By Kanwal Lakhani
As far as my understanding goes, every great educational institute tries to instill book-reading ability in their students right from a very young age. And such weekly visits to the school library and teaching literature in everyday class, develop a reading habit among students, but somehow in this fast-paced world and an era of digital distractions, this ability is either completely or partially lost by many individuals in society. According to Joseph Brodsky, “There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them”.
Though I didn’t totally abandon the ability to read books but still, it got the pretty rare thing in my busy schedule of daily life, up until last year when the pandemic and a complete lockdown life left us confined between the walls of our homes, with no physical or social interaction with our friends, it was devastating. Initially, I spent all my time in boredom and thinking of the depressing situation resulting from the pandemic. I finally decided to find solace in reading books. And that’s the time when I refreshed my ability to read books and truly realized the long-forgotten fact that books and a good piece of literature can really be good partners in life.
Books and literature are truly pieces of artwork. Sample works of art that has the ability to uplift our spirits and keep us in constant search of beauty amidst life’s hardships, can easily be found among the pages of books. Below it’s mentioned some of the ways, that book reading ability improves our life.
Reading makes you look at the world in new ways, as you have the privilege to go into the minds of so many great writers through their books, and you get to see the unaccustomed perspective of life. Book reading gives you unconventional ideas, and makes you hear the unexplored voices, thus rendering you an understanding of new concepts and giving you an optimistic approach to making your decisions.
It’s our imaginations that differentiate us from all the other living and non-living things around us. Reading stimulates our brain, boosting emotional intelligence as well as awareness which in turn cultivates imagination and creativity.
Reading is to the mind as exercise is to the body, important for its fitness. Therefore doctors recommend reading, especially in old age to keep the mind and memory sharp. An avid reader is familiar with the history and all the significant events of the past, thus making him smarter and making it easy to accept and tackle challenges willingly.
Reading a good piece of literature instills empathy & sympathy and it also gives you a deeper understanding of human affairs, which are otherwise too intricate to understand by science or logic.
Regular reading helps you enrich your vocabulary, thereby enabling you to express your feelings more precisely and clearly.
Hence it’s clear that reading yields rich dividends, it’s a fact which cannot be questioned, so it’s high time we find a cure for biblio-phobia; the fear of books, and dive into the world of books and literature, that we like to read of our interest. In this world of competitiveness, it’s always advantageous to amass vast knowledge, and there is no better way to do so.