Fit Bodies Flabby Minds: A New Year's Resolution to Get Our Minds in Shape!

     The distinguished British Sociologist declared to the American audience, "Your bodies may be in good shape but your minds are fat." He went on to describe how for decades Americans have stressed getting in better shape and losing weight while almost totally disregarding the growth of our intellect. The simple fact is that for many Americans January 1st will consist of various resolutions for the New Year of 2014 that will include eating better, getting in shape, stopping smoking, drinking less, traveling more, and saving more money.
     Go ahead and make your resolutions for a better you, but let's get that mind in shape also. Make plans for a brighter, smarter, and happier you, by strengthening that mental muscle. By reading the right books your mental abilities can improve by the day. Your brainpower can improve and your reasoning faculties can get sharper and sharper with each brain powered work out. As with any physical regime, your mental workouts do not have to be all pain. Let's find some books that refresh, delight, and encourage. Let's also read those books that challenge, push, stretch, and move you to the next level. When I was a child, I only read comic books. When we are babies we only eat baby food. As we mature we eat adult food. We should all read things we enjoy; those lighter less demanding books.  These should be thought of as our reading carbs (essential, but not exclusive). We should also read those books that are above us and beyond us--those books that cause us to grow. We can think of these as the high-protein books for the brain.
     I'm calling for a lifestyle change. A few years ago a friend asked me how I read so much and I told him that since I don't watch more than a few hours of TV a week and I spend only a few hours in front of the computer or on my tablet, I have a lot of free time to read. In addition to spending about forty-five minutes a day on my physical exercise, I try to spend double that time on my mind. There are plenty of great books to read and we all need some help and encouragement to build up those mental muscles. Reach out to a reading group or a "book coach" who can help you resolve to be the reader in 2014 that you were not in 2013. You can do it! Feel the burn! Melt off the flab! Stretch! Reach! Go, go, go!

Why Ray Bradbury Loved Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol

     On more than one occasion, the great American writer Ray Bradbury was asked about his favorite books. While the answer varied, he most frequently spoke of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. For those who know and love the writings of Ray Bradbury, it makes perfect sense this was a favorite of his. The theme of really living is vibrant in many Bradbury works. So it is no surprise that Bradbury spoke with great excitement about the scene in A Christmas Carol where the culminating visits of the ghosts moves Ebeneezer, when he realizes that he has another chance, to declare, I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future!  The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me.
     As good as the many movie versions may be, there is a texture in the story that is simply missed in the visual interpretations. In this interview (toward the end of his life) Ray Bradbury speaks about his love of this great Christmas story that is a call to live life. While Bradbury says that his own The Halloween Tree is an homage to A Christmas Carol, his short story The Gift is a nice Christmas seasonal tale. You can also read Bradbury's Jack In The Box for a Bradburian twist of the declaration, "I'm alive."

NEXT BLOG: Resolving to Read More in 2014

The Pleasures of Reading: A Very Fine Guide to Reading from Professor Jacobs

     Readers of all levels and types all need help at some point in the adventures of readings. Sometimes the assistance comes in the form of encouragement and sometimes in the guise of insightful instruction. The book by Dr. Alan Jacobs is a book that is both a running encouragement and is rich with instructional insights on how to be a better reader.
     Of all the motivations given, Jacobs places one above all others and that is “read at whim,” (15, 33, 41) and related to this makes the case for reading for pleasure and delight (10, 23). Additionally, Jacobs notes the real value of marking books well (61, 64) and rereading books (16, 128-129).
     There are treats throughout this book, especially for the bibliovore. A fine tip is what Jacobs calls “reading upstream” (43-50). This is akin to the ad fonts call of the Renaissance Humanists. It is a call to read what the authors read and the works that influenced them. In a few places Jacobs gives different admonitions, such as the need for “deep attention” (105) with some works and the value of “skimming well” (111) with others. Numerous insights into the nature of reading the Great Books or classics are throughout (23) and most important is that these are more demanding works that both require more patience and may assist in the cultivation of more patience. Anecdotes and illustrations from brain research (29, 103) to the indescribable “magic” of reading (34) abound in this fine little volume.
     My only minor disagreement with Jacobs is his read of Adler’s How to Read a Book (3, 43, 97-103). It struck me that more than once Jacobs even sounds like Adler, especially when he describes what reading difficult books can do for us (50). Like Adler and Kreeft, Jacobs calls us to be an active reader who respectfully questions what is being read (55, 56, 65). Jacobs is a superlative guide because it is clear that he loves reading and is passionate about assisting others with reading. This passion translates well into ongoing enabling encouragement. Alan Jacobs manifests a marvelous blend of being gracious, wise, humble, (54) and highly competent as a helper. Whether he is talking about reading on a Kindle, (63-67) discussing his favorite books, or showing his own indebtedness to Hugh of St. Victor, (90-97) Jacobs is Virgilian in his faithfulness to all of us who journey in the bookish worlds we inhabit and inhabit us.

NEXT BLOG: Why Ray Bradbury Loved A Christmas Carol.

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