Have you ever walked in to a second hand book shop and thought ah, the smell of knowledge? A peculiar odor of old wood and musk. There’s nothing like the smell of books, old or new, where I have on occasion opened one up just to take a big whiff. I love books. I’ve grown up with them. I owe my vocabulary and spelling to them, half of my imagination! But with the fascinating affinity of reading comes a juvenile label, a socially manufactured stereotype. People who read books are geeks.
I remember the first novel I ever read. I was 9-years-old and my teacher gave me Black Boots and Button Hooks by Phyllis Johnston, which I have read numerous times since and remains a favorite. From J.K Rowling to Dan Brown, reading is a past time that runs in my family, and I couldn’t imagine life without it. The list of books I have read is shorter than the list I want to read. I get overwhelmed when I go in to a library, so many books so little time! I am puzzled and slightly offended whenever my friend sniggers and calls me a geek when she finds me reading. She will mock me, and say in a sarcastic tone ‘Is that fun?’
From primary school, all through high school, and even in to tertiary study (can you believe it!?) I have experienced being called a geek solely because I love to read. People feel it is original to use a socially constructed label. To me it is the height of arrogance. I can’t stand the stigma attached to people who read excessively.
I remember reading a line in a book from The Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, something along the lines of ‘well read people are less evil.’ I thought about that and strongly agreed, although I hadn’t researched it. But what I did find when I researched it on the internet were pages and pages of information on the benefits of reading, such as one claiming that if you read you are able to identify much better with how people and think and feel, with health benefits of stress and anxiety relief. It enables you to empathize more with others. We should have shut Hitler in a library.
I understand some people aren’t big readers, with some telling me it is too time consuming, it is boring, or they lack the imagination and the attention span. Others have told me they think that people have to have been brought up to read from a young age. Everyone would share my lust for reading if they had the right book. Rap star Akon claims to have read over 500 books when he was in prison. See kids, reading is cool.
In the literary world you wouldn’t dare catch someone calling someone else a geek for reading. Books are amazing. Centuries pass, technology develops, people die, people are born, yet McDonalds remains, and so do books.
I remember the first novel I ever read. I was 9-years-old and my teacher gave me Black Boots and Button Hooks by Phyllis Johnston, which I have read numerous times since and remains a favorite. From J.K Rowling to Dan Brown, reading is a past time that runs in my family, and I couldn’t imagine life without it. The list of books I have read is shorter than the list I want to read. I get overwhelmed when I go in to a library, so many books so little time! I am puzzled and slightly offended whenever my friend sniggers and calls me a geek when she finds me reading. She will mock me, and say in a sarcastic tone ‘Is that fun?’
From primary school, all through high school, and even in to tertiary study (can you believe it!?) I have experienced being called a geek solely because I love to read. People feel it is original to use a socially constructed label. To me it is the height of arrogance. I can’t stand the stigma attached to people who read excessively.
I remember reading a line in a book from The Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, something along the lines of ‘well read people are less evil.’ I thought about that and strongly agreed, although I hadn’t researched it. But what I did find when I researched it on the internet were pages and pages of information on the benefits of reading, such as one claiming that if you read you are able to identify much better with how people and think and feel, with health benefits of stress and anxiety relief. It enables you to empathize more with others. We should have shut Hitler in a library.
I understand some people aren’t big readers, with some telling me it is too time consuming, it is boring, or they lack the imagination and the attention span. Others have told me they think that people have to have been brought up to read from a young age. Everyone would share my lust for reading if they had the right book. Rap star Akon claims to have read over 500 books when he was in prison. See kids, reading is cool.
In the literary world you wouldn’t dare catch someone calling someone else a geek for reading. Books are amazing. Centuries pass, technology develops, people die, people are born, yet McDonalds remains, and so do books.
http://hubpages.com/hub/Five-Health-Benefits-of-Reading
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