I should drink water. A lot. I should sleep. A lot. I should read. However, a lot less. You see, this increased reading and near-constant reading of pretty much anything is making me ignorant, rather than knowledgeable.
At one time, I would have prided myself that I can read through and through, nowadays, I am just glad if I can skim through a sentence before the next nugget of data is tossed my way. It also appears that I have lost interest in reading, though I would not let you in on that as I will appear to be on the top of news and information. This sadly has become the tale of my reading.
Why doesn’t someone come with a needed word-count per day guideline? There should a Fitbit Meter somewhere for measuring the word counts per day and how much should be ingested everyday for healthy living. While they are at it, they can also possibly come with a BMI-type index to measure the words read.
They say that now weight, just like age, is just a number, and we have to focus on wellness. I believe an important part of wellness is definitely reading, which however has been condescended to an activity. I would say that, reading has become just this-other-thing that we do while doing those-other-things. I read while eating, I read while I am talking to someone, I read while I watch TV. Worst, I read this while I am already reading that.
Like I know for a fact, that you are probably reading this, while you are chatting on Whatsapp and you are chatting on Whatsapp while you are seeing TV. See, what I mean?
Reading increases our knowledge base, expands our horizons without travelling, allows us to live through different experiences and gives us an understanding of varied concepts and so on. What it also does is feed me data like there is no tomorrow. And then feed me some more before I have even digested, forget that burp. Truly, I could be lost in the abyss of information freedom, especially since there isn’t a Fitbit or BMI monitor, yet. I say yet because just about anything is possible and no longer appears incredulous. On the top of all, since I read, I know I should drink more water and sleep more. All leading to hilariously disastrous consequences sometimes, like when my routine says that I have to, have to drink , and hence I end up feeling thirsty in the middle of movies, in middle of reading (which is not an issue, because like I wrote earlier, I read mostly while doing other things).
They say, “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body”, which makes things quite challenging. So, we should read, that is a given. Though, I am befuddled as to how much one should read and for how long. Because, like I mentioned earlier, where are the guidelines? The golden recommendations for reading? I think all readers would agree that it would be swell to have a certain set of parameters. If I re-read a long loved book, is it included in my reading quota if there is one? Or does one have to read new, freshly-minted books to be considered well-read. What if like me, you also do not read a certain genre, and only ever devour a certain other genre? Do I have to make-up the deficiency in that genre to be considered a consummate reader? Just like we have horror writers, science-fiction writers, et al , should we also not have a genre-defined reader?
So many questions, all unanswered and all actually arise from reading a little too much on a wide variety of topics.
