Insight for the Journey

Most people know me as a voracious reader.  It is true.  I’d rank reading a good book among life’s most rewarding activities.  Because of my job as a Pastor and Preacher reading is a necessity.  But, for me, it is also avocation.  Truly enjoyable!

Because the word is out that I read a lot, you’d be amazed how often I’m asked questions about reading.  So let me share some things I’m learning about reading; the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Let’s call this “Tips for getting the most out of your reading”:

Tip #1: Most books aren’t worth reading! 

Wow!  How is that for an opener? It’s true.  That’s no rip on modern publishing companies.  They have to earn a profit.  I respect that.  It is more a reflection of where our society is as a whole.  Fact: most readers are not willing to grapple with the greatest books ever written, so they settle for the popular, easy reading pabulum that lines the shelves of the big bookstores.  Learn to love the more difficult books.  Generally they are the classics.  Most of what is written today is simply a footnote to what was already written in the past.  Why eat hotdogs every day when you can dine on filet mignon?  Pull up to the table with the great masters and feast with them.  The table is set.  Plenty to eat!  No one has to go away hungry.

Tip #2: Before you read too much, learn how to read a book.

My computer has capacities far beyond my ability to utilize.  Because it meets my needs day-by-day, I’ve not taken the time to learn how to get the most out of it.  Many people are that way with books.  I recommend reading Mortimer Adler’s and Charles van Doren’s work, How to Read a Book.  It will help you get the most out of the books you do read.

Tip #3: Talk back to your books!

Really!  Your talk-back can be audible, of course.  But it will more likely be notes you scribble in the margins, between lines, and in the blank pages at the front and back.  Often, the most precious part of my books is the notes, questions, and comments I’ve written as I read.  I recommend you read and frequently stop to record your own feelings and thoughts.  If you can then discuss them with a friend who may be reading the same book, you’ll find even greater reward.

Tip #4: Carve out specific times to read.

Time spend reading good books is time well invested.  Do not waste God’s gift of time.  William Penn’s word, penned over three hundred years ago, ring truer than ever: “There is nothing,” wrote Penn, “of which we are apt to be so lavish as of time, and about which we ought to be more solicitous; since without it we can do nothing in this world. Time is what we want most, but what, alas! we use worst; and for which God will certainly most strictly reckon with us, when time shall be no more.”

I shutter to think where my own life would be without the guidance of some of the good books I’ve read.  Read on!