The business man who goes along day by day without taking on any
responsibilities or without tackling more difficult problems, finds he
does not progress.
The man who gets into a rut and reads light, frothy literature all the
time--the kind that is pleasing to the imagination, the kind that
leaves no permanent impression--does not progress mentally.
Reading should be like eating, we should have the dessert as well as
the substantials. It would be a great mistake to eat dessert alone, and
it is certainly a mistake to read light, frothy reading matter alone.
One of the prime requisites to a successful career is concentration of
thought. Few things will dissipate thought as much as over-reading of
newspapers.
The newspaper starts in with the first page, and by the time you have
finished the last column oh the last page you may have read a hundred
articles, each one of these articles touching on a different line of
thought. The daily newspaper contains climaxes of all kinds. Each
article is a distinct change of thought. The daily newspaper gives us
statistics, sorrow, laughter, crime, passion, death, lies, humor, and
so on all through the gamut of the scale of human experience.
The man who craves the newspaper soon finds his line of thought
frequently interrupted, side-stepped, drawn, cut off and dispersed.
Abundant evidences are at hand where the book reader acquired the daily
newspaper habit and reads the daily to such an extent that it is
impossible for him to read books thereafter. He has broken his
continuity of thought, and when this happens book reading is
impossible.
Everyone should read two or three or more books at a time. One should
be an interesting book, whether history, story or comedy, so long as it
is well written and along lines that will hold one's interest. One
should read one book after another of this sort as a dessert for his
dinner, as it were, but along with it he should eat substantial food in
the nature of substantial reading.
Do not read yourself to sleep at night over a light novel. Read your
novel for an hour or so; then take up your old philosopher or scientist
and read a page, or as much as necessary to find some thought clearly
expressed so that it will be burned into your mind. That thought will
remain and will be of service to you in years to come.
Read daily newspapers scantily. Read items concerning the business you
are engaged in. Read the doings of Congress and the important events of
the day. Go over the head-lines, if need be, and eliminate all those
shocking stories of crime and sordid influence. Do not let yourself get
into the habit of reading the details of horrible crimes and bad
impulses and criminal acts. Skip over all the details of hangings and
murders. They are weeds in the mind that choke up the beautiful flowers
of thought.
Remember, everything you read depresses or elevates, and in proportion
as you accustom yourself to read substantial matter so in proportion
you will progress in this world, and have a flood of thoughts at your
command when requirements come upon you calling for clean-cut
expressions.
You will write better letters, you will converse better, you will enjoy
social intercourse better if you read helpful reading matter from books
and read newspapers very sparingly.