React to what you read

Most of us read books and newspapers for the sake of reading. "Did you read today's newspaper?" You ask one of your colleagues. However, if you ask, "What's the latest situation in the North?" you may not get a satisfactory answer. This is because we do not read meaningfully; we simply run our eyes over the printed material without making an effort to understand.

Good readers react to what they read. They make a link between the ideas suggested by the writer and react to them. Such a link is a prerequisite to any type of reading. Remember that these mental reactions to what you read do not last long. That is the very reason that you should record your reactions on the margin of the book you read. Writing such marginal notes and maintaining a reading journal will help you to become a better reader and a writer.

Never treat what you read as the gospel truth. Read critically and never be in a hurry to accept everything, a writer says. Those who swallow everything they read are simply accumulating empty phrases. You do so sometimes when you cram for an examination. You think you have no time to have a dialogue with the author. So you swallow everything you read and reproduce them at the examination. Unfortunately, this is not the proper way to learn.

The best way to remember facts and figures is to react to what you read. When you read critically you weigh the pros and cons of the subject matter. Unless you make a conscious effort to record, sort out and develop your responses to what you read, everything you gather will be forgotten. You will be left with a hazy idea of the subject you had been reading.

The only alternative to writing your thoughts in the margin of a book is to discuss what you read with somebody else who is knowledgeable. For a university student this will not pose a problem because there will be many others who study the same subject. Even a kind teacher will be most willing to listen to your ideas.

Mark Twain used to send his writings to one of his contemporaries - William Dean Howells - for comments. It is said that Twain had revised his ideas after reading Howell's comments. In the absence of such a friend, you have to fall back on the old method of writing down your reactions in the margin of the book you read and recording your thoughts in a separate notbook. For instance, the late Martin Wickramasinghe is well known for making marginal notes.

Lord Macaulay, the historian, writing during the middle of the 19th century, was in the habit of annotating his books. Once Macaulay annotated Cicero's essay "On duty" with acid comments such as "trashy Sophistry, admirably explained" and "beautifully lucid though the system is excessively absurd."

In the long run, annotations help us to interact with the ideas expressed by the author. This is the time you can give vent to your pent-up feelings. This type of personal annotations will help you to become a scholar who could turn out beautiful essays. Such scholarly annotations, when presented in a readable format, will have a wider readership. The footnotes you find in certain textbooks are the result of scholarly annotations.

The reading journal, mentioned earlier, gives you an impetus to what you read. The reading journal will give you the freedom to expand your ideas. The journal is a kind of diary of your thoughts. Make it a point to record your thoughts in the journal after reading a book. For this you need not wait for inspiration. Some day, your entries in the journal will help you to write a short story or a novel without much difficulty.

If you are really keen on learning a subject, read your marginal comments and the journal regularly. This will obviate the necessity to cram for examinations. By maintaining a journal you will also improve your writing skills. Sometimes, when you read a light novel, it will not be necessary to make marginal notes or write anything in your journal.

However, you may write something like the following in your journal: "I really don't know whether this is a novel or a long short story. Sometimes, it reads like a memoir. Certain sections have been written so well that they evoke laughter. However, there is no sequence in the events narrated. The author tries to put down everything he knows without realizing what he is doing."

If you want to be a professional writer, start writing marginal notes in the books you read and maintain a journal.

Draw inspiration from Eric Hoffer who kept a journal of what he read although he was a blue-collar worker. Later he became a much sought after author.