November 2017, Nokia Office, Manyata Tech Park, Bangalore, India
A study conducted in Stanford University proves that reading is the workout the brain needs in order to stay in its optimal health. A group of people was asked to read Mansfield’s Park by Jane Austen while being monitored by a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine. The MRI mapping showed that the minute they started reading, there was a noticeable rise in the level of blood flowing to the brain. Not only this, blood was also flowing to those parts of the brain, which were currently not in use. In the Instagram era, one of the reasons people do workout is to flaunt their physique. But hey, can you flaunt your brain image on social networks?? Fellow Toastmasters and dear guests - that is precisely one of the many reasons why you should not read books...
It’s story time!! Our hero’s name is Dan Hurley. When he was eight years old, he still couldn’t read. He couldn’t pronounce the word “THE”... Yes, many of us still don’t pronounce it the right way! Dha or Dhi, we wonder. Hmm. During a parent-teacher meeting, Mrs. Browning told his mother: "Daniel is a slow learner." And a year later, he was rescued by none other than... “Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can. Look out, here comes the Spiderman” (hum the song)... He started reading comic books. By age 11, he was getting straight As! Later in his teens, he scored the equivalent of 136 on an IQ test. This score signifies that he was way above average. Sean Patrick is the author of “Nikola Tesla – The man who invented the 20th Century”. He writes that IQ and success are related only to a point. Throughout the pages of History, many achievers have overcome their average or even below-average IQ, to reach the pinnacle of success. Henry Ford was flat broke five times before he founded the Ford Motor Company. In his youth, Thomas Edison’s teachers told him he was “too stupid to learn anything”. Beethoven’s teachers believed him hopeless as a composer!! Mark Twain has aptly said, “Thousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered – either by themselves or by others”. So, please don’t read to improve your IQ...
Many people, who read, tend to behave like snobs. An “intellectual snob” can be defined as a person who takes pride in his/her own knowledge and achievements while running down others. Research says that reading “The God Delusion” serves you better than say “Fifty Shades of Grey”. But Saul Bellow, winner of Pulitzer and Nobel Prize for Literature, thinks otherwise. According to him, “a good novel is worth more than the best scientific study”. Ask a voracious reader in your friends circle, and he would say that reading Half-Girlfriend or Fifty Shades of Grey is a waste of time. I had taken a course in Journalism and Feature writing was one of the modules. The facilitator, a noted columnist, asked us the last book we had read. She stressed, “I would not consider Chetan Bhagat’s books”. My question is, “why discriminate?” As Alex, of Modern Family, coolly states, “One person’s gross is another person’s beautiful”... What is the point of knowledge if we do not adorn it with humility? According to Prof. Robert C. Roberts of Ethics Department, Baylor University, a person without vanity will be fearless in asking what might seem to be “stupid” questions. Please don’t read to be an insufferable know-it-all...
I did a survey on Facebook asking people as to why they read books. The responses ranged from growth as a human being, updating of knowledge, solutions to world problems and eventually because everything on the internet is not true... I agree with most of them. According to George R.R. Martin, yes of GOT fame, “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” You can become the character. A consulting detective in the 20th Century London, an architect in the US who does not design as per the conventions of society, a kid with an imaginary tiger or a pregnant COO of a social media giant who breaks the glass ceiling - all while you are reading a book!! In conclusion, fellow Toastmasters, I say, read just for the pleasure of it...
Toastmaster of the Day, the book is open for critique...