Read great books! Read anything great! I will rather you go for quality and not quantity; Do not just become an avid reader for reading sake, the quality of books you read matters also. Like they say “iron sharpeneth iron” Read great classics, great essays, great poems, great fictions, great nonfictions great biographies, great history, great ideas and thoughts. Read something or anything great as long as great thinking, great ideas, great imagination and great writing goes into it. Greatness beget greatness how can you become a great reader when you don’t read great things or great works? It’s impossible!
The joy you put into reading matters a lot and the richness of your concentration when you read will also shape how great a reader you become. While reading it is not time that matters rather immerse yourself into the body of work before you. Even if all you have to read is five minutes, then utilize the five minutes buried deeply in the book and not worried or be conscious of time you will spend reading, just stop when you need to stop.
Read to understand! I realize most people are eager to memorize or write when it comes to knowledge. It is wrong a genuine education is such that encourages reflection. Have had the privilege to teach few classes and I realized for most people is all about scribbling something down or trying hard to remember! No all you need to do is understand what you read, be able to put the content in context, be able to interpret what you have read to yourself. I often tell people you can never loose what you know and what you know can never be lost because you already know it. Great readers have the ability to translate and interpret what they have read in their own understanding. If you know it you own it.
A great reader must have highlighters around, not just the colorful glow they bring into the pages of a book, they also have a functional role to play in terms referencing and categorization. In my case the green Colour represent timeless or classic statements, the yellow Colour represent important or statements worthy of noting, the orange Colour depicts funny or queer statements, the blue Colour is for surprises, while the pink Colour is for romantic statements. It is important you note that this is just my personal preference, you can as well play with the colours depending on what works for you.
Except for ordinary novellas, always ensure that you read the introduction of any book you chose to read. It is very important but something that most readers always enjoy to skip. When you read the introduction, it set the pace for what you are about to read, it makes understanding the book easier for you and of course it helps you to take out the message of the book effortlessly and from personal experience it reinforces your memory of the book. Reading the introduction is like going to a new terrain and reading the map beforehand, you will easily see how it all spreads out and connect, you will see the landmarks ahead and you will know where it leads to!
You are very free to read as many book as you can at a time for example as I am writing this piece to you I am reading Francis Bacon – A selection of works (philosophy), D T Suzuki – Essay in Zen Buddhism(philosophy), Leo Tolstoy – The death of Ivan Ilyich( classic literature), Antoni Tomas – Amilcar Cabral(biography), Maya Angelou – The Complete Poetry(poem), Christopher Okigbo – Moonglow and other Poems, The Poetry of Robert Frost (poems) and Matt Haig – The Midnight Library (novel). This is about eight books and in between have read articles, essays and speeches. The point is that it all depends on your temperance, life style and time management. For me philosophy works best when I just wake up I tend to be more consecrated, the novel could fly anytime of the day it’s a gentle read, the classics goes in the evening while am relaxed and the poems most time sees me to sleep, the biography goes when I have time to myself anytime of the day and I feel I can read something a little bit heavy for the brain. So also, somedays goes by that I don’t read all the books and focus more on any of my choice. Therefore, studying your mood and how it works could determine how well you joggle between books. I have over 100 fresh books to read I feel I can capture more time when I read few books at a time, something like batches, most especially picking from each genre at a time.
There is no rule to time of reading you can read a book for as long as you can, I started reading Leo Tolstoy – Anna Karenina around 2016 and I just finished it now in 2023! Till today am still struggling to read Ulysses by James Joyce. In-between have started so many books and finished, I even re-read some too, there is no rule that says you have to finish this book before this, it all depends on you. You have a whole life time to read no need to rush enjoy the books and don’t stop reading.
Great readers carry the destiny of their own and it is very great and unique, don’t take reading for granted few men and women that have been given the privilege to change the world are great readers. One of the surest ways of changing the world is to read wide and great. A great reader must own and grow a library that is what sets you apart it is equally important because that’s your legacy. It takes time not to mention cost, to discover and find great books takes time it’s a journey of a life time. One book at a time, then it becomes two, three and four before you know it you have a library! Have been searching for some books for over two decades yet I can’t lay my hands on them yet. It is so because we have a life to live in between the books. Some people make history yes but no one has ever so much as shaped history without great knowledge. From Jesus Christ, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Julius Nyerere, Kwame Nkrumah, Albert Einstein and others. Books are spiritual! Great readers are men and women of destiny. Very early this morning I went to google on my phone and I wrote the greatest readers of all time and eight names popped up; Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Queen Elizabeth, Albert Einstein, Jane Austen, Warren Buffet and Jeff Bezos. Guess what these names are one of the greatest names to ever exist on the planet earth! Presidents, great writers, great thinkers and great business men. Reading is greatness!
Abidemi Adebola
Founder African Reading Project