A Nation without a Habit of Book Reading.

[gambit]

I read one book per week. Does not matter what genre. One week could be history, the next week a spy thriller, and the week after current events. But I usually finish one book per week.

St. Thomas Aquinas allegedly said: Beware the man of one book (Hominem unius libri timeo)

Now, did Aquinas really mean literally ONE book? We have to look at his warning in historical and philosophical contexts. In his time (13th cent), publishing and reading was pretty much restricted, financially and culturally, to the elites, the wealthy and the clergy. So was his warning directed at them or at everyone in general? Was Aquinas warning about being closed mind? But then, one can learn and be wise from being and talking with those older and wiser than self. That is how humans lived and grew before writing and printing. Tribal knowledge, folklore, experiences, etc.

Personally, I think Aquinas was warning us in general and throughout time. To me, it IS about being closed mindedness. One book does not necessarily mean literally just one book. It does mean living a cloistered intellectual life. Dictators banned learning by burning books. Controlled access to other ideas by controlling access to foreigners. And so on...

 

[Ahmad Sajjad Paracha]

Hazrat this needs to be compulsory reading for every Pakistani youth "The Indus Saga and the Making of Pakistan".Kudos Hazrat

Important extracts from the books should be incorporated in the syllabus of pakistan studies and shall be discussed in detail

 

[Dubious]

We were told to read 1 book a week (in primary school and back then the book wasnt like novel thick) and write what we liked about it!

Then in middle and high school we were asked to read a book and had a library count of how many which kid borrowed and returned....My parents would usually be late to pick me up so I stayed in the library reading!

You have to develop the habit from young otherwise it doesnt stick well!

Plus in Pakistan kids dont really have the time....they have school, then tuition, then Qari then they have to do their homework and are too used up to read and rather watch tv or play games!

Another way to encourage would be start a book club.

In Uni we were "encouraged" to read research paper at Journal clubs where we were given 2-3 papers for a week and asked to discuss what we liked and disliked and how we would change the experiment! Not exactly reading but this kind of further drew me into research!

 

[Kamikaze Pilot]

READING IS AN OVERRATED ACTIVITY.

 

[django]

Important extracts from the books should be incorporated in the syllabus of pakistan studies and shall be discussed in detail

Absolutely imperative Paracha bhai.Kudos

READING IS AN OVERRATED ACTIVITY.

Now all has been revealed!
@war&peace

 

[PakSarzameen5823]

Reading is good, so long as the material is actually useful. Reading fictional stories is no better than watching TV imo.

 

[Ahmad Sajjad Paracha]

Absolutely imperative Paracha bhai.Kudos


Now all has been revealed!
@war&peace

My gratitude brother [emoji8]

Sent from my SM-G900F using Defence.pk mobile app

 

[Danish saleem]

Finally some one saying which I have been saying for really long time. Yes we need to increase book reading. Leave books alone people mostly haven't read Quran with translation. We need encourage reading culture and for that to happen. From class 1 it should be made compulsory that every student should read at least 5 books in a year and he or she would not get promoted until he or she gives viva on those books. Also teach Quran with translation in Schools. Give them both Islamic books and Novels to read. Until we start this reading culture in schools nothing would change.

@Danish saleem @Path-Finder @django

by the way what ur favorite book?

here i would like to ask all the participants do share every book they reading , in the thread.

 

[Danish saleem]

Book for Young Entrepreneurs.

Think n Grow Rich!

sold over 60 Million .

 

[Solomon2]

Reading is good, so long as the material is actually useful. Reading fictional stories is no better than watching TV imo.

It's very important to keep in mind the difference between truth and fiction. Yet fantasies can be very useful, even if not factual.

Perhaps the most stunning fantasy in science is the "thought-experiment" of the teenage Albert Einstein: he wondered what would happen, what life would be like, for someone riding on a beam of light. Five to ten years of pondering this question resulted in Einstein's most noted ouvre, the Special Theory of Relativity. Science would have come up with the equation E = mc*c without him, but without Relativity science would, imo, have missed its geometrical and perceptual implications and the results of the Michaelson-Morley experiment would have remained an unexplained mystery.

 

[PakSarzameen5823]

It's very important to keep in mind the difference between truth and fiction. Yet fantasies can be very useful, even if not factual.

Perhaps the most stunning fantasy in science is the "thought-experiment" of the teenage Albert Einstein: he wondered what would happen, what life would be like, for someone riding on a beam of light. Five to ten years of pondering this question resulted in Einstein's most noted ouvre, the Special Theory of Relativity. Science would have come up with the equation E = mc*c without him, but without Relativity science would, imo, have missed its geometrical and perceptual implications and the results of the Michaelson-Morley experiment would have remained an unexplained mystery.

Thought experiments are different to stories made purely for entertainment purposes. The former has a purpose, the latter often does not (and we have more than enough of the latter).

 

[Solomon2]

Thought experiments are different to stories made purely for entertainment purposes. The former has a purpose, the latter often does not (and we have more than enough of the latter).

What is "pure entertainment"? A favorite book of my youth was Robert Heinlein's Time for the Stars, a science-fiction tale that was really an entertaining way to learn about relativity. Science-fiction and science-fantasy are expressions of modern philosophy minus the dryness and self-referential jargon of academics.

 

[PakSarzameen5823]

What is "pure entertainment"? A favorite book of my youth was Robert Heinlein's Time for the Stars, a science-fiction tale that was really an entertaining way to learn about relativity. Science-fiction and science-fantasy are expressions of modern philosophy minus the dryness and self-referential jargon of academics.

A work of fiction can be entertaining and thought-provoking, but many of them are just the latter and not the former. That's the problem. They should combine both elements.

 

[Abdussamad]

Muslims don't need any book other than the Quran. It is blasphemy to suggest otherwise!

Besides fiction is literally outlawed in Islam. The prophet cautioned against listening to storytellers. That's why you only saw infidels in that bookstore. They have no such restrictions in their religion. They are not indoctrinated from a young age to hate fictional books.