What You Gain When You Read for Deep Knowledge

In 1996, before Google, Facebook and TikTok, and even before iPhones, Alberto Manguel in his now classic book, A History of Reading, wrote, "We cannot do but read. Reading, almost as much as breathing, is our essential function."

To be a reader, Manguel further enlightens us, is to be part of a culture of letters dating from the first Sumerian tablets of the fifth millennium B.C.E. to Greek scrolls, from the codices of St. Augustine to the quartos of Shakespeare, from graphic novels to e-readers and smartwatches. Every word, text and image read is part of a history of language filled with tales of anarchy, censorship, triumph and passion. To read, then, is to become part of that history.

As a compulsive reader and idea gatherer, when I got to the epilogue of Leonard Mlodinow's fascinating book The Upright Thinkers, I found this point to be especially memorable: "Powerful thinking," he said, "is a craft, and it is one worth doing well."

Please select this link to read the complete article from Psychology Today.