The Sunday Mail
The books you read determine your destiny and mental agility.
The ones you do not read determine what worlds remain a dark mystery to you. To have an aversion towards reading is an embarrassing disease.
Reading is an integral part of existence
Books contain worlds of exploration, distillations of life and experiences, tapestries of imagination and instructions in all kinds of wisdom and pursuit.
Books are rungs on the ladder to greatness. While a course of study may be finished, learning and reading should and can never be finished.
It is a shame to stop reading the day you finish an examination. It is sad to read only for academic or examination purposes.
Reading is not a kind of corporal punishment or laborious chore done at a barest essential minimum to fulfil the needs of a begrudging examiner.
It is an essential exercise of the mind and one of life’s true and exceptional pleasures. Those who do not read, cannot understand the passion to read that book readers have.
A book is a tower-light in the city of time. Reading is the act of kindling this light. Reading is an integral key to your greatness and to connecting with other great, creative and imaginative minds within a timeless space.
Everything you need to know is likely in some book, somewhere. You are usually one or two books away from any concept that could transform your life, broaden your understanding and quality of thought.
A life without books is not worth the trouble and a house without books is like a dark room that has no windows or ventilation.
Never be content to have friendship with a single book. Extend your fellowship with other related books and genres. When you do not read, you lose the opportunity to exercise and stretch your mind. A mind that is lacking stimulation is like a stagnant and polluted pool, and a mind is too precious an asset to waste.
Reading is your bridge from darkness to light, from ignorance to understanding, from mediocrity to excellence and from poverty to wealth.
Read daily, read widely and read in different ways and at different times. Forming the addiction to reading is a vital goal that should be sought after and pursued diligently.
Once you learnt to read and then start reading without someone looking over your shoulder to ensure you do, you would have found the true lantern to light your way to greatness.
You do not afford the luxury of not reading and feeling sane and content.
Reading culture
To develop a reading culture start by looking within yourself — at your own habits and practices. It is a tragedy when parents compel their children to read and are never seen reading themselves.
Reading is not a dying art but a primary means of transmitting knowledge, ideas, culture, thoughts and images.
It is a wide and inviting door to progress and civility.
The best time to sow the seed of reading is when children are still in the womb. It a great practice for expecting parents to read books to their unborn children.
This is called reading in utero.
Read out to your children and also read together with them. Switch off the TV and switch on to reading. Children are transformed into readers on the laps and loving arms of their parents.
The greatest gift a child can have is a parent who reads and brings books home for the family’s enjoyment and sharing.
Invest in books
It is saddening and frustrating to have a large television in your house and yet not have a bookshelf stocked with good books to feed and stimulate the mind.
To have books that are less in number than your age is true poverty. Parents who do not read, infect their offspring with the lazy culture of ignorance and arrogance. The pursuit of knowledge and wisdom is a primary occupation that is exhibited by your passion for reading.
No one can ever develop beyond his reading and learning capacity.
This is why readers are leaders and leaders are readers.
Give books as presents because they make the most lasting and memory developing gifts.
When you give a book, it becomes a present that you can open again and again for many generations. Never despair if someone you give a book does not open the book today. Some books seem to “pop up” in our lives when we now need them.
There is no such thing as children that hate books, there are only children that have not been presented with the right books that capture their imagination and passion.
There is no such things as adults that hate books, there are only people who were abused mentally when they were young and reading was inflicted upon them as punishment.
It’s never too late to change, or too early to become a committed reader.
Invest time in reading
Read in the morning when you wake up and it will give you a mental tonic. An inspirational book in the morning gives you a mental and attitudinal boost.
Over your lunch break, read a little more.
Get a context to current affairs. It helps keep your mind engaged. In the late afternoon, immense yourself in a good novel or biography. In the evening, read some more. Refuse to sleep with the same ignorance that you had when you woke up.
It is a wasted day that you pass without having read a book.
Invest your time and treasure in books. It is better to wear a dress or suit and find money to buy a book, than to be fashionable yet book-less.
There is no substitute to reading books.
Groucho Marx said it well when he said: “Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.”
Any effort put into reading is never wasted.
The more you read, the better your writing and speaking becomes. The more you read, the more you chase away aging and mental stagnation.
Reading gives colour to your conversation. Be wary of friends who never refer to or recommend a book to you.
Be concerned when your boss never shares a book or refers you to one.
Seek professional assistance when a full month passes by and you have not read even a single booklet.
Reading expands your world. It gives your imagination wings and your thoughts form. Reading is a necessity in life.
If you can read, you can learn anything about everything and everything about anything.
If you cannot read, you have a limited world. When you do not read, you shrink your learning options.
Always be suspicious of anyone who never carries a book. A person who hates reading books should be treated with utmost suspicion.
Read, read, read and read some more. You can never regret reading.
Milton Kamwendo is a cutting-edge international transformational and inspirational speaker, author and coach. He is a strategy, innovation, leadership and management consultant. He can be reached at [email protected] and on WhatsApp number 0772422634.
