Why Read?

Over the last few years, as the busyness of life caught up with us, I read less of novels and books and went for quickies; mainly articles and news. There just seemed to be other things which fancied me more...

The novelty of the Touch which I got for Other Half somehow got me into the reading mood... and the first book I read on it was Mitch Albom's Have A Little Faith. It kinda brought me back to a past which seemed so distant... a time when I'd used to pick up a book whenever I had free time.

I moved on to other books after that, different genres; fiction and non-fiction. A decision to get my own Touch made reading even easier. And it's been interesting, to be whisked around... 8) in my imagination.... like going back to my childhood where books provided me the opportunities to travel, imagine and dream. But these days the books tend to make me think more, reflect and draw lessons.

In those 'early days' I found that if I picked up the book after putting it down for a while, I actually had trouble remembering what I had read. My brain had gone rusty... probably from the lack of brain workout! 8( Sometimes I actually had to reread certain sections after a short break from it! This went on for many books (and months)... until recently, it hit me that it wasn't taking so much effort like before to continue after a break. And that it wasn't that difficult to remember the storyline anymore too. I could pick up after a couple of days and would still be okay with the flow of the plot, the characters, their roles etc. I could remember what I had read quite easily and with better clarity too. Some of the rust must have been dislodged from the crevices of my brain, apparently. 8) And reading speed has improved greatly too...

A couple of weeks back, I read an article on why certain people live longer and remain alert and productive. Reading was listed as one of the things many of these people do. The mind does begin to rot when we leave it idle... just as our bodies too. To live, to remain alert mentally, feel up to doing activities... all these require effort. Put our guard down and lethargy, senility creep into our lives, slowly eating into us... and I'm already on the downslide of the curve.

As these last few months have shown me, reading does sharpen the mind. That apart from giving me something different from my usual fare of activities. 8) Plus it gives me lots to think and wonder about.... and wander too!

Depth from reading... I think today's generation lack that. Young and old alike. Too many quickies, too much time wasted on digital farming, digital building of empires, gaming, social networking (in flesh and in bytes) etc, etc... it robs them of that opportunity to build ideas, imagination, dream dreams from reading....