This guest post is by Nick Baker of The Daily Encounters Blog.
The act of reading can be tricky, but also rewarding at the same time. The main setting of reading at a young age is in school, yet the reading of school books can sometimes be boring, and seem pointless. This is one reason why we stop reading once we get out of school—we think back to how reading all those educational books was boring, which in turn gives us no motivation to read books when we no longer are forced to.
Image used with permission
Employers rarely ask people if they read or what their favorite books are while they conduct an interview. That doesn’t mean that your next boss can’t tell whether or not you read, or that you can’t find an opportunity to bring up books you have read.
Vocabulary is one way people can tell if you read. The more you read, the broader your vocabulary gets—as long as you have the motivation to look up what words mean when you come across words you don’t know. You can use your vocabulary in conversation with employers or business associates to show them you’re knowledgeable. You can even intimidate them with your extensive vocabulary!
Reading books that are centered on your area of business is a great way to boost your career and give you an advantage over others, making you more valuable to your company. Of course, being more valuable to your company puts you in a better position to get a raise or promotion.
Reading can also be used as a social tool either to make friends, or to further your friendship with current friends. Reading provides you with insight into other cultures whose people have different backgrounds and personalities. It can help to make you more confident in talking to people from different places, with different interests, since you’re more knowledgeable thanks to your reading.
Along with broadening your knowledge of other cultures, reading always gives you something to talk about with other people, whether you’re discussing a book you’ve read with someone who’s read it or is interested in it, or talking about world or local events you’ve read about in newspapers or magazines.
Innovation is spurred by thought and creativity, both of which reading amplifies in the brain. No matter what book you’re reading, your brain is working hard and new ideas are always popping up. Fantasy books can lead your brain to think of more out-of-the-box ideas, whereas biographies and documentaries can spur an idea in your head to follow someone else’s example.
Reading has always had a place in society as a learning tool; however, the learning from books does not have to stop once we leave school. Books always hold valuable lessons that can advance you in certain aspects of your life—as long as you maintain reading a part of your daily activities.
Nick Baker also writes a Blog about Daily Improvement which gives its readers daily articles on simple things they can do every day to make them happy and improve their life.
About Guest Contributor
yup – that’s why i’ve always liked book clubs, and also i like reading books set in historical period of time so i can learn some history too!
Noch Noch
This year 2012 has been momentous for me. An awakening and exhilarating start. It’s pushing me to the limits of reading. I’m aiming for this happening
This post lost me at about sentence #1 when the writer stated that reading for kids is about reading for school. If you want to raise kids who love to read that is so totally NOT true.
Parents who love to read and find books exciting, wonderful treasures can raise kids who feel the same way. It all start with baby books like Pat the Bunny and Goodnight Moon, that are read at home. Parents ought to be reading to their kids from the time the kids have head control. Parents and children can enjoy books together until the kids are about 11 or 12. At least that is what I found raising my two kids, both of whom are happy to read and share books and talk books and live with books.
Milly:
You raise a good point about parents reading to kids starting at a young age. I unfortunately didn’t think about it while writing this piece and now regret it since it is a good point. Thanks for your input.
One of the the things I enjoy the most about reading is the escapism. No matter how stressful my day at work has been – I can curl up on the couch with a good book and get completely lost in it.
Reading for me is a source of ideas and inspiration. It’s not something I would want to do without. Trouble is we need to overcome the school experience which can be damaging to a love of books and learning. We need to relearn learning and understand that learning is for life and not just for the end of year exams.
And a good book can change your life.
Hi Nick,
I have been a voracious reader since young and to this day I am always reading four to five books at a time.
I think whether one develops a love for reading has a great deal to with parental and school input when one is still very young.
Fortunately I had heaps of positive influences as a child for which I am very grateful.
~Marcus
One change I want to make is to have a dictionary by my side when I read and look up words, instead of thinking I get the gist of it. I find myself using words I can’t define but feel they are appropriate.
I love this post and I greatly relate to it. I have a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and I can’t even begin to explain how it changes your perception on life. It does it in such a positive manner it’s astounding.”Literature” isn’t a genre. It’s the study of humanity through works of text to better understand mankind as to where we are going, where we been, what we want, need, the psychology, and the art of the human mind. Every single thing written in the world has some significance to it. It has literary significance, historical, lyrical, psychological, political, media, cultural, and so on. Everything was written for a reason and literature is the science/study of the text. This is a great post thank you!!
Wow! I feel so inspired by this post.
This is really true. I strongly believes that more and more reading will enhance your knowledge and creativity. It will boost your out of box thinking skills thus helping you in one way or other.
Thank you so much for this great article .
I wasn’t a reader at all for a big portion of my somewhat young life. I did suffer from insomnia for quite some time and that I would think would have a great deal to do with it. But once I got the proper sleeping supplements and started eating better by getting all my vitamins and minerals. I decided to read some books. I got hooked and could clearly see the benefits of continuing to read. I felt like an idiot since I wasn’t a reader and had confidence issues and that is what prompted me to give it a try. I loved the novels I read by Nelson Demille(highly recommend) and continue to read at least 3 hours a day for the last year. I can definitely see a change in the way I feel, my confidence, and my ability to absorb information since my brain has been taking in details from books. If you are attentive, it trains your brain and makes learning easier. It doesn’t have to be a non-fiction book, it can be fiction as well.
Another reason I started reading was because back in the day when I felt really stupid(and was might I add,) I realized that everybody I knew that was book smart(which is really important to be if you want to get a decent job in this world or do well in school/college) was an avid reader. If you have a hard time like I once did trying to become a reader but don’t really like to read, then start off maybe doing 3 hours a day of reading every other day and you should gradually be able to increase the time you read and the amount of days you read but remember to stick too it or of course you will fail just like when working out your body.