is to read what you enjoy and what interests you. It is pointless trying
to wade through War and Peace when you are really wanting to absorb
yourself in a chic-lit or a graphic novel. There is no meaning to delving into
higher physics or some deep philosophical tome when your mind is calling out
for book on history or football (or the history of football). Your interest
might be piqued by a television programme or a film where you want to learn
more about the subject (without resorting to a search engine) or to read the
book on which the programme or film was based. One personal example was the
desire to read True Grit after the two film adaptations were made, and
deciding that the printed novel was still the best medium. Another illustration
would be War Horse by Michael Morpurgo where the inner equine thoughts
could never be captured on the stage or the film, however good these adaptions
were.
It is so easy
to have the wrong attitude toward reading and so be put off from undertaking
it. Clare Reynolds, the blogger on ‘Years of Reading Selfishly,’ stated
honestly: ‘I spent so many years picking up books that people told me I
‘should’ read. I diligently ploughed my way through literature prize longlists
and shortlists. I would try to push on until the end of every one, even when I
really didn’t enjoy them. Then one day, I just put a book down I didn’t love
and picked up another one which I did. It was then the idea for my Reading
Selfishly blog and ethos was born.’
She continued:
‘A lot of people feel locked in from the start. But the little phrase I try to
keep in mind is start more books, quit most of them, read the great ones twice,
read the great ones twice. I think that a lot of readers would be well-served
if they did that.’
I know from
personal experience that this is sage advice. I have ceased reading Ulysses
by James Joyce and Moby Dick without coming to the conclusion as I could
not be gripped by the books. I did not regret making that decision as it gave
me the opportunities to real literature that sustained my soul and to inspire
my spirit. There will be books that we will approach differently as Francis
Bacon observed: ‘Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some
few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be only read in
parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly,
and with diligence and attention.’ It is in the latter category that we could
find ourselves struggling as it is comfortable being challenged, our very souls
being provoked into action and may be going to places that we would not rather
go. It is only the brave who will pick up a publication, knowing that it will
change their lives as long as they have breath.
The author
James Clear, the writer of Atomic Habits, concurs with the opinion of
the Indian-American entrepreneur and inventor Naval Ravikant, when the former
stated that ‘[Ravikant] says something along the lines of ‘Read whatever…you
want in the beginning because the real thing that you’re focussed on is
building the habit of reading, not necessarily the knowledge. Like if you just
want to read romance novels. Awesome. Read that. If you just want to read
fantasy, read that. Read whatever helps you fall in love with the act of being
a reader or the habit of reading. And once you fall in love with the habit,
then it’s easy…Now you’ve got a lot of options because it’s part of your life.’
In an ideal
world, our reading should compose of both fiction and factual. Novels should
not be ignored as they can be thought-provoking as they put across the author’s
worldview (so I was challenged on my perspective on capital punishment by
reading John Grisham’s The Chamber). Karen Swallow Prior, a professor at
Liberty University, has confirmed this thought formation: ‘Reading literature,
more than informing, forms us.’ She also stated: ‘Reading well adds to our life
in a way a friendship adds to our life, altering our lives forever.’ (On
Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books, pp. 22 and 18)
Studies have shown
that readers of fiction tend to be better at reading the emotions of others and
have a greater moral sensitivity, which could be the result of the complex
personalities in the book stimulating those areas of the brain. Readers of
nonfiction will have a larger knowledge base and have their minds broadened.
Regardless of the genre, your vocabulary and the general communication style
will certainly benefit by being challenged and informed.
Benjamin
Gardiner, a social psychologist at King’s College London (in ‘How to read more
books,’ op cit.), has commented how reading could be inserted in your
pre-existing rhythm of life. He stated: ‘Most of us are creatures of habit
already. Many of us commute to work. We’ll catch the same train. Or our evening
and bedtime routines will be the same. So, in that respect, you can kind of
piggyback your new habit onto what you already do habitually. It can be easy if
you know what you’re aiming to do, and when and where you’re going to do it.’
He continued:
‘Action association is at the heart of a habit. If you keep doing it, you keep
reinforcing that association. And as that association is reinforced, so control
over the behaviour passes from a kind of effortful reflective processing to a
much more automatic system. It becomes impulse driven. You go into the
situation that triggers the association and you start doing it, without even
thinking about what you’re going to be doing.’
We should
approach reading as a positive experience. James Clear encourages us to: ‘Build
your new book-reading habit and other unimportant things will naturally fall
away. The act of building good habits is like a plant. One plant crowding out
another. If you just focus on cultivating this new plant, a lot of bad habits
kind of fall by the wayside anyway.’
