By Mallory Schlabach, Editor in Chief
Face the Facts
Nearly half of your life will be spent consuming media during 2007, which means watching TV, going online, listening to the radio or music and reading. That’s what the U.S. Census Bureau predicted in its "Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2007," released Friday.
The Bureau’s Statistical Abstract released each year since 1878, provides stats junkies with information on social, political and economical realms of Americans’ lives.
In an USA Today article, the author listed more statistics regarding how much media Americans will consume this year, including: Americans will spend 65 days in front of the TV, 41 days listening to the radio, more than a week of browsing the Internet and another week reading a daily newspaper.
While it is fascinating to see how much Americans rely and want information at their fingertips, it also saddens me to see that watching TV is at the top of the list. Television itself is not bad, and there are many worthwhile shows to add in to a weekly routine. But what about the invaluable information that can be gleaned from reading a good book?
A cognition professor published a report recently that listed the benefits of reading. Even if a person achieved only one of these benefits in a lifetime, reading would still be worth it. Among the benefits she included were:
1) Reading expands your vocabulary because books and written materials use rarer vocabulary than what is found in every day conversation, in the classroom or on TV;
2) The more one reads, the more knowledge one gains about a variety of topics ranging from history, general knowledge, politics or sports;
3) Reading makes you smarter. An avid reader’s IQ is found to be higher than that of people who don’t read often;
4) Reading helps people to both write and concentrate better; and
5) avid readers tend to be more flexible in thought and open-minded.
This year Americans are expected to spend more than $55 billion on books. Here is a list compiled from the World Book poll by the Museum, Libraries and Archives Council with books that every adult should read before they die. Not everyone may agree on the books listed here, and one may want to add a few of their own.
Regardless, these books can be a starting place to begin a reading journey. Books can be found for free at one of three libraries in Abilene, or for relatively cheap prices at a used bookstore on Butternut Street. Pick up a good book and reap the benefits.
Suggested Reading from World Book Poll
1. To Kill a Mockingbird
2. The Bible
3. The Lord of the Rings
4. 1984
5. A Christmas Carol
6. Jane Eyre
7. Pride and Prejudice
8. All Quiet on the Western Front
9. His Dark Materials Trilogy
10. Birdsong
11. The Grapes of Wrath
12. The Lord of the Flies
13. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
14.Tess of the d’Urbervilles
15. Winnie the Pooh
16. Wuthering Heights
17. The Wind in the Willows
18. Gone with the Wind
19. Great Expectations
20. The Time Traveler’s Wife
21. The Lovely Bones
22. The Prophet
23. The Alchemist
24. The Master and the Margarita
25. Life of Pi
26. Middlemarch
27. The Poisonwood Bible
28. A Clockwork Orange
29. A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
