Reading for Everyday Success

Most people realize that reading leads to success in schools, but continued reading can lead to everyday successes. We should never stop learning. Honestly, we never stop experiencing life, so we should take the effort to learn from it. Reading allows us to expand our thinking, feed our imaginations, learn from others and move us toward successes. I like reading inspirational and self-improvement books. I also read magazines, internet news and articles and just about anything else I can lay my eyes on.

I found a great way to read throughout the day. I use Overdrive Media app on my droid phone to download library books both readable and audio. I use my wait time, down time, break time and other opportunities to take out my phone and read a few pages. I am currently reading The Next 100 Years; A Forecast For the 21^st Century, by George Friedman and The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura.

Reading allows you to learn differing points of views, new points of views and escapes to fantasy worlds. Reading can also sharpen your thinking and reasoning skills, especially material that is designed to provoke.

National Assessent of Adult Literacy reports that for 2003, 14% of American Adults read below the basic level of prose literacy. The inability to read even at the basic levels can mean dire consequences on our citizenry. 85 percent of all juveniles who interface with the juvenile court system are functionally illiterate. More than 60 percent of all prison inmates are functionally illiterate. Penal institution records show that inmates have a 16% chance of returning to prison if they receive literacy help, as opposed to 70% who receive no help. It is not only important for adults to read better but we should encourage children to read better as well.

Reading may even reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s. David Snowdon, in his study into Alzheimer’s (The Nun Study) discovered that the grammatical complexity and idea density of autobiographies written by nuns in their early twenties reflected their potential for Alzheimer’s late in life. The nuns studied were at least 75 years old.

So, regardless of how well you read, pick up a book, a magazine, download an e-book, and exercise your mind.