Comments on: What Do You Read?

By: Matt Morris

Matt Morris — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:32:15 +0000

After reading this blog, it was a good reminder that reading is a very important and critical skill needed to become a successful professional in any field you pursue. I like to read, I read a lot of random books for fun because it’s nice to explore new ideas and to gain new perspectives on the world around us. When I read about my field of pursuit, I gain important knowledge that will help me later in the future. For example, reading about certain problem solving situations that a company faces and learning about what they did as a company to fix the problem gives you great insight and knowledge about that certain problem solving situation, that which could come up later down the road in your life, which by then you’ll already have the knowledge to fix the problem. Reading is important and it must be done to be successful in any professional setting.

By: Takeshi Yamakawa

Takeshi Yamakawa — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:23:50 +0000

Reading a book gives me a lot of information that I did not know about and it makes me think what the author is trying to say. However, it is difficult for college students to find the time to read the whole book due to college life(assignments or projects etc…). I would say that most important things about reading is to read a book that you like. For example, I like reading a history book so whenever I am reading a history book, I cannot stop reading. However, if I read a book that I do not like, it will be hard to finish reading whole book because I might not find interest reading it.

By: Chris Shaffer

Chris Shaffer — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:17:07 +0000

I agree with many points made thus far. Reading is definitely a great way for someone to improve their writing skills. When you see the writing skills that are required to have a book published, you should realize that writing effectively takes a lot of time and skill. Although I do believe reading is very important to become more informed and educated, I also find it very hard to read for pleasure. Like Matt said, reading through a textbook to prepare for an exam is totally exhausting and it honestly makes me only want to read when I have to. I think people use the internet and television sources first because they are much easier. Most of the time you do not have to look very hard to find information on a topic that you are researching. I know that reading is important for developing skills and reading for pleasure is something that I should make a better attempt to do.

By: Katie Dawkins

Katie Dawkins — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:46:19 +0000

Another important aspect of reading is to stay current. There are always new ways of doing things or new ideas being presented, but one may not know if they do not read articles or books to stay up-to-date on these concepts. The topic that Bryce Johnston brought up was how reading improves your writing is completely true. My brother is an avid reader and has writing skills that I don’t even see in college students and he is only a sophomore in high school. The books that he reads are not always educational to say the least, but he is learning the proper way sentences should be structured without specifically being taught through a teacher. He knows what sounds and looks right by the constant reinforcement through the books he reads. Now I cannot say the same for myself as being an avid reader and having the best writing skills, however I know I should because of how much of an impact it does have. An important aspect of reading that I just learned in my professional development class is that books are amazing conversational pieces. If you are in an interview, bringing up names of current books you have read or authors that you enjoy are great ways to break the ice and get on more of a personal level with your possible employer. My suggestion is for everyone to do my professional development assignment and read a book pertaining to leadership or management in case you are asked in your interview, “So what have you read lately?” and you can be prepared.

By: Matt Pucci

Matt Pucci — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 04:47:50 +0000

I agree with Bryce’s point that reading does improve one’s writing. After reading Rick Reilly’s weekly essay in Sports Illustrated magazine for years (among the work of other writers), I was inspired to begin writing for my own pleasure, whether it be through the school newspaper, blogging or my own short stories.
Unfortunately, I feel that this may soon become a lost art with the majority of the population due to the above mentioned “myriad of ways we get information.” Although texting/social networking sites are a terrific way of staying in touch with people throughout the globe, it seems as though today’s students are more inclined to articulate themselves using a text message vocabulary as opposed to grammatically correct English. However, this seems to be a necessary evil when having the power of the Internet constantly at our fingertips.

Feel free to visit sportsdudes.wordpress.com – a sports blog myself and fellow YCP student Matthew Tate established.

By: admin

admin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:50:02 +0000

Very good point!

By: Bryce Johnston

Bryce Johnston — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:19:18 +0000

Although you make many valid points, I feel that you miss one of the most important reasons to read: to improve one’s writing. Regardless of how much education a person may or may not have in areas such as grammar or vocabulary, improvements in writing do not come until this education becomes intuitive, not memorized. I feel that this process only occurs by reading many different styles and techniques of writing. In fact, I would argue that the failure of the majority of students to read regularly is most evident in the subpar writing frequently submitted by such students. Just like any sport, writing is all about getting practice “reps”. Just as a basketball player must spend hours shooting free throws, a writer (aka student) must spend hours reading other writers.

By: Lee Greely

Lee Greely — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:14:28 +0000

Reading books has not always been something that I have done for pleasure. I continually enjoy reading magazines and internet articles about current information, usually sports. With that said, I still try and make sure that I have some present knowledge about current issues outside of the sports world as well. I am not sure if I can honestly say the last time that I read a book by my own volition. It’s funny that this blog was posted this week because something hit me about two weeks ago and told me that I need to start reading books. I almost felt like I was missing something by not reading books. I’m not sure what it was, but something happened that motivated me to go out and buy not one, but two new books within the past two weeks. I am not sure if I have ever gone out on a whim and bought even one book, but within the past two weeks I’ve done it twice, so I definitely have some reading to do before I buy another. I’m hoping to start the first book in the next few days and hopefully it will be the start of me wanting to read regularly because I feel that reading can give people certain knowledge that other forms of entertainment cannot.

By: Matt Clark

Matt Clark — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:54:45 +0000

The most difficult part with reading is setting aside the time to do so. Winter break is one of the most relaxing times of the year for me and one of the few times I am able to just sit down and read a book for enjoyment. As a college student (or at least this is my opinion) I lack the drive and motivation to pick up a novel of choice after just looking through the material for an exam in a large textbook for the past hour. Though I do try to find the time to just sit back and relax and try to get in some good reading, sometimes I find my priorities elsewhere but I would truly like to read more in the future.

By: Bryan Heasley

Bryan Heasley — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:41:42 +0000

Reading has never been on the top of my list, unless it has to do with baseball or any other sports. This is something that I feel like I really need to work on in the near future because the whole world obviously isn’t just about sports. I have always loved to read sports books, but when it comes to anything else I have not been motivated to read. However, the last couple of weeks I have started to read more of the newspaper besides just the sports page. I feel as though I need to learn more about war as well as politics. By reading more about this I will be able to enhance my knowledge about everything in the United States as well as other countries. My goal in the next couple of weeks is to try an not read Sports Illustrated or ESPN Magazine as much, I hope to read more of the paper outside of the sports page as well.