the best way to learn

In addition to being a writer, I consider myself an avid reader.  All of that "intellectual opinion," "educated self-discovery" stuff that I wrote about yesterday, I meant it.  The more you read, the more you think, the more you think, the more you learn.  Every day, I try to take in and retain as much information as I possibly can, and I think the most entertaining way to do this is by reading.  

The biggest problem I have with this philosophy is that there is simply too much to read.

Newspapers, magazines, classic novels, young adult books (for all you teachers out there), non-fiction; there is an endless amount of material available. 

One "solution" to this problem is to simply read as much as we possibly can.  As soon as we finish a book, article, or magazine, pick up the next one and move right along.  But I think that this "solution" makes the problem bigger.

In order to really understand what we are reading or experiencing, we need to reflect, share, and  talk about the issues or topics that come up in the material.  That's one of the reasons, I think, that book clubs are so popular. They give men and women an informal way to discuss, share, and reflect on the themes that come up in readings and more importantly, give them an opportunity to RELATE to them.

Why is it so important to relate to books?

Think about it. A book is meaningless without the reader.  The book sitting on my desk right now means nothing to me until I open it, until I interpret it based on my experiences.  

This idea, also known as "Reader Response Theory," basically makes the reader about as important as the author.  Pretty empowering stuff, huh?

If we want to really learn from the information we read, we have to do more than read it.  We have to share it, reflect on it, interpret it, talk about it.  And, if we strive to do this, thoroughly, with every single piece of material we pick up, then it becomes impossible to read everything on our list. My reading list gets longer and longer every day, but I really believe that if we make it our goal to not only read, but think about our reading, then our learning deepens exponentially.

Here are some of my all time favorite books:

     1. Wuthering Heights-Emily Bronte

          2. Anne of Green Gables-L.M. Montgomery

          3. In Cold Blood-Truman Capote

          4. A Clockwork Orange-Anthony Burgess

          5. The Scarlet Letter-Nathaniel Hawthorne

          6. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

          7. Anna Karenina-Leo Tolstoy

          8. Little House in the Big Woods-Laura Ingalls Wilder

          9. The Screwtape Letters-C.S. Lewis

          10.The Things They Carried-Tim O'Brien

Happy reading, but more importantly, happy thinking!