Is reading really helps us improve?

Philippines
July 16, 2007 9:55am CST
Lots of people loves reading, some loves reading books, others love reading tabloids, newspaper, comics, etc... my question now is that does reading helps improve ones life... If you go to the poor nations lots of people there were fond of reading why are they still poor? If reading really helps one persons improved his life. I also see some people who are not literate a person who cannot read nor write yet a multi- millionaire then how can we say that reading really helps?
2 people like this
15 responses
@Lindalinda (4111)
• Canada
16 Jul 07
I don't know of any multimillionaires that cannot read or write. Maybe they did not go to university and acquired their business sense by experience in life. If you go to poor nations you will find the literacy rate is much lower than in developped nations and people who are literate in those countries generally have a better life. They have businesses, work in banks and for the Government in their country or develop software and are paid a decent salary. You cannot say this about a poor illiterate person who lives in a village and has no choice for a better life because he/she cannot read and write. Diseases like AIDS spread very rapidly in countries with high illiteracy. People who can read can improve their lives with basic sanitary practices such as making the childbirth environment sterile and clean, so women do not die from infections after birth and be informed what the causes of AIDS and other diseases are. I firmly believe if literacy goes up so does the life of a person improve.
• Philippines
16 Jul 07
Thats your opinion, surely you have not leave your country yet, why not travel in some part of the world and you will see some and for that matter I am inviting you to travel here in the Philippines and I will show you Multi- Millionaires who cannot read and write. Anytime just email me and I will be your tour guide just to show you some of them, they owned vast of land here, yet they cannot read nor write even our own language.
1 person likes this
• Philippines
16 Jul 07
reading helps improve one's life, but it does not guarantee you will have one. you have to have upportunity to success. there is no such thing as illitirate multi millionaire,,they may have not a dgree or did not go to school at all, but it doesn't they dont know how to read and wrtite.
2 people like this
• Philippines
16 Jul 07
Sharon have you been to Mindanao, you are a filipina and yet you dont know about this things, or have you been to the mountainous part of Sierra Madre the people who own some huge land there where signing by the use of thumbmarks and they called it tamrak (tam-rock) do you think they can read or write, travel for awhile madam surely you live in the urban area go out to your comfort zone travel to rural areas and ask the people there on who are the millionaires there..
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@patgalca (18164)
• Orangeville, Ontario
16 Jul 07
It depends on what you are reading, I guess. I am reading writing journals to educate myself on the writing process and getting published. However, some articles bring me down, make it hard for me to believe in myself and that I will ever get published. It was just pointed out to me today that I should not be reading these magazines for this exact reason. However, as a writer, I should be reading other authors' writings. This way I learn different writing styles and read stories that have already been written so I do not duplicate what has already been out there, and help me to see what a reader wants to read, what excites them. Of course reading helps your vocabulary. It should never be discouraged.
2 people like this
• Philippines
16 Jul 07
Hope I will be a writer too.
1 person likes this
@ibuemma (2953)
• United States
16 Jul 07
well this is only my opinion with reading we get inform how other people experience. I know experience is still the best teacher. But our lifespan make it impossible to experience everything by ourselfes. And reading sometime help us, so we don't have to "repeat" other people mistakes or also we can follow how other people success. And i think that improve our life in some ways.
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• Philippines
16 Jul 07
thanks
1 person likes this
@sugarfloss (2139)
• Malaysia
16 Jul 07
Reading does help to improve your vocabulary.The more you read,the more words you know and you get to see how words are used to form a sentence or a phrase.I can't say how the poor nation aren't improved by reading but reading has to start young.hope this helps!
2 people like this
• Philippines
16 Jul 07
It did help..
1 person likes this
@Sushicook (690)
• Sweden
16 Jul 07
I agree with Lindalinda. If you can read, you can also educate yourself and by doing that improve your life. One thing I would like to add however is that life improvement doesn't just mean getting more money or becoming a millionaire. For me, life improvement means making your life as good as you can, and making yourself as happy as possible. Money is not really the most important thing here. When I read, I improve my life by learning more about the world, about other cultures and about other life philosophies. By doing so I can widen my own mind, find peace and be happy with who I am and what I do. Reading can be a bit like meditating, you take time to rethink your values and try them against others and when you're done something might have changes. Writing and reading is really just rubbing our own knowledge and life experience against someone elses.
