Reading Is an Activity That Many People

Reading is an activity that many people take for granted. Here in America it is easy for us to take for granted a fully stocked library, or access to hundreds of classic works through our computers.

Yet, I wonder how many people actually take advantage of these rich opportunities that they have? With all of the study guides and assorted methods of getting around reading, why do it? Is something written in a book really more important than getting out and living life? Henry Thoreau took on that very thought back in 1845 when he began living in Massachusetts in his cabin on Walden Pond.

Thoreau was very thoroughly educated before he took this break from city life, yet he speaks often about how this "residence was more favorable, not only to thought, but to serious reading." (65) I can't imagine being as smart as Thoreau, yet feeling like there was still something to read out there.

And the reason that he gives for wanting to read, the reason that everyone should want to read, is that "their nature and destiny are interesting to all alike." (64) In other words, the classics of literature are all great reading material. And he is certainly right. Shakespeare, who is one of the best writers of all time, made his plays full of sex, love, lust, murder, greed and revenge. Sounds like a modern day soap opera to me.

Literary classics also allow everyone who is willing to read a peek into the culture and lives of others that we otherwise would not be able to see. Greek Mythology is not a form of religion currently, but when we read Homer's "Iliad," we are in the middle of that. In fact, that is the book Thoreau says he kept in his bare cabin for the entire summer. (65) In a more simplistic way, reading is an escape from the ordinary world and an ordinary life.

With books such as J.R. Tolkein's "Lord of the Rings," I can runaway from ordinary college life and find myself in an epic world of elves. If Tolkein isn't your style, you have John Grisham or Patricia Cornwell and their well-written suspense thrillers. If your imagination is strong enough, you get lost in the pages that come alive. And since the library is free for patrons, it is a lot cheaper than a movie these days.

In today's school systems, it is not uncommon for some students to make it to graduation and be unable to read anything. Teachers aren't given enough control over their grading and the entire school system can get too political. Athletes that bring in a lot of revenue to the school system are passed because it is the "right" thing to do for the school, but not being able to read cheats the student and society in general in the end.

It is so sad to think that someone in today's times can't read. Reading is everywhere -- posters on a bus, flyers on a building, newspapers, magazines, the grocery store, your computer, job applications, medical instructions and even something as fun as a video game has text in it. While this may not be thought of by Thoreau as material that is worth reading, it is these little things that those who cannot read are cheating themselves out of.

And lets not forget that they might end up working for us someday or being in our college classrooms because they can play ball. We can actually take reading one step further as Thoreau does. It is not enough that we read, but that when we read, we think. We don't just skim over the words, but we truly process what the author is trying to say and the whole meaning of the book.

He says that men will "go considerably out of his way to pick up a silver dollar; but here are golden words." (69-70) Thoreau is trying to explain that too many times, we are too lazy to read because it does cause us to think. But thinking is exercise for our brain, and it helps keep our minds sharp. Thoreau takes it even further and says that we should read the classics in the language they were written in.

(67) Maybe we should, but who has the time to learn Latin? I sure wish I did! But he is right in saying that we should think about what we read. This thinking will help us ultimately in all that we do. How could thinking be bad for us? I do not agree with Thoreau's idea that you should only read certain books. He feels guilty for reading travel books, which he called "shallow" and said he felt "ashamed" for reading them. (65) I think.