He used another
analogy when he said: ‘Like the real goal is not to run a marathon. The goal is
to become a runner. The goal is not to do a silent meditation retreat, but to
become a meditator. And that’s definitely true here. The real goal is not to
read 30 books, it’s to become a reader.’
The surge of
motivation will be your desire in something that you are already interested or
want to know more about, away from the distractions of daily life, social media
and electronic entertainment providers (e.g. televisions, laptops). The outcome
should be that you will fall in love with reading so much so that you cannot
wait to get your hands onto another book.
There is an
inevitability that the writer will inform how you communicate and how you perceive
the world. Karen Swallow Prior describes it like this: ‘Just as water, over a
long period of time, reshapes the land through which it runs, so too we are
formed by the habit of reading good books well.’ (On Reading Well, p.
19) Again it is important to reiterated that there should be variations in what
we read – new subjects and approaches, different ways of thinking and
verbalising.
The words of
the seventeenth-century Puritan pastor, Richard Baxter, comes to mind: ‘It is
not the reading of many books which is necessary to make a man wise or good;
but the well reading of a few, could he be sure to have the best…Good books are
a very great mercy to the world.’
There is also a
sociological aspect as reading is an antidote to the loneliness that is
pervading our society. It has been asserted that: ‘By 2030, the loneliness
epidemic will take a disastrous proportions with 7 million lonely people in the
over-60 age group alone. Two million of them may expect to see their lifespans
shortened by loneliness. Across other age groups, to, we expect loneliness to
rise because of long-term trends toward living alone. Loneliness will also put
increasing pressures on public finances. On the current trajectory, loneliness
among older people will cost almost 2 billion pounds by 2030.’ (Sacha Hilhorst,
Alan Lockey and Tom Speight, A Society of Readers, Demos, London, 2018,
p. 41)
Reading books
has been discovered to have reduced feelings of loneliness among adults and was
significantly associated with having close relationships with others. Dutch
researchers commented: ‘People who read apparently have more close contacts
they can talk to about important matters.’ (V Toepol, ‘Ageing, leisure, and
social connectedness: how leisure help reduce social isolation of older people,
Social indicators research, 2013)
The Demos report
continued: ‘Many people already use reading to ward off loneliness – and
usually quite successfully, as studies find that regular readers tend to be
less lonely. Other research found that 95 per cent of people who are blind or
partially sighted record read (through an audiobook, or another technology) at
least once a week to alleviate feelings of loneliness and isolation. Books can
also give groups a way to talk through their thoughts and feelings in an
indirect way. The power of book-based social contact is borne out by
evaluations of reading programmes. In a national reading befriending programme
including isolated and vulnerable older people, 88 per cent of participants
appreciate the increased social contact from reading-inspired conversation.’
(op cit. p. 7)
The use of
reading groups has become more common, and are increasingly evident in online
meetings (fuelled by the social isolation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic). An
evaluation of reading groups across care homes, community venues and local
libraries found that 39 per cent of those people involved discussed what they
have read with others at least once a week. More importantly, 88 per cent of
the participants (a very clear majority) stated that being part of reading
groups increased their opportunities for social contact, with the same amount
of people thought that this activity gave them purpose for the week.
In another
survey, 95 per cent of participants in reading groups felt happy because they
were part of a group. It could be that the groups discuss the emotions as well
as the plotlines of the novels so it leads to wider discussions of how each
participant feels about a whole range of topics, including what is going on in
their personal lives.
One example was
that one reading group was discussing a particular character in a novel, which
gave a female participant the confidence to talk about her divorce. (J
Billington, Book clubs: Women and the uses of reading in everyday life,
University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2003, p, 146) This phenomenon has caused
one author to observe: ‘The picture emerging here is that the combination of
both the peer support provided by the group, and the reading material,
facilitate a specific mode of interacting, enabling the discussion of distress
without an integral expectation of person disclosure.’ (J Shipman and L
McGrath, ‘Transportations of space, time and self: the role of reading groups
in managing mental distress in the community, ‘ Journal of Mental Health,
2016, 25 (5): 416 – 421)
The wide range
of benefits have been outlined in conclusion of the Demos report: ‘’a society
of readers’ – a society that values reading and which is in turn sustained by
the benefits that reading brings, A society that saturates itself with books
for everyone at every point of life. A state that marks significant life events
with the gift of reading – especially its children. A school system where
children, by and large, arrive with a love of reading that was handed down to
them by their parents who were supported at various points in their life to
turn to books themselves. A school system where learning continues throughout
the year ensuring that disadvantaged children can engage with reading groups –
surrounding themselves with books even and especially if the home environment
lacks them. A society whose clinicians understand that reading can have a
medicinal quality when it comes to illnesses such as anxiety, ADHD, depression
and even dementia. A society where a well-resourced retraining and further
education system encourages reading beyond the classroom too. A society where
workplaces may even carve out the time to allow their employees the time to
attend further reading classes and reading groups. And a society that does not
forget that its ill and ill-informed not only have cognitive needs but
imaginations that can still light a fire too – and where we encourage them to
share these imaginations by bonding with their contemporaries over the written
word.’ (op cit. p. 41)
It is in
periods like the recent Covid-19 pandemic that almost forces us to stop our
normal routines. It is in times like this that we can reconnect with the world
of literature that may have seemed a distant memory as we have been engulfed by
the constant wave of activity. We can be so engrossed in social media that we
can neglect in the normal of course of events to read material that is deeper
in concept and not merely reacting to the events in an unhelpful and
superficial manner.
