What have you been reading lately? At a meeting, you can tell who the wide readers are. Wide readers often think and speak well. They win the admiration, respect, and good opinion of others. After all, reading expands the mind. In fact, many people consider it one of the most satisfying pleasures of mankind, combining, as it does, mental agility and physical relaxation way above the scale of television.
The act of reading is primarily a mental activity, as you read with your mind and use your imagination to paint the setting of the detective thriller you are reading. You use your mind to imagine the pleasure that the main characters in the story are experiencing as the plot unfolds; or you contemplate the different arguments and ideas introduced by the author of that self-help book you are studying.
Being able to read effectively helps you to develop (an extensive|a wide vocabulary through reading different styles of books. A skillful reader recognizes a wide range of vocabulary. The reader may not know exactly what every word means, but he/she will have a good idea of what the sentence means.
The act of reading makes you more aware and more interested in hitherto unknown words. Some readers even develop ‘the dictionary habit’, which means that whenever they come across a strange word, they try to figure out what it possibly means by the context. If they cannot do this, they refer to a dictionary.
In the same way, reading develops intellectual curiosity by exposing you to a variety of subjects. You learn to read by reading books of increasing difficulty and variety. Just as in other kinds of education, you are learning by actually doing and while you are reading you are automatically learning about the subject matter of the book too – like free by-product!
Basically, reading trains you to have an active and open mind. Only grasping the writers point of view is not really good enough, you have to have a reply to what you have read. Be an active, not a passive, reader. Try to develop the habit of drawing your own conclusions, the habit of active thinking, of agreeing or disagreeing with the author. Always keep your mind open; understand and consider the ideas that you have read. A practical part of active reading is the development of one’s own opinions.
Now let me introduce you to the concept known as speed reading. All of the above applies three, four, eight, nine, even ten times over, because speed readers can read that much faster than the average reader! Imagine that … being able to read, comprehend and remember all those books. You would certainly become well-read in your subject far more quickly than others. Just think how that could help you at work or in school or college …
Allow me to share four basic rules for effective reading and better comprehension:
1) Try to read more and more every month. Remember that practice makes perfect. 2) Learn the habit of reading the main ideas, ie look for the subject and predicate – the principal ideas 3) Learn to read with focus and concentration. Good readers read with understanding. 4) Learn to budget your time. Experiment with your reading time. Try to read faster. Give yourself a time limit on the specific piece that you are reading.
Reading is a wonderfully stimulating mental activity. It expands your reality and capability. You have so much to gain in discovering the joys of reading. So, go ahead and get down a book right now.
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