By Ng Dawin (25A01D)
If you want to read more, you must pick up each book with the right mindset: Do not read because that’s what you ought to be doing—read because that’s what you want to be doing.
I’m a busy student, but I always find time to read, especially late into the night. There’s no Goggins-esque resolve or scientifically proven motivation method going on behind the scenes; I read simply because I like to. It’s what I look forward to at the end of a school day, flipping endlessly until I reach the final page (or in most cases, until I inevitably fall asleep).
Other than exercise, I think reading is the best hobby anyone could have wished for. It’s cheap, it’s convenient and most of all, there’s a lot to gain from a well-written novel. Good writing can breathe thought-provoking ideas and fresh writing styles into you just like a world-class lecturer would, minus the trouble of getting into university in the first place.
But what far too many people do is fixate on these benefits. They cite research on how reading can develop our empathy or reduce stress, thinking these long term benefits will be enough to force themselves to pick up a book.
These people are ignorant. The human psyche doesn’t work on logic when it comes to things we don’t want to do. Even if you give a non-reader 100 reasons why he/she should read, it still won’t be enough to convince him/her to flip open the cover of “War and Peace”. Only when you genuinely want to read, will you actually read more.
It’s easier said than done, though.
A loss of desire
I’m sure many of us can remember being avid readers when we were much younger. Series like Percy Jackson, Enid Blyton or The Diary of A Wimpy Kid were titles we couldn’t get enough of, and there’s a good chance your parents spent a good fortune to fill your shelves with all the books you’d ever wanted. In fact, if you were to go to your local Popular now, chances are that you’ll see a short primary schooler squatting by the Bestsellers, lost in the pages of a novel.
But this love for reading gets lost with age. Supposedly, older students like us are constantly bombarded by schoolwork and have little time for leisure, which is a common reason many cite for their meagre reading habits. But then again, on long train rides to school or back home, most of us are engrossed in our phones, playing games or laughing at funny cat videos on Instagram.
In an NIE study conducted in 2021, researchers attributed a large dip in the number of students who enjoyed reading from Secondary 1 to Secondary 2 to increased workload or distractions from devices. I think that’s nonsense. If you genuinely wanted to read, then you would find the time to do so, anytime, anywhere. Instead, I believe that school has robbed us of our intrinsic desire to read more.
Why? Some of the reasons are simple and obvious. Reading in school is merely a means to an end. When we come across an interesting article during GP, we are faced with the expectation that we will eventually be able to regurgitate the ideas expressed in the article into a Cambridge-accepted essay structure. And literature is worse. No offence to all the cool lit teachers out there (I’m sure you exist), but your classes seem to go out of their way to force students to hate reading. One is not able to simply read a book and “feel” it for themselves. One has to read a book with a pencil and highlighter, looking for hidden symbolisms and analysing the positions of little commas to justify why Gatsby was a deeply troubled man. (His love of his life didn’t choose him, for goodness’ sake, what do you mean it’s the green light?) And don’t get me started on comprehension exams. They are by far the worst offender.
Often, reading in school feels like a couple constantly discussing the meaning of their relationship. The raw emotion is buried under a mountain of logic and philosophising. Some things in this world are meant to be felt, not dissected. Only when you take these things instinctively and at face value, can you truly experience real excitement.
The joy of reading
I know, I know, you’re probably sick of hearing this phrase, but these 4 words tell the truth. There’s no way to read more if you can’t bear to look at a book—and the first step is to throw whatever school taught you about reading out of the window.
In my opinion, reading has to be done mindlessly. Which is not to say you should completely shut down your brain—some thinking is required to understand what the author is saying, but not nearly enough to write an essay about it. You just need to immerse yourself in the words, imagining yourself as an archeologist at a dig site, shovelling away in hopes of promised treasure.
Yet, does the archeologist search for artefacts in order to sell them off at an auction? No, my friend, the archeologist toils away because it is his nature—to chip away at the dirt until he unearths the secrets of history. Curiosity lies at the heart of every aspiring archeologist, and the same applies for us readers. But instead of Egyptian scrolls or Ming Dynasty vases, what we readers are looking for is a sense of the sublime.
When I pick out a book from the library or the New York Times best seller’s list, I want to be wowed. I want to suck deep from what the author has to offer, to see an ingenious idea which makes me wonder how someone could be so smart to think of it, to experience dialogue so natural it feels like the characters are dear friends whom I could phone anytime.
I think that’s precisely the mindset you should have when you pick up a book: Looking for the details which make you go “damn”. Once you find the first book that gives you this emotional high, it’s dizzying. It’s addictive. It’s transformational. And it makes you crave for more.
You may find joy in non-traditional mediums which teachers often frown upon, such as blogs, manga or mass-marketed fiction—and that’s completely fine. Everyone interprets a book differently. One man’s meat is another’s poison. Read what makes you happy, not what others tell you to read.
After all, if Freud said that we humans are born hedonistic, then shouldn’t reading be the same?
I don’t know. All I know is that I’m craving for another good novel after completing this article. Maybe Stephen King. Haven’t read anything by him in a long time…