On reading

I read this essay on Sunday and it engaged my deep belief of the importance of reading. Politicians will have their beliefs and their stands, which I may agree or disagree with, but they'll always have my respect if they number reading as one of their great passions. The respect comes not from having someone else share a love of literary pursuits; it comes from recognizing how reading is able to shape a person - we are what we read.

Through reading we open our minds to new ideas; we learn to empathize and discover we are not alone; we come to greater knowledge and understanding of the world, and perhaps even admire cultures other than our own. Inside a book, we can escape, be someone else, know ourselves a little better, and emerge a better version of ourselves. Every book is an emotional and intellectual journey, and if we keep taking those journeys, we keep alive our intellectual curiosity and imagination, and expand our capacity for wonder and inspiration.

Books - of fiction and non-fiction - enlarge our knowledge of the landscape within us and the world without. We would all do well to know ourselves better, and when so much of the world without - from Qatar to Myanmar to Brazil - has links to even a small island nation, when citizens of other countries come to live among us, when we leave for other shores, knowing just a little bit more about the world - wanting to know more about the world and its people - is no small asset. But schools here have cut back on literature classes and I can't remember any local politician who took the time this year to talk about a book he or she loved (I'd love to be corrected on this; I will also say that in an interview with Time magazine in 2005, Lee Kuan Yew enthused about the 17th-century Spanish novel Don Quixote, which is wonderful, but how many Singaporeans read the interview?).

The library has reading campaigns, but if they really want the public to start reading or read more, they should have several notable (beloved or feared, depending on how you see it) politicians talk about the books that have inspired them. This will really get the nation going, seeing as how we too often look to the government for guidance and assistance. Of course, it would be terrific if our politicians didn't just mention Machiavelli or The Art of War but also listed literary titles - fiction, philosophy, memoirs - that show they are capable of understanding the everyman plight or what it means to be human and fragile in this culture and others. If we had politicians who could display even an ounce of passion about reading literature from little and well-known cultures, it might inspire the people of our sheltered city-state to learn about the world beyond our shores and not be trapped within the small worlds we've constructed for ourselves.

Even parents can disappoint. They may harp all they like about their children not reading but if they have no passion for it themselves, they can hardly expect their children to pick up a book. If they don't leave spaces for books around the home, they can't expect their children to make reading a part of their everyday lives. Busy Singaporean parents may not appear to have a lot of time to read, but they're setting a bad example if they don't make the time to read. Or read voraciously.

Perhaps parents - and some teachers - see reading only as a tool to construct academic success. But reading shouldn't be an educational commodity; it should be embraced and loved for more than that, for the reasons stated above. If parents and teachers understood this more, they would read more and find it much easier to enlarge the reading appetite of children, as would any politician concerned about the emotional and intellectual well-being of Singapore's citizens.

"The habit of reading is caught, not taught," said Joan Anim-Addo at the Royal Society of Literature Review's discussion of "Literature for Life." The people in positions of authority - politicians, parents, teachers - need to have passion for reading in the first place before they can pass it on to children. And they need to show it. Children are experts at detecting false and insincere behavior, so there's no point in telling them to do something we don't already do or actually appreciate for the right reasons.

The following advice is aimed at children, but I think it's just as applicable to adults in their choice of reading material, be it their umpteenth selection or their very first.

Ben Orki - 10½ Inclinations

1. There is a secret trail of books meant to inspire and enlighten you. Find that trail.
2. Read outside your own nation, color, class, gender.
3. Read the books your parents hate.
4. Read the books your parents love.
5. Have one or two authors that are important, that speak to you; and make their works your secret passion.
6. Read widely, for fun, stimulation, escape.
7. Don't read what everyone else is reading. Check them out later, cautiously.
8. Read what you're not supposed to read.
9. Read for your own liberation and mental freedom.
10. Books are like mirrors. Don't just read the words. Go into the mirror. That is where the real secrets are. Inside. Behind. That's where the gods dream, where our realities are born.
10½. Read the world. It is the most mysterious book of all.

Posted by Monoceros at November 3, 2008 2:14 PM