Has it happened to you that you were once an avid reader but find that now more and more you are just in a hurry and are not reading enough? This is what Philip Yancey talks about in The death of reading is threatening the soul. The author of the essay talks about how books define him and how he used to read three books a week. Now he finds that his commitment to reading is faltering and it’s not because of a dearth of books.
The Internet and social media have trained my brain to read a paragraph or two, and then start looking around. When I read an online article from the Atlantic or the New Yorker, after a few paragraphs I glance over at the slide bar to judge the article’s length. My mind strays, and I find myself clicking on the sidebars and the underlined links. Soon I’m over at CNN.com reading Donald Trump’s latest tweets and details of the latest terrorist attack, or perhaps checking tomorrow’s weather.
Sounds familiar?
The internet is giving too much of a dopamine rush and this prevents many potential readers from deep reading. Many successful entrepreneurs make an effort to read and they talk about it.
When asked about his secret to success, Warren Buffett pointed to a stack of books and said, “Read 500 pages like this every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will…”
Tell us if you are reading more books than ever before or if it’s the other way round.
