The habit of reading is so easily lost; not so much, perhaps, the power of enjoying books as the actual power of reading at all. It is incredible how, after not being able to use the eyes for a time, the habit of reading fast has to be painfully regained. The power to read fast is much to be desired, and the people who read every word are left sadly behind by the people who read from full stop to full stop at a glance. This power is what our children are gaining at school, and this power is what we are losing when we refuse to give a little time out of our lives to "Mother Culture." It is worth anything to get and to keep even that; and to do it, it is not a bit necessary to read "stiff" books.
I've always been a fairly fast reader and used to feel guilty about this and sometimes wondered how much benefit I was getting from my reading. But over a long period of time it does all add up and this article from the Parent's Review encouraged me that although I'm not a great scholar and my education was on the woeful side, my mind has been activated by reading and I have grown in the process.
Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.
- Richard Steele
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