Dear Editor,
The art and science of expanding one’s mind is reading books which, not only stimulates the mind, but add real depth to the treasures of knowledge. Like any stimulus to the mind, reading books, magazines, periodicals or newspapers expands the vista of knowledge to propagate one’s intellect in order to accommodate a wide-ranging tapestry of information. Reading also expands your language skills to the extent that speech, hearing (understanding) and cognizance are increased tenfold; diction, communication skills and imagination are also sharpened.
Being an avid reader myself, I can share with the public my own personal experiences; at the beginning, while in undergrad and graduate schools, I did not really have the time to read anything but my academic material which was mainly science; the advantage of the liberal arts education in the USA is that one is able to take courses in History, Art, Anthropology, Literature and other subjects and this kept up my reading interests outside of pure science. After graduating as a Dentist, I read a lot of fictional books- the Ludlum books, classics, romance, westerns etc. but slowly and surely I moved to non-fiction reading, and for the longest while that’s all I’ve been reading. I found out very quickly that true events in human history are so amazing and unique that fiction becomes irrelevant and oblique.
For example, the factual accounts of Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion of Egypt and the Nile valley; his Navy’s demise at Alexandria at the hands of Admiral Nelson and the whole epic struggle which followed are all hard to believe. The exploits of Magellan or Columbus are so overwhelming that one wonders how it occurred; the rise and fall of ancient civilizations so instructive as to contemplate the future; Alexander and his Macedonians who conquered the world and the consequences of his 32 years on history. Of course, the authors who researched and wrote these books (sometimes 10 years of research) are most times, brilliant writers and you actually are taken back in time to the way life actually was and events unfolding before you.
Growing up, my Dad, President Cheddi always insisted that I read the local daily newspapers to get current events and other information but of course, I always wanted to get to the comics section first. Even if the comics section of a newspaper is a stimulus for engaging a person to read then so be it; but newspapers, periodicals and magazines are reading matter which could open up new vistas for expansive reading. Children should be encouraged to read expansively in order to activate their mental facilities, facilitate their educational opportunities and create a life-long quest for knowledge. When reading anything, I have always tried to go to a dictionary for words I did not understand and even though it could be an inconvenience, I have found that this has been a great benefit as it has expanded my vocabulary greatly.
Reading gives one details which no other medium can deliver and stimulates the imagination the way no other medium could; for example, if you take all the movies made on Christopher Columbus (including documentaries) and compress all the information into one presentation, the contents would not be even close to the facts and information in the book: “Admiral of the Ocean Sea-A Life of Christopher Columbus” by Samuel Morrison which was so well written that it won the Pulitzer Prize, America’s premier book prize.
Biographies are some of the best reading material because reading about an outstanding personality in history gives one a sense of the whole era in which that individual lived, with rich details in a tapestry of life in that particular period of time.
For example, if one reads “Napoleon Bonaparte” by Alan Schom, you would be getting a factual account of the whole period including an overview of the French Revolution and details of one of the giants of world history; over two hundred thousand books have been written about Napoleon and it took 10 years for Schom to produce this first one-volume book; but what a masterful tapestry of information in narrative form to keep one turning the pages for more mental stimulation!
That is why here in Guyana, we need more libraries (with more books}, bookstores and book fairs in order to inculcate our young people to read more. Duties and taxes should be greatly reduced so that Guyanese can be exposed to a wide range of books, periodicals and other reading material. We need to attract book publishers to invest in this country; we need to encourage our writers to new heights; we need to create a national book depository where individuals can contribute to our youth’s mental development and reading abilities; we need vehicles converted to mobile libraries so that people in rural areas can be exposed to reading material on a regular basis; and we who are parents need to make sure that “TV viewing time” does not take away from “book time”.
Editor, reading intensifies a person’s mental development and awareness to succeed in any path of life that person will take and writing enforces the free will which is the most important bastion of a true democracy.
Yours faithfully,
Cheddi (Joey) Jagan (Jr.)
