On Reading

A world of discovery, empathy, and shared experience reside between the pages of a book. Reading is always time well spent.

What I read: “Reading Well” by Simon Sarris. Published July 17, 2023.

It’s no secret to anyone who follows me here or elsewhere that I read a lot. Books. Articles. Essays. Blogs. Just about anything that my eyeballs run across that seems interesting. I’m a big proponent of reading as a pastime that always benefits the reader.

I also contend that a well-read society is a better one. People who read are more empathetic and better informed which leads to each of those individuals contributing to the overall stability and functioning of local, national, or worldwide cultures. There is no downside to being an avid reader.

In “Reading Better,” I discuss how to get more out of one’s reading. In my commentary on Robert DiYanni’s article and the topic of reading better generally, some good tips are articulated.

But Simon Sarris’s newsletter post takes a slightly different perspective on reading. Let me also insert here that I love Sarris’s writing. Quite beautiful to read. Sarris offers a somewhat more generalized appreciation for the overall benefits of reading along with some additional specific strategies.

Reading is alluring. It has a nameless quality beyond satisfying desires for information and pleasure. Despite more colorful and interactive media, reading text somehow remains more refined, more seductive.

When Sarris mentions the solitary nature of reading, that resonated with me. Since I’m what might best be described as an ambivert, my introvert tendencies allow me to sit alone quite easily and much of that time is spent reading. That has been the case since I was a young child.

I particularly liked Sarris’s explanation of reading being an activity that results in you first being alone with the characters (in fiction), and eventually alone with the author (fiction and nonfiction).

Reading is letting someone else model the world for you. This is an act of intimacy.

I’ll add that I agree with Sarris that book clubs can spoil some of the beneficial effects of reading. This is likely to be perceived as heresy to many book lovers, but the few book clubs I’ve been a part of haven’t added much to my love of reading, although admittedly they have sometimes served as nice socialization opportunities among likeminded people.

When Sarris suggests we read mostly fiction, I balked. Most of my reading is and usually has been in the past nonfiction works. In my youth I devoured fiction books in rapid fashion. For example, from the time I started reading regularly at the age of seven or eight, I had consumed all the original 40 Tom Swift series books and then later the series I enjoyed even more, the Tom Swift Jr. series. The volumes of the Tom Swift Jr. series sat on my bedroom’s chest of drawers for years as a testament to my love of books.

After veering into mostly nonfiction for many years, today I am again reading quite a bit of fiction in part because of reading articles like “How Reading Fiction Can Shape Our Real Lives” by Francesca La Basso.

Indeed, an ever-growing body of research shows fiction has the proven capacity to make readers more open-minded, empathetic, and compassionate—capacities critical to ensuring we come out the other side of a global pandemic and a culture of militarized white supremacy with greater societal equity.

Why? Perhaps because a reader sits with a novel for hours, days, weeks—far longer than when consuming any other art form. This concentrated time gives a reader an embodied experience of the other, increasing their awareness and appreciation for differing perspectives.

Sarris’s advice to read all types of stories is good. Some of the most impactful stories I’ve read, in short or long form, have been ones I’ve randomly stumbled upon and decided to give a try. Go with your gut when selecting what to read (fiction or nonfiction). As Sarris points out, all stories influence us. Try to pick from books you can somehow discern are of excellent quality. However, sometimes I’ve just started reading something because my instincts nudged me to grab it and I’ve rarely been disappointed.

Perhaps I’m preaching to the choir since if you’re reading this you’re probably already a reader by nature, but when Sarris said this I began nodding to myself in agreement.

A person that reads no stories is unready for life.

When you delve into the lives of great leaders and thinkers from past decades, they’re all usually voracious readers. I know there are other ways to consume content these days besides reading, but as Sarris mentions there’s something about the slowness and solitariness of the reading process that allows for the “kind of marinating that happens with very good works.”

Once upon a time my walls were adorned with numerous shelves containing books of all kinds. A while back as part of my life streamlining project I gave away hundreds of physical books. Now a few shelves house those I simply could not part with. Most of my reading is now done on a Kindle or otherwise digitally. Because I travel so much and like my library to travel with me, e-books and digital reading work well for me, but I fully understand some reader’s love of the visceral joy that comes from turning the pages of a paper book. Read however is best for you, as long as you read.

Also, as Sarris suggests, read whatever resonates with you and draws you to it. It doesn’t matter why. Just read it. Most of the time you’ll be glad you followed that feeling that unconsciously made you begin to read something. That said, don’t hesitate to drop reading something the second it doesn’t bring you joy of some kind. Reading should not be drudgery. Anytime reading feels like work I believe you’ll get little out of it and you’d be better off moving onto something else.

Don’t worry about not finishing books or not reading a book in your physical or digital collection at all. There’s tremendous power in unread books. When I’m in a library where I often spend time reading and writing surrounded by all those books I’ll never read, it creates a type of appreciation for the vastness of human experience and knowledge despite knowing I’ll only read but the tiniest fraction of them over my lifetime.

In “The Antilibrary: Why You Should Surround Yourself With Books You May Never Read,” Zachary Minott explains the value of what’s been coined by Nassim Nicholas “The Antilibrary.”

When you surround yourself with books that you never read, or probably will never read, they serve as a constant reminder of what little that we know. It reminds us that there is still so much out there that we don’t understand and it should inspire us to push forward and keep on learning.

We tend to underestimate the value of what we don’t know and overvalue what we do know. Knowledge is not a treasure nor a means of boosting your self-esteem, true knowledge is only gained when we recognize the amount of ignorance that we have. That way we don’t jump to conclusions and instead we become more thoughtful and curious as a result.

The unread book provides the most value because it possesses the contents of potential understanding whereas the read book simply is a reflection of that what we already know.

As for audiobooks, I must admit I’ve never listened to one. I’m not sure why. One of my closest friends mostly “reads” this way and seems to do so with the same joy I get from reading with my eyes. I’ve downloaded the audiobook for one of my friend’s favorite biographies and I’m going to give that a try.

Sarris offers more insights and advice in the rest of the post that I’ll let you read for yourself. His writing is a pleasure to read. I also love reading material that prompts me to look up new words I haven’t run across before or am uncertain of their exact definition. These two stood out in Sarris’s piece and sent me to the dictionary.

Lector: a person who assists at a worship service chiefly by reading the lection (a liturgical reading for a particular day; a variant reading of a text).

Elided (elide): to suppress or alter (something, such as a vowel or syllable) by elision; to strike out (something, such as a written word); to leave out of consideration.

Thank you for reading this post. Thank you for reading, period.

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