The Death Of Reading Is Threatening The Soul By Philip Yancey

At this point in my life I find myself in an interesting predicament regarding my attitudes toward reading and writing; more so towards reading. Years ago I used to love reading books for pleasure but nowadays I find myself reading things that little to no effort to digest. This includes the very basic posts on facebook expressing one’s opinion on something or articles and threads on reddit discussing topics I find intriguing. Perhaps it’s the severe senioritis that has overcome me as I enter my last semester at Chapman University. As I’ve gotten lazier I can see it start to reflect in my everyday life. Deep down I still love to read but I rarely find myself getting truly invested into the action unless it relates to something I am very

As a child, I read non-stop. I used to spend entire nights reading, so much so that by the age of 9, I had developed grey circles under my eyes, which I wore like a badge. In school, I would use every free second I had to get just a little closer to finishing whatever book I had on hand. Ms. Carpenter, who always seemed as though she didn’t like teaching very much, frequently yelled at me for keeping my books on my desk so I could get to them quicker whenever I finished my classwork. She insisted that they were a distraction. But I always had a book to read, because every Friday each class walked in a neat line

Growing up I was never a big fan of reading, but as I got older I noticed books are very essential. They are filled with adventures and lessons that only exist in wildest imagination. Without books many of us wouldn't know half the things we know today. Books teaches us math , science, history ,and even how to use a computer or how to play a sport. With so many different genres to choose from and millions of books to read , the task of reading can never get boring, especially when you're actively reading

Before we divulge into the topic of this essay, let me begin by stating that neither the author of the main source, Steven Johnson, nor I intend to devalue books or look down upon them. In his book, Everything Bad Is Good For You, he starts off talking about the importance of books. He says, “We should all encourage our kids to read more, to develop a comfort with and an appetite for reading” (Johnson 21). Reading provides many different benefits, some including “concentration, the ability to make sense of words, to follow narrative threads, to sculpt imagined worlds out of mere sentences on pages” (Johnson 23). As an avid reader myself, I have always had an interest in books.

From my perception of why a person reads I easily agree with CS Lewis’s quote. It would seem to me that most people take advantage of the reasons we read. While reading we yearn for adventures or stories that help us escape from reality, so in a way we reach out for characters, stories or adventures. This doesn’t necessarily mean that a person is physically lonely, but rather that there is more experiences out there. Whether a reader’s life is dull or eventful, reading a new story can fill voids. One comparison to this would be a curious mind wondering if there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. They study the endless void in the sky eager to find new treasures. In my view this means a person can intentionally or subconsciously

Christopher Bergland shared factual research from the Emory University on how reading a novel can improve the connectivity in the brain. The study showed a long pattern of positive brain function of readers who read fiction novels overnight and conversed their thoughts over the reading every day. Given that reading fiction novels over a long period of time allows the reader to visualize their self in the novels they read shows how to break the cycle of unhealthy distraction. The hard part for me is staying focus, but I can only blame myself on location and allowing distraction to take place. My life goal is to learn more and reading a fiction novel on something that intrigues my interest will help me focus on achieving a healthy brain

Mr. King tells ups that to be a great writer you must read all the time. He himself averages reading between seventy to eighty books a year with some of them being audio books. Reading helps a writer compare themselves to other writers and see where they stack up. Consuming large numbers of books gives an author the chance to see clearly what poor quality work is and what is not. As you read books that are bad, you begin to realize that you can do better than that. This can be a great motivator to work harder on your craft. Even when you read something that is exceptional; it can encourage you to try to achieve the same greatness. He states that if you truly want to be a great writer turn off the television, and read! Even when you only have

When I was younger, my parents frequently told me to read books, but I rolled my eyes and ignored them. Few months ago, however, I came across a TedEx video on YouTube called “Why I read a book a day (and why you should too): the law of 33%”

In reading your Discussion reply, I know that life can be hectic at times; however, I believe reading is fundamental and we are reading even when we are unaware that we are reading. For example, when we are searching for items in the grocery store we must read signs and content on the package details. I use to purchase a newspaper faithfully every Sunday to enhance my reading skills. However, now oppose to utilizing the computer just for social media I read the news. The online text consist of the local new and international news as well. Reading keeps me sharp and always implying critical thinking as you stated food for one’s mind. I will read as I am bathing. It allows me to escape on a mini adventure and I can often sympathize or take on the roles of the characters when reading various books.

Besides length of the reading material, future researchers could alter the content. Presumably, it is easier for readers to stay awake if they are reading for enjoyment versus reading for retention (think of staying up

My reading experiences have always been enjoyable. I love to read when I find an interesting book. It’s easy for me to be sucked into a book if the story catches my eye. I mostly like to read teen romance novels. They appeal to me simply because of my interest in a love story. My parents hate buying me books because they know I’ll be finished reading within a week or so. Reading has always been really easy to me. It seems almost natural to be sucked into other worlds. The words start to flow over the pages and suddenly it feels like I’m not even reading anymore. Unless I have to read a book for school or it doesn’t catch my attention, I might have a hard time bringing myself to read it.

I’ve never been one to read much outside of school without being assigned to do so. After looking back at my childhood I think I finally understand why. When you’re a student in elementary school teachers want you to be interested in reading and they tell you that it will make you smarter. Their approach to this is to assign you many readings during your early school years, have your parents sign that you actually did it, and make you write book reports about what you read. I remember when I was a kid I absolutely hated some of these exercises and absolutely loved some of these as well. I distinctly remember being in kindergarten and having to read a book to a high school student. The five year old version of me was more than embarrassed when my reading skills were not up to par and I was having to do it in front of a teenage boy. I also remember being in fifth grade and having to read one book every two weeks and write and draw a report on it. I loved this. Probably because for once I got to choose my own books and they were never assigned for me. I thought of it as a

Extensive reading is for the sake of pleasure because there are elements of fun.even sometimes you leave you reading because you need to decode the information by looking the dictionary to search for the particular vocabulary meaning which gradually breaks your concentration and divert your mind from reading

I understand that people nowadays are more comfortable engaging in an aesthetic experience rather than processing information by reading. Reading long text is more tedious than ever, things have to be concise and relatively shallow. However, when humanity reaches a stage where people are constantly struggling with “information overload”, we must have some serious reflecting to do. I think this challenge needs to be addressed first from homes; kids can’t be watching so much TV as they do now and reading needs to be made cooler and not just a “pretentious” habit.

Books will remain an area that every high schooler hates and every professor loves. Many suggest that reading is nerdy or not social, which makes no sense because in philosophy reading is a key to understanding a certain subject matter. One will not go anywhere in life if reading is not there. Children in rural or third world countries would love to learn to read and write. It is one of mankind’s biggest challenges. The ability to read is the way up and out and into a better life for these poor children. Reading allows the mind to open up to new ideas or thoughts that other activities cannot match, especially watching television or playing video games. I would love to say I have read a lot, but I do not. It is difficult because I have “monkey mind,” where I cannot concentrate on the certain text without having a random thought race through my mind. It will most likely get worse and that is all due to the technology that is flying out to the ever distracted society.