Rediscover the joy of reading

by Letters Editor · Published July 14, 2011 · Updated July 8, 2011

From Anthony Gathambiri IMC, Merrivale, KZN

Today, most people have lost the value of reading. We are in an era when books continue gathering dust on shelves while internet business is booming.

Reading has become an activity that one now embarks when one is preparing for an exam. To make matters worse, students seldom read their course books. They either rely on handouts they get from their teachers or notes they jot down in classrooms.

Why should we read? A reader can not only communicate, but communicate sensibly. Whenever people have a conversation about a particular issue, it is easy to identify good readers by the way they argue.

Reading should be part and parcel of one�s life. A nation, a society that doesn�t read is poor.

Modern technology is to blame for the dying culture of reading. In the Internet age, where internet services are available in most institutions, we have a quick access to any information we need with no struggle. One needs just to google a word, and ready-baked information comes within no time.

We live in a time when we want everything instantly and faster. It takes discipline and patience to read.

We need to make libraries in our homes. It need not be an expensive exercise. Simple articles from newspapers could be collected. We could photocopy some information. Why should parents not reward their children with books, and even buy them good books on their birthdays?

Parents ought to set an example to their children. Before making their children good readers, they need to read.

We love to take our children for picnics and tours but we never take them to the libraries. Libraries are everywhere in South Africa. We have good libraries, and it is free to join them. If we want to create a reading nation we have to befriend our libraries.

We should consider time wasted if a day passes without turning pages of a book. If we begin reading now it will become a habit that will be hard to drop.