For most of my life, I thought of reading as a binary. It was a 1 or a 0.  You could either read, or you could not read.  Once you could read – the world was open to you, and you could read anything and everything and the world was in front of you.  

Now, I should know better.  I have an English degree from a good university.  I was taught how to read and write by excellent professors.  But strangely it wasn’t until I was asked to teach a course on a specific book that I learned a lot about reading. I know I had contact with this particular book in the past, but somehow the earlier brush didn’t leave me with the same impression as when I read it with the intent to teach the material.  It’s a dead simple title and at the time I first heard the request, almost offensive in its plain approach.  The title of the book is … “How to read a book.”

Now, I’ve got thousands of books on my bookshelf.  I’ve read at least that number of books that I’ve borrowed from libraries.  I’ve got hundreds of digital books on my devices that I’ve read. I would think I know how to read a book.  I’ve taken an English degree, and read 3 books a day during my university career.  I’ve read all of Shakespeare’s plays, and taught courses on how to write. If anyone should, I should know how to read a book.

It was a very humbling experience to read this plain-titled book and realize there was a lot I didn’t know, and that reading is a skill I can build on and develop.

Most of us would think it is normal to take a course on public speaking, a course on writing, a course on cooking.  These are also basic things, that seem very normal to develop as a skill, as we intuitively know there is a depth to the craft of baking, and that while we may get bread right once, we need to continue to learn to understand all the permutations and variations of buns, breads, scones, etc.  No matter how good we are at a craft, a lesson or working hard at a skill will improve it.

However when it comes to reading, it seems a pretty commonly held belief that reading is binary.  You learned it when you were 5, and now you know how.  

I have met a number of people who are smarter than me, and who have a perspective on reading as a skill, and a craft that needs to be developed. I’ve started to learn from those wise folks, and I plan to share anything of value that I learn here.  If this is something you’re interested in, follow along with my learning.

Reading is one of those things that for most of us, we spend a great portion of our day doing.  We read email, we read news, most of what we do on our digital devices (YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat aside) is reading.  It’s an important and essential part of how we interact with the world.  If you could improve how you read, and develop that skill, it would be a significant improvement on how much value you get from your daily interactions, and likely improve your ability to learn and connect with what you read.