Why do we need to read books?

We have to read so many books against our wishes in school days that many of us develop a dislike for books. No doubt we see this dislike coming out in comments such as the following:

• Do not be a bookworm
• This is just bookish knowledge
• Oh c'mon, let's be practical

This reveals a common belief that the books do not teach us anything of practical value, which is not true. Let me illustrate this with the following scenario:

Imagine you are in a new, unknown city, and your goal is to learn about it. You explore the city by going around, seeing places, and asking people for directions. You keep notes of what you discover, and use them when you have to go to that place again. Gradually, you start building your knowledge base about the city. Following this process, you get fully familiar with the city in a few years, and by this time, you realize that your notes about the city have grown into a really useful source of reference information. Now, imagine if you had a map and guide of the city available to you from the day one, would it not be a much faster exercise for you? Would you choose to refer to a map or go around the city on your own the hard way?

Our life is a much bigger area to explore than a city. For hundred of years, many wise people have spent their lifetime discovering truths through hard experience, and they have made this wisdom available to us through books. Why do we insist on ignoring this vast source of knowledge that can guide us like a map, and re-invent the wheel by learning everything from our own experience? Mankind has been able to make rapid progress only by each generation building over the knowledge of the previous generations. Without this continuous learning, we would not be in the Information Age today, but in Stone Age.

Okay, it is not always easy to extract meaningful knowledge of practical value from every book that we read. The most challenging part is that we get a feeling of boredom and sleepiness coming over us as we read a couple of chapters, and it is hard to maintain interest . Here is a simple RAR formula that I have found useful to get the most out of the book I read:

• READ - Read the book to get some new, interesting information
• APPLY - Use this information in real-life situaltions. See how you can apply it for your benefit.
• READ - Go back and read the same part again in the light of your experience. You will find a whole new meaning in the same words now.