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• Philippines
16 Jul 07
I may agree with you but not with Linda
1 person likes this
@plumwish07 (4057)
• Indonesia
17 Jul 07
There is nothing wrong in reading. coz in reading, we gain new and lots knowledge for our life. Ya, thats true also that an iliterate person can be a multi-millionaire but in this case, according my opinion, these person also having special skill to read. Not read from media, but they can read from their environtment, whats goin on and what should do. and these people are rare to find in this world. If there is person who likes to read but nothing improve in their own life, it means they only read for fun. they didnt understand trully about what they read. and we cant deny that most people read only just read without catching the main idea in their reading.
@anjoks (2080)
• Philippines
17 Jul 07
That is very true. Anybody can attest to that my friend. Reading really helps us improve and not only that, it helps us to gain knowledge in everything and broaden our horizons you know... Take care now. (",)
@Vivianh (331)
• China
17 Jul 07
Well, I think if you don't read anything,you're just live in your own world and you don't anything happen out of your world.Sometimes reading gives us more ways of life and we can know how others' lives(like someone whose life we never take) ,how they do with some trouble.
@cutiedhes (507)
• Philippines
17 Jul 07
For me reading really helps you increase your knowledge. But i think it depends on what kind of books you are reading.
• United States
17 Jul 07
Reading helps to improve vocabulary, comprehension, oral and written expression, problem solving, linear thinking, and general knowledge of the world. To say reading does not help poor nations is very short-sighted. You must also take into account government, economy, natural resources, access by the general public, supporting education systems, cultural influence, etc. There are exceptions to every rule. But I can spend five minutes talking to a person and tell whether they read or not. When my son was 6-months old his daycare teachers were always asking if I read to him alot. Reading may not make you a millionaire, but it certainly improves your chances at a successful life compared to a non-reader when all other factors are equal.
1 person likes this
• Malaysia
17 Jul 07
It helps, like what the others have said, by widening your mind and opening yourself to other possibilities. Perhaps they became multi-millionaires when reading and writing were not considered essential skills, but when you look at their children, I would be willing to be with you that their children are all educated and literate. You cannot hold on to your wealth long if you are unable to read and write. You need to be literate to understand what you are signing and when you're dealing with the government.
• Philippines
17 Jul 07
Reading helps! Somehow if you were not used to reading a lot of things. Your brain really goes down the drain
• Malaysia
17 Jul 07
**willing to bet with you. My spelling seems to have gone down the drain.
• India
17 Jul 07
According to me reading regularly make us stand in this competent world.We become awre about the happenening around the world through the medium of tabloids.Novels improve reading skills and we come across many absurd vocabularies.Millionaire does not need to be skilled in academic but its is through his skill in communicating and creative ideas which makes any difference.As far as i am concerned being millionaire and literate has no resembelance...
1 person likes this
• United States
16 Jul 07
You cannot place too high a value on reading. The ideas and values in the books I read as a child helped to forge my character and discipline my mind. I would truly be a different person if not for the literature of my youth. It is too simplistic to attribute wealth to literacy, there are many factors that play into one's net worth. It is also shallow to define 'improvement' as 'monetary gain'. If I read something and it stimulates new thought or conservation, then I am improved even though my wallet is not. Finally, reading improves command of the language. I mean no offense to the originator of this discussion, but clearly he is not a reader.
• United States
16 Jul 07
Of course we can always improve! I meant 'conversation' not 'conservation'.
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• Philippines
16 Jul 07
I am not offended dont worry, welcome to mylot. You are just new here in this site, so in the future you will learn and understand why... again welcome and happy mylotting..
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@AnythngArt (3302)
• United States
17 Jul 07
Possessing money or land is not the measure of a man or his life. The more you can do, the more experiences you have in the world, the more you can share and communicate effectively with others are gifts to yourself. Inheriting something does not make you who you are, it's what you do with the gifts you have been given. Reading opens the world up, enables people to communicate the developments of civilization, and leaves a record for posterity.