In one study
undertaken by Aston University, it was discovered that people were reading more
during the pandemic. It was caused to them having increased free time as result
of circumstances such as being furloughed, not having to commute or having the
usual social or leisure activities. However, the opportunities for reading was
more complicated for people with caring responsibilities as, for example, those
with dependent children were able to read with their little ones, but they had
less time than normal for personal reading.
There has been
an increasing numbers of adaptations of books (Andrew Davies being a notable
example of such a writer), which will hopefully draw people back to the source.
It can bring joy to read the rich vein of thought that cannot be portrayed,
however valiantly, on the television or cinema screen. Inevitably, there will
be cries of ‘But that’s not in the book,’ but the printed word will still reign
supreme.
In the
Judeo-Christian tradition, there has been a great emphasis on reading in the
past. Indeed, one of the key elements for the spread of the Reformation has
been attributed to the invention of the printing press. The Puritans were, in
particular, very able in using this media to transmit their thoughts as can be
seen in such publishing house as the Banner of Truth Trust, which are still in
existence today. The works of Jonathan Edwards and John Owen from previous
generations are still read and appreciated today, as well as the perennial
favourite Pilgrim’s Progress written by John Bunyan.
From the
earliest times of the Israelites, there were opportunities to learn of the
histories through the written word, as is evidenced through the Book of the
Wars (Number 21: 14). There are accounts of other histories being written, such
as the Book of Solomon (1 kings 11: 41), the annals of the kings of Israel (1
Kings 14: 19; 15: 31), and the annals of the kings of Judah (1 Kings 14: 29;
15: 7, 23).
It was not only
the events of the past that were to be noted, but also the moral, ethical and
spiritual law (cf. Deuteronomy 28: 58, 61; 29: 20 – 21; 30: 10; Joshua 1: 8; 8:
34; 23: 6). No-one was exempt from studying of the books from the highest to
the lowest. The kings were expected ‘to read [the Book of the Law] all the days
of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow
carefully all the words of this law and these decrees.’ (Deuteronomy 17: 19)
There is no indication that the reading should stop once he had passed all the
required training time.
The act of
reading in the Old Testament was instrumental in making changes in lives. After
the return to Jerusalem after the exile, Ezra stood on a platform and read the
Law of god to the people (Nehemiah 8: 4). The impact was seen in the response
of the people who mourned because they realised that they had fallen short of
what was expected of them. Likewise, reading is often perceived as being as
passive act, but it should be challenging our thought patterns and so
consequentially should be changing our attitudes and behaviours. Through the
two psalms in particular, numbers 19 and 119, David rehearses how the Law has
affected his life as God speaks to him through the words on the page.
Sometimes, the
book tells us something that we already know or should be aware of already. It
can be a jolt to our perceptions as Jesus demonstrated to the Jewish people of
His time: ‘You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them
you posses eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet
you refuse to come to me to have life.’ (John 5: 39 – 40) There can be
correctives that come through reading – it could be additional evidence or
interpretation, or a new viewpoint to see into a wider horizon. It could bring
about deeper relationships with our world (through, say, environmental
concerns), with our neighbours (possibly with the interaction with book clubs
and the exchange of ideas), and with God as we read His 66 love letters that
make up our Bible.
However eminent
a person is, there is beneficial in seeking out literature to see if they are
correct in their teaching. The Bereans were not afraid of doing this as they
‘examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul had said was true.’
(Acts 17: 11) So this was Paul, the writer of a huge amount of the New
Testament, and his congregation was still checking that what he said was
constant with God’s written revelation. Reading should cause us to dig deeper,
not being content with skimming on the surface. It is not good enough to
compare superficiality with superficiality – there is the need to mine for facts
and figures that will support the text before us. There will be a result in
this diligence as Paul described: ‘For everything that was written in the past
was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the
Scriptures we might have hope.’ (Romans 15: 4)
We must never
reach the point that we think that we can dispense with reading. The activity
encourages us to engage with our minds and beings, with others and with reality
particularly in the eternal truths found in God.
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