Reading is like an opium that addicts you! The itching increases with time, but it keeps you sane all through life !
I was born in a family where my father used to read newspapers and magazines with large chunks of time. I could vividly remember that even a waste paper that comes to his way with a snack is not neglected and he takes a curious look at it to find any interesting stuff to read. That habit stealthily entered into my system and stayed there. May be that is the possible reason for my habit of high dose of reading or you could say, it encoded in my genes!
Latest research on genetics says that you can change your gene activity at any time. It further says that your genes are fluid, dynamic, and responsive to everything you think and do. Scientists say that Earth's 2.8-billion-year-old genetic legacy is present inside each of us right now. They also say that DNA is responsive to everything that happens in our lives. This opens a new a flood of opportunities for self-improvement, and reading is no doubt one such activity that has no substitute !
Joseph Addison rightly says that reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. It means you need to read something on daily basis to sharpen the saw. Honestly speaking it keeps my youthful vigour in tact, even at 50+. This is not self-trumpeting but a naked truth.
In this age of Information Democracy, many of us believe that internet substituted all our knowledge and information needs. But that notion is absurdly wrong. Books continue to have their dominance to inspire and guide our lives.
The reason for the innate need to read is our wish to step into the shoes of other person - writer/ author and gain his/her insights or world view or fantasy world. The more you read, the better would be your world view. My 35 years of reading saga has brought some revolutionary changes in my persona and it never keeps my life dull !
At last count, I find that approx. 150 books are on my conveyor belt and this speaks that I am a self-appointed Reading Ambassador of books of my choice. In fact this term Reading Ambassador is coined by Publishers Association of United Kingdom who requested all book-lovers to become Reading Ambassadors in their communities. They believe that a good book spreads with a word of mouth and the Social Media is our extended mouth!
Generally publishers tend to approach newspapers and magazines to offer book reviews for their newly published books. Marketing the books through a network of bloggers is still an alien concept in publishing industry. I am optimistic that in the coming years, a trend to appoint bloggers as Reading Ambassadors would revolutionize the book-sale business and it would help to grow the booklovers.
If any such opportunity comes to my way, I love to be a Reading Ambassador.
Hope somebody is listening in the publishing fraternity !
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