What have you been reading lately? In a gathering, you can soon tell who the wide readers are, since wide readers often think and speak well too. They win the admiration, respect, and fellowship of others. After all, reading expands the mind and many people consider it one of the most satisfying pleasures known to mankind, combining, as it does, mental agility and physical relaxation way above the scale offered by television.

Reading is primarily a mental activity, since you read with your mind and use your imagination to paint the setting of the action 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 various arguments and ideas introduced by the author of that self-help book you are holding.

Learning how to read properly helps you to develop (an extensive|a wide through reading various kinds of books. A skillful reader recognizes a wide range of vocabulary. The reader may not understand exactly what every word means, but he/she will have a general idea of what the sentence is trying to convey.

Reading makes you more alert and more curious about new words. Some readers develop ‘the dictionary habit’, which means that every time they come across a strange word, they try to figure out what it possibly means in the context. If they are stumped, they refer to the dictionary.

In the same way, reading develops intellectual curiosity by exposing you to different subjects. You learn to read by reading books of increasing difficulty and variety. Just as in other types 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!

Reading teaches you to have an active and open mind. Just understanding the writers idea is not really good enough, you have to have a response to what you 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 writer. Always keep your mind open; understand and weigh the ideas that you read. A practical part of active reading is the development of one’s own opinions.

Now let me mention the idea of speed reading. All of the above applies between three and 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 and articles. You would surely become well-read in your subject far more rapidly than others. Just imagine how that could help you at work, in school or in college …

Now, let me show you the four primary rules for better reading and better comprehension:

1) Try to read more and more every month. Remember the saying that practice makes perfect. 2) Develop the habit of reading for main ideas, ie look for the subject and predicate - the main ideas 3) Learn to read with focus and concentration. Think of what you are reading. Good readers read with understanding. 4) Learn to budget your time. Experiment with your reading time. Try purposely to read faster. Give yourself a time limit for a specific text that you are reading.

Reading is a fantastically 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 take down a book right now.

Related Articles