Talk about the importance of reading

I. Suggested questions:
1. How often do you read books? What kinds of books do you like?
2. How many kinds of reading are there? What are they?
3. Do you think reading was the best way to cultivate our minds?
4. “Reading broadens the vision; it is in the way a subtitute for travel”. Do you agree with this idea? Can you explain it?
5. According to Bacon, the author of “Of studies”: Reading make a full man, conference a ready man and writing an exact man”. How do you understand this opinion?
6. Reading can help a reader to develop his historical perspective, do you think so?

II. Suggested ideas:
1. Many kinds of reading:
- Reading for pleasure (reading as a habit).
- Reading for learning and searching and satisfying one’s longing for knowledge. (this is serious reading).
- Reading for neither stimulates thought nor provides knowledge, the simple motive of escape and of “killing” time, etc.
2. The serious reading:
- This kind of reading disciplines the mind and trains one for critical and original thinking.
- It may be a subject of scientific significance, or a subject of historic or philosophic importance, varying according to the taste of the person.
3. A person who is widely read is able to mix with others:
- He is a better conversationalist than those who do not read.
- He can stand his ground.
4. Reading broadens the vision:
- It is in the way a subtitute for travel.
- It is not possible to travel as much as one would like to and reading can fill in the gap created by lack of travel.
- A widely-read man is a better conversationalist and is able to see the other persons’ points of view.
5. Reading for pleasure:
- The daily newspaper or the popular magazine, while discussing topical issues and raises controversies, also provokes thought and throws light on human nature.
- It brings the news of wars, rebellions, organizations, political stances, heroic deeds, etc, together and helps knit a world of some sort.
- Literature is the form of art which can cross barriers. It contributes to the growth of understanding and tolerance among people.
- Reading also helps one to see the present in relation to the past and the future, and thus develop a historical perspective.

III. How to begin the topic:
1. Reading has at all time and in all ages been a source of knowledge, od happiness, od pleasure and even moral courage. In today’s world, with so much more to know and to learn and also a need for a conscious effort to conquer the divisive forces, the importance of reading has increased.
2. Today we not only read, we also want to read more and more and catch up with the events taking place around us. Reading is the best way to cultivate our minds in this various world.