Is Reading Still Fundamental?

Who remembers growing up with the commercials for www.RIF.org?  I remember how "reading" and reading comprehension scores were a major part of our education. But is reading still such a big deal?

My friends Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson (aka DHH) of Basecamp fame have blessed us with a new book. Just go buy it. Seriously, buy it, read it, and then live it. 

But this blog post is not so much about their new book. It is about reading, in general. 

I was born in 1960. Growing up, we had......books in school. And film strips. And movies. Who remembers watching MOVIES in grade school? It was such a big deal. Secretly, I think it was a mental health break for our teachers when they could run a movie or film strip, and keep us crazy kids occupied for a few minutes. 

I bought Jason and David's new book on Amazon, as an eBook. And I opted for the audio version as well. It took me around 2 hours to read the book on my Kindle. But having the audio version allows me to "re-read" the book while driving.

And then it hit me. We now live in the world of podcasts, and YouTube, and multimedia, trans-media, TBLS (Technology Based Learning Systems). 

Penmanship is no longer taught in school. But experts claim that it should be. 

When you BUY a book, you proactively take the steps necessary to purchase, read, and process the contents of a book. You are PULLING the information into your brain. You set the pace. You decide when to start, stop and restart reading. YOU are in control of the flow. You can pause and re-read a section. You can highlight sections. And, you can buy books that resonate with you, and give them to friends, colleagues and staff. 

So, here is what I think. I think we need to read more. All of us. We need to PULL more information into our brains, rather than having information PUSHED at us. If we read more, there would be less "fake news" and there would be less confusion, and less chaos in the world. 

So that's it. RIF.org had it right all along. We all need to read more books. And if you are in business (of any size) start with THIS one. 

NYDLA.org members: email me the receipt from your book purchase 

and you will receive a matching credit on your NYDLA account. 

Email: CEO@NYDLA.org