One year ago, I started reading books, and it's been the best decision I've made in recent years. Reading has made me more productive, a better thinker, helped me resist procrastination (to some degree), and enabled me to make wiser decisions. Therefore, I would like to share the power of reading in this blog post.
Why should I read?
This was me 3 years back 😆
To be wise and recognizable is a goal worth striving for. Some might say that I'm living the perfect life, given that my parents are wealthy. Isn’t it enough?
Having wealth is okay, but it's not easy to maintain it. We've all heard stories of those who inherited wealth and then lost it all.
The blunt, honest answer for why anyone should read is: not to look stupid.
What do you believe is a disgrace to society?
Is it rape, child labour, untouchability, casteism, racism, or drugs? Nope. It is the Lack of knowledge.
One who reads about Dr. BR Ambedkar, and Periyar will never be supporting untouchability and casteism.
One who knows about the specialty of ancient sculptures will never scribble “I love you Julie” on them.
Reading about Nelson Mandela can help foster an anti-racist attitude. And the list goes on.
Why can’t I watch videos instead of reading?
Learning
Yes (Initially), If you are getting started and you want your initial steps to be easy.
But if you want to improve yourself or be an expert in any field, there won’t be much content around and the only source remaining for you is text-based content. (Books, blogs, documentations research papers, etc)
Fictions
Eg: Harry Potter movies vs books - You might have heard about it probably.
If you didn’t, then imagine what if your favorite web series (Eg: Money Heist, Breaking bad, Wednesday) was taken as a 2-hour movie. Will the experience of watching the movie and series be the same? You know what are all the things you miss there.
It stifles your imagination. Consider, when describing a character, everyone's imagination will be different. It encourages creative thinking. Watching a video, however, can be detrimental to your creative thought process.
Why can’t I read/watch a summary of a non-fiction book rather than reading an entire book?
Initially, I thought like this, Why should I buy a book and read for hours to understand these n points when I can see that in a summary blog for free? I came to know that it was the worst idea when I was writing the summary of this book called Indistractable.
It was the best blog I wrote till now. And even though I almost not added around 3X of the contents that I highlighted for the summary. As it was that much and reading concepts with whole reasoning and proofs will really helpful for you to remember and connect those dots when such scenarios come in your life.
The shift from reading to watching videos has caused the current generation's reading skills to decline more than ever before.
News Article: Only 31.5% class 3 kids could read class 2 level text in Haryana: ASER 2022
Things you can read and its benefits
The more you read the more you get knowledge.
Reading makes you wiser. speak less but more effectively, and use the right words. Connecting the dots by creating multiple links.
These are some mediums on which I read,
Books
I’ve started reading books for 2 years (Non fiction) and that was one of the best decisions I took in recent years. I didn’t become the best. But I can clearly see I’m getting better at a faster rate than my previous self.
Non-Fictions
I read about productivity (mostly), self-help, life, and so on.
If I'm facing a challenge, my brain quickly connects the dots (if there are any) and helps me find a better solution in less time. I wish I had started this sooner.
Fictions
I began reading nonfiction books as part of my New Year's resolution this year. Previously, I had listened to two books as audiobooks.
- Non-fiction can help you understand the value of remembering things like names (people, places, etc). Dale Carnegie stated that remembering someone's name and greeting them with it at the next meeting will make the other person feel important.
- Help us develop empathy by allowing us to explore from others' perspectives.
- Another mode of entertainment. A way to escape from our daily life and devices.
- It improves your vocabulary. Which helps you speak less and convey more in your day-to-day life.
- Finally, it can help to stimulate your creative side. When you read fiction, you can create your own version of the characters and settings in your mind. This is something that is lacking in our current generation, as we are just consuming content visually without exercising our own imagination.
Newspapers
Initially, I wasn't a reader at all. I had never even read through a single newspaper. I rarely touched them, like when I was waiting for a haircut at a local barber shop, where they usually have a selection of daily newspapers. Even then, I would usually watch TV instead and only take a newspaper when there was an embarrassing dance number playing. 😅
I often wonder why I should spend time each day reading about the politics, protests, happenings, and political chaos occurring in other countries when I have a limited amount of time and I'm able to get my daily meals peacefully.
I can clearly feel that I'm missing a lot of general knowledge. Initially, I thought it was only necessary for those taking government and bank exams. However, like a butterfly effect, whatever happens elsewhere can have an effect on us directly or indirectly. Reading about them will give us an idea of the current state of affairs and help us tackle our obstacles in a wiser manner.
Like I recently read about this where 8 students in a rural got scholarships (50K Rupees per year) for their college studies. While asking them, A north-based diamonds selling company from their charitable trust were allocated specific budgets for students from multiple states. As there are only very few registrations from Tamil Nadu, they gave the scholarship to all who enrolled.
How come they knew about this? One of the student’s grandfathers found this in the newspaper and forced him and his friends to fill out this form. They are accepting that they were irritated while filling out the forms but never believed that they’ll get the scholarships.
Likewise, not only scholarships but also funds, loans for your business from investors or the government, part-time jobs, and reservation schemes are available to benefit from by reading newspapers. Even if you don't want to, you can still help others (friends, relatives, peers, etc.) by providing such information that could potentially change their lives.
How to read more?
For fiction, Pick a genre you love already watching movies or love hearing about. Search online to find the top-rated books in that genre. Doing so will ensure you start your reading journey with a great book and maintain your enthusiasm for it
For Non-fiction, There might be some things in your life that you need help with, Like time management, procrastination, finance, public speaking, etc, or want to know about some history or art. Pick that.
If you have a role modal. He might have recommended some books. He too might have a role model and the tree goes on. Try to figure out this tree and follow their journey and recommendations.
And also remember it. Good things always come with a cost! Not everything you read will be enjoyable and that’s why You need to pick a topic that really keeps you engaged.
How to remember?
Whenever I complete a book, I take a week to gather all the highlighted and noted parts and will create a summary for them in Notion. This helps me not to re-read the book entirely new. And also enables me better remember these concepts - by the Effort Rule.
The Effort rule is nothing but the more effort you put into understanding a concept. The better you will remember.
And if it is share-worthy then I’ll write a blog.
Conclusion
Some of the above content is taken from a Tamil book I read recently which is called வாசிப்பது எப்படி? (Vasippathu Eppadi) which translates How to read? by Selventhiran. The author released both Tamil and English versions of it. (Thank you @Mukilan for recommending this book!)
In that, he says, Wherever he goes to give a speech to students,
He asks a question to students do you know Sheela? Everyone blinks with no idea. He gives clues but still no answer. But everyone in Tamil Nadu knows who is Jayalalitha. (She is the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu who served more than 14 years and also a former actress)
Sheela was more popular than Jayalalitha during both of their primes. When they decided to build a house for themselves.
Sheela said, "Whatever you do, I need a big water fountain in the front yard."
But Jayalalitha said, "No matter what, I need a 2000 sq. ft. library.”
The rest is history, To this generation, almost no one knows about the prime actress, whereas everyone knows about Jayalalitha. That’s the power of reading!
If reading can get you a State? Why can’t a better job? or a better life?
Start yours! 😃
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