In the 18th century many prominent voices were concerned by an ‘epidemic’ affecting young people whereby they were spending too much time reading books. It was diagnosed as ‘a dangerous disease’ called ‘reading rage, reading fever, reading mania or reading lust.’
In 2002 (14 year old school drop out) William Kamkwamba…
In 2002 (14 year old school drop out) William Kamkwamba built a solar powered water pump that, for the 1st time ever, supplied drinkable water to his village. Unable to afford school tuition, he taught himself to do this by reading library books.
In Iceland books are exchanged on Christmas Eve and you spend…
In Iceland books are exchanged on Christmas Eve and you spend the rest of the night reading. Iceland publishes more books per capita than any other country; & new books are typically published only during the Christmas season. This frenzy is called Jólabókaflóð, or “Christmas Book Flood.”
NPR posted a link “Why doesn’t America read anymore?” to their…
NPR posted a link “Why doesn’t America read anymore?” to their Facebook page; the link led to an April Fool’s message saying that many people comment on a story without ever reading the article and asking not to comment if you read the link; people commented immediately on how they do read.
Some Cuban cigar factories employed a “Lector” who would read newspapers….
Some Cuban cigar factories employed a “Lector” who would read newspapers, political treatises and classical literature aloud to help break the monotony of the cigar-rollers’ work, thus even illiterate cigar-rollers would be well-informed and familiar with great literature.
The Japanese have a word (tsundoku [積ん読]) for the habit of buying…
The Japanese have a word (tsundoku [積ん読]) for the habit of buying a lot of books and never reading them.
A Malawian teenager taught himself how to build a windmill out of junk and bring…
A Malawian teenager taught himself how to build a windmill out of junk and bring power to his village. He then went on to build a second, larger windmill to power irrigation pumps. He did this all from books he read in the library.
Dolly Parton thinks it is so important that every child has books to read…
Dolly Parton thinks it is so important that every child has books to read that she started a foundation that will mail children a free age-appropriate book every month from birth to their 5th birthday.