...in an age when technological toys dazzle our senses with colors and sounds, and constantly call us to come and play, books--as well as the activity of reading them--seem boring. Books require dedication and discipline, two words that are not popular in our leisure-loving society (Davis).I must respectfully disagree with Professor Davis. Books aren't boring. In fact, some books fascinate me so deeply that sometimes my husband wakes up to find me standing in the bathroom at 3 AM, book in hand. A good novel can bring everything else in my life to a grinding halt for days on end. The same is true for many of my friends and also many of my high school students. Yet even the most avid readers don't finish reading every book that we begin.
If I quit reading a book, does it mean that I lack dedication and discipline, as Professor Davis so glibly assumes? I would agree that that some students are unmotivated and lack self-discipline - but not me! In school I was always an over-achiever. Nonetheless, I sometimes stop reading books, even an interesting book on a topic that appeals to me.
Today's Links
Literary Reading in Dramatic Decline
Reading in America
Bibliography
Davis, Jeffry C. "Why Read Books at All?" Wheaton College. Web. 12 Nov. 2010. <http://www.wheaton.edu/english/faculty/davis/guidance_for_students/books.html>.
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