“Reading is the way out of ignorance and the road to achievement,” Sonya Carson told her sons. Though she herself grew up illiterate, having dropped out of school after third grade, she was determined that the lives of her children, Ben and Curtis, would be different.

    “In fifth grade I had no competition for the lowest ranking in my class,” says Dr. Ben Carson, world-famous neurosurgeon. “Then Mother forced me to start reading and stop my indiscriminate watching of television. My life turned around, as did my grades. I zoomed to the top of the class.”

    Recently, Mississippi acquired its first Ben Carson Reading Room at Quitman Upper Elementary School. The Meridian Star reported: “The purpose of the Ben Carson Reading Project is to create a literacy enriched environment for children to develop their reading skills. The reading project, created by Dr. Ben Carson and his wife Candy, is dedicated to promoting reading as a key to unlocking a child’s full potential.”

    In his book Think Big, Ben Carson states that the base of personal preparation for life comes more from reading than from any other source. He recommends the Bible for life preparation and reads a portion of the Book of Proverbs every day.

    He remembers his first trip to the library, when he had no idea what kind of books he wanted to read. The librarian asked him what things he was interested in and what he would like to learn more about. When Ben mentioned that he liked animals, the librarian gave him a book about a beaver called Chip the Dam Builder. It was the first book he had ever read all the way through, and it whetted his appetite for more. He believes that even if children don’t seem to be interested in books, they can be enticed.   

    Dr. Carson suggests to both children and adults that “reading can stimulate the incredible brain that God gave us at birth.” He believes that reading actually does activate the mind in the same way that we activate muscles when we lift weights. The more active our minds are, the more agile they become and that results in a higher level of creativity.  

    The Wall Street Journal recently reported on the growing popularity of a new type of reading room for adults. The article describes reading clubs where members gather once a week at a café, grab a drink, shut off the cell phones, and read silently. The readers believe that at least 30 minutes of uninterrupted, slow reading in a book or E-book helps reduce stress. Attempts to revive old fashioned reading are cropping up in many places. Groups in Seattle, Brooklyn, Boston, and other cities are hosting so-called silent reading parties and providing comfortable chairs and classical music.

    A study on elderly people published by the journal Neurology last year showed that regular engagement in mentally challenging activities, including reading, slowed rates of memory loss in participants’ later years.

    Good books will encourage us, teach us, educate us, nourish us, stimulate us, and inspire us.