A Man Who Does Not Read Good Books Has No Advantage Over The Man Who Can’t Read Them
Proverbs 23 : 12 NKJV:
“Apply your heart to instruction,
And your ears to words of knowledge.”
Reading Good Books and Reading “The Good Book” (The Holy Bible) is the very best thing a young person can be taught as they grow and mature. A good reading habit opens doors to all other disciplines of knowledge, understanding, and learning. You don’t know that which you do not know. Reading the knowledge and the wisdom of the ages through the knowledge and experience of many other people, from the beginning of the world as we know it,…gives an individual a wide range of wisdom with which to use and operate while they live out their lives here on earth.
When other people know more than you know, reading their views and experience gives you an increased amount of new knowledge, understanding, and experience which you never before possessed. Knowledge X Action = Power. The more you know, the more you can and will do.
With advances in technology,…and in particular with the advent of the internet, there is an over-load of information readily available to anyone who desires to obtain it. All that is required to access it is nothing more than the click of a computer mouse. While the internet is an easily accessible source of knowledge, it is a non-personal mechanical device with out the touch, feel, and aroma of a good hard bound book. One of my greatest and most enjoyable ways of relaxing is sitting in front of a log fire, in a comfortable winged back chair, holding an old hard bound book in my own hands, and drifting off mentally to some far away time and place to encounter characters and events involving people that are no longer living, but with whom I feel most comfortable being in their company as I re-live their important activities and events together with them….all to the warmth, smell, and sounds of the popping and crackling wood fire.
You see friends, when I know that which I have learned and then I read and learn that which you know from your recorded experiences,…then I now know as much or even more than do you know. My expanded knowledge and understanding is now ready and available to be shared with other people. The more people I am able to serve and assist, the greater will be my income levels of life,…because money is a unit of measure of the amount of personal service you render to other people.
Mental growth always precedes physical growth and its related physical performance. So if you truly do desire to be and have more than what you presently possess,…then you must grow yourself to a more and a higher level of knowledge and understanding, and then apply the information you have recently acquired.
The best and fastest way to learn who you really are and what you are capable of actually doing is to read, read, and read some more about other successful people and how they have achieved their personal success. Success Principles are God’s Laws. They all apply equally to everyone alive, no matter where and how they live and what they do to achieve their own success. Learn what they did from their writings, and you will then know what you need to do in order to accomplish like kind levels of success.
Permit me to share two true stories about the importance of having a personal reading habit. These two short stories are about: (1) one of our very greatest and most humble U. S. Presidents. He was our 16th President and is known by all students in this country. His name was Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), and about (2) a very special and gifted author whose life’s purpose is to teach children to read good books every day and thereby fall in love with reading by allowing it to become a very great part of their own lifestyles:
(1) After experiencing numerous failures in business and politics, Abraham Lincoln still maintained his daily habit of reading. Once an outspoken critic scoffed, “What good is all the education you have, Mr. Lincoln? It has never earned you a decent living.” Now please remember this criticism occurred well before there was such a thing as a career politician. Mr. Lincoln calmly replied to his critic, “Education is not given for the purpose of earning a living; it’s learning what to do with a living after you earn it that counts.”
(2) One of America’s greatest reading advocates is a man by the name of Jim Trelease. He is an educator and author who stresses in all of his work that reading out-loud to children is the best way to instill in them the love of literature. He has devoted nearly three decades to promoting what he considers the most important social factor in our lives today. “The more you read,” he says, “the smarter you grow, and the longer you stay in school. The longer you stay in school, the more money you earn. The more you earn, the better your children will do in school. So if you hook up a child with a good reading habit, you influence not only his future but also that of the next generation.”
Reading researchers agree. They have long seen a correlation between the time a person spends reading and the number of innovative ideas and creative solutions a person possesses. Reading positively affects a person’s ability to reason, and his abilities to communicate, by providing an extended and accurate vocabulary.
Spend some time reading today. I promise you that it will be time well spent, investing in your own personal growth, which affects your future success. As the poster often seen hanging in libraries and classrooms across America says, “Succeed…Read!”
It is from the depths of my heart that this website, www.davesevern.com is being published and provided for the use of those folks who desire to personally grow and increase their personal position in the world by discovering more and more usable knowledge than they presently possess over the remainder of their lives.
Knowledge X Action = Power
Peace and Love to All of You……………..Poppa Bear