reading

Please read: “The Need to Read,” by Will Schwalbe

Posted on by Mark Isero

My friend Lynn emailed me “The Need to Read,” by Will Schwalbe, in last Saturday’s Wall Street Journal. It is definitely worth reading.

the-need-to-read

Excerpts

Reading is the best way I know to learn how to examine your life. By comparing what you’ve done to what others have done, and your thoughts and theories and feelings to those of others, you learn about yourself and the world around you. Perhaps that is why reading is one of the few things you do alone that can make you feel less alone. It is a solitary activity that connects you to others.

I’m reminded that reading isn’t just a respite from the relentlessness of technology. It isn’t just how I reset and recharge. It isn’t just how I escape. It’s how I engage. And reading should spur further engagement.

And here’s my favorite:

Books remain one of the strongest bulwarks we have against tyranny—but only as long as people are free to read all different kinds of books, and only as long as they actually do so. The right to read whatever you want whenever you want is one of the fundamental rights that helps preserve all the other rights. It’s a right we need to guard with unwavering diligence. But it’s also a right we can guard with pleasure. Reading isn’t just a strike against narrowness, mind control and domination: It’s one of the world’s great joys.

Source: http://j.mp/2gtt9kI (via Pocket). You can also find this article at Iserotope Extras, a weekly email digest that includes my favorite articles about race, education, and culture. Feel free to subscribe!

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2 Comments

  1. So glad to see someone else saw the simple brilliance of this article/excerpt. It inspired me to buy books for my three nieces for Christmas, hoping to get them hooked on what is the most enjoyable lifetime hobby ever. Thanks, Will Schwalbe!

    Reply

    1. Thank you for the comment, Patricia, and I agree wholeheartedly with you. Our society has somehow taught us that young people do not like to read, that adults shouldn’t support the reading lives of young people. Both statements are not true. “The Need to Read” reminded me that young people love stories, and it is our job as adults to get the right stories in the hands of young people.

What do you think?