How you read is more important than what you read

If we go to a nice place and take a photograph, all the pictures would be different from each other. Because we all have our own lens. Through the lens, we look at the world differently. Language is a string to tie us together even if we have such different lenses. Without language, we couldn’t have built up this kind of civilization. However, language is unable to grasp the whole of reality. We often say things like, Wow, it’s amazing. I can’t find a word to describe this. Or it’s more than words!

I know we are reading tons of letters, more than at any other time. We are saturated by a sea of reading material. So I don’t want to push you to read more books like your mom did when you were little. But I would like to let you know why it is important to know how to read.

Before I begin, I would like to address the word “Neuroplasticity.” It is the ability of the brain to change continuously throughout an individual’s life. It means our brain is constantly changing because of our experiences until we die. That is the most critical discovery that we achieved in the field of neuroscience in the 21st century.

Brain is key

As you know, we are so busy and intolerant of wasting our time. So we read not with our whole body and soul but just with our fingers. Do you think this is saving our precious time? Or we are losing our ability to read deeply?

Standford’s neuroscience team presented a thesis, Your Brain on Jane Austen. When we are looking for tidbits of information on the web and when we read a novel very deeply, the working spaces in a brain are totally different. During the reading, we could take someone else’s perspective. Sometimes, taking on the perspective of a person we have never met in real life could change our life. It means we can become literally a new man. If we are not able to deeply sympathize with a person who is before us, it must be impossible to bridge the gap between us.

According to an MIT research team’s study, the young generation’s ability to sympathize with other people has dropped by 40% in the last 20 years, especially in the past 10 years! To process a bunch of information, we scan it, skip it. The more we skim, the less our neuron system are able to make networks between synapses. When our networks are less dense, we lose some of our ability to think hard about, consider, and weigh situations. Even worse, this lack of networks reduces our neuroplasticity and makes it harder to change oneself.

Way of seeing

Einstein told us, the principle of the world is that we have to decide what we see. Reading, in fact, does not give readers anything new. There is communication between what we already know and what we get to know. That’s the reason why the more we read, the better we can read; because when we read, we get to connect separate spots more easily. Reading, actually, is connecting.

These days, we often use the word “Kkondae” in Korean to describe a kind of unpleasant. It indicates someone who is somewhat arrogant or rude and for sure always think they are right and don’t want to change their principles.

I am very sad when I meet a kind of “Kkondae.” It doesn’t matter if they’re old or not. Even if they’re young, they can be a “Kkondae” if they have those kinds of characteristics. If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s track. We are changeable beings. Do you remember “Neuroplasticity?” Nevertheless, when we fail to open ourselves to the world or to change, that is the moment we stop to grow.

The courage to get lost on the road can lead us to our destination.
The courage to be able to recognize we are wrong when we have false notions can make us a better person.

How to read

We think sentence by sentence. The word “Sentence” came from “Senténtīa”, which means “the way of thinking” in Latin. I believe the more we read good things, the better able we are to improve the world around us. Essentially, knowing how to read can change us and the world we live in.

Those are things I keep in mind when I read.

• Keep the distance: What we earn from reading is not facts but a broad perspective on the world. It depends on how we situate the book we are reading in relation to our other knowledge or books. If we don’t keep a distance from the book or the knowledge we already know, we are going to be drowned when we are falling in love with.
• Be suspicious: All writers are not right. Eventually, we need to take a position after reading. What you will take and give away depends on your choice. We have to acknowledge that books are the mobile object through time. Trying not to be trapped in contemporary time, we relentlessly need to be in doubt. Don’t believe anything without giving it some thought.
• Read with your pen: Don’t trust yourself too much. After reading, you’ll forget 80% of the book. That’s why you have to read with your pen. Please take notes on the page. It can be just your feedback to the writer or questions about what you can’t accept. That’ll remain with you, finally. Also, that could be a gateway to your new writing!

I believe that the more crucial moment is not in reading but after reading. Of course, a writer is always far away and I am here now. After reading, we are able to get in a position to start over with our own journey on our own two legs! Essentially, knowing how to read means how to live.

Please, enjoy your journey!

Special thanks to.
Maryannewolf, Pierre Bayard, and Heejin Jung