Knowledge may be acquired through conversation, watching television or travelling, but the deepest and most consistent way is through reading, ff we consider the
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population of the world, we may conclude that a few spend their whole lives on academic reading; many read something light for pleasure, a few
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something more serious now and then; while very many men, women and children never advance beyond the sports page of a newspaper, a fashion article or a
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.
If you have learnt to love books as a child, the reading habit will never desert you. But if this has not been your good fortune, you tend to
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reading as a bore. The
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which help to set a child on the path to the literary adventure are: a life even
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above real poverty, so that there is scope in the family for thoughts and activities not wholly devoted to the struggle for
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; the availability of free books either in the home or in a public library; and the possession of a character both curious and
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.
In order to desire to read one must be curious A few children are able to keep this
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and their mental independence alive despite the educational system of their country. Ideally, a school system should be one in which the love of learning, rather than the
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of facts, is cultivated. Family and governmental policy should be to see that we have a great number of books—any books. A person with a book is a real person alive on the earth; without a book he is a fool.