Embracing reading culture for continuous personal development

To read or not to read, why or why not? Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States of America, said, “Reading is important. If you know how to read, then the whole world opens up to you.” Harry S. Truman, the 33rd President of the United States of America attributed leadership to reading, “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers”. Thus, many successful leaders often single out reading philosophy as one of their keys to success. Reading is partly cultural and a matter of personal choice. A reading culture starts from home and spreads through the family, community, society, and country. UNESCO set 8th September of each year since 1967 as International Literacy Day. This day’s celebrations around the world remind the public of the importance of literacy as a matter of dignity and human rights as well as advance the literacy agenda towards a more literate and sustainable society. Reading has numerous benefits such as improving memory and cognitive function, reduces stress, improves social skills, increases intelligence and learning capacity.

The question is how much time a day should one set aside for reading? A study by University of Michigan (1992 – 2016), determined that people who spend just 30 minutes reading per day lived an average of two years longer than their peers who didn’t. The researchers put a caveat that the benefits of those 30 minutes were only observed in people who read fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or literary prose. The University at Albany recommended that children spend an average of 15-20 minutes reading each day and that’s above and beyond any reading they might be doing in school. Speed of reading is another factor to take into consideration and an average reader reads 300 words per minute without sacrificing comprehension (Forbes Magazine, 2012).

With social media taking much of our daily times, how much reading are we doing? Chances are that there is decline in reading. Online Writing and Learning Link (OWLL) identified three types of reading, namely skimming, scanning and in-depth reading. Skimming: you read the headlines, headings or first sentences of the page in each section or paragraph thereby deliberately skipping some content. Scanning: all the contents are not dealt with but one searches for specific information to suit particular purpose or need. In-depth reading: this is usually done after the text has been skimmed and the reading is done in detail to understand what the text is about.

How can a company or individual develop a reading culture?

-        Recognize the importance of reading especially in terms of acquiring knowledge and sharing information as well as solving problems or getting solutions to day to day needs.

-        Buy books or join a Book Club or subscribe to get audio-books, and Kindle books. Employers may offer book allowance to employees.

-        Join a library. Many cities have public libraries open to citizens. In addition, universities world over offer library membership including online facilities. Organizations can set up libraries in their workplaces as well as chat rooms or channels such as Slack for employees to talk about books.

-        Lead by example. Leaders including parents should lead by example so that employees and children copy good habits. There is clout in having leaders share why a book made an impact on them and how it might benefit others.

-        Reading helps people to improve themselves career-wise and at personal levels. So one can read for business and leisure. Therefore, have an attitude that makes reading a habit.

-        Buy each other gifts that include books, book vouchers, library membership or online subscriptions.

-        Governments, and institutions should develop and implement a reading policy so that there is proper planning and monitoring of progress. This is good practice for nation building. “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” Martin Luther King Jr.