No prizes

There are no prizes for reading, no pay raises in it, no competitive advantage in it. It accomplishes nothing.

Heather Cass White, Books Promiscuously Read

Those are surprising words to find in a book celebrating reading. Are they true? Well, no, but yes.

Schools and libraries give children prizes for reading books all the time. Reading accomplishes nothing? Don't let students ever hear that. No pay raises and competitive advantages? You mean all those self-help books and business books are worthless? How can English teachers and literary critics advance in their careers without reading?

Heather Cass White

Yet for most of us most of the time, Heather Cass White probably has a point. Most of us get little or nothing of permanent value from reading a book. A week after reading a Stuart Woods novel or a Catherine Coulter novel you may have difficulty even remembering the plot. If there are any great lines or great passages or great truths in a book you've just read, you may have difficulty holding them in your mind for more than a few days, or even a few hours. There truly are no rewards for reading most of the time.

White responds to her own words above with this wisdom: "All reading has to offer is a particular, irreplaceable internal experience. Readers should keep faith that that experience is enough."

Sadly, most experiences in life, including the best ones, tend to be fleeting. A convervsation with a friend, a great movie, a walk in the park, a wonderful meal — they are all experiences that offer no prizes, no pay raises, no competitive advantages. They accomplish nothing. And yet, like reading a good book, they make life worth living.