Don't read this

I sometimes think Mom had a secret plan to encourage us to read beyond our level. She would announce that certain books were a little old for us. Nothing made us read them faster.

Will Schwalbe, The End of Your Life Book Club

Is there a greater motivator in the world than reverse psychology?

Mary Anne Schwalbe

Tell someone to do something or to not do something, and they will feel compelled to do just the opposite. Vax mandates may be an example of this. There would have been no truck convoy in Canada if Covid vaccination had only been a strong recommendation.

Book bans and movie boycotts almost always backfire. Everyone, including those who otherwise would have had no interest in them, wants to read the scandalous book and watch the forbidden movie if someone tells them they shouldn't. What's all the excitement about? If the censors can read this or see this, why can't I? My wife was probably in her thirties or forties when her father suggested she should avoid reading a certain Nelson Demille novel because of its strong content. Of course, she had to read it immediately. Otherwise she almost certainly would have never opened the book.

Years ago I reviewed some books about male problems and psychology and I announced at the very beginning that this column was for men only. Then in the last paragraph I addressed my female readers, saying that I knew they would stick with me to the end. Later women laughed when they told me they had read the whole thing. I probably had more readers than usual that day simply by trying to eliminate half of them.

Perhaps teachers should give their students not one summer reading list but two. "Here is a list of books I want you to read over the summer," they might say. "Here is another list of books you should avoid if you see them. You are just not mature enough for them yet." Guess which books the kids would be most likely to read. And like Will Schwalbe and his siblings, they would actually read some challenging books.