The Aims of Reading

Abstract

It has been said that “Readers make Leaders” (Voltaire). Since all of us gathered here tonight must be interested in reading, I hope, we can pride ourselves that we belong to this category.

Thomas Jefferson wrote in one of his letters “People who read can be free because reading banishes ignorance and superstitions.” More modern scientific research has found that these two statements are more than true. Many of the world’s leaders and successful men do a lot of reading. This is not surprising since books have the power to revolutionise our ways of thinking and living. One example is the writing of Karl Marx.