The Art of Reading

By WILFERD A. PETERSON

Mr. Peterson is a Grand Rapids, Michigan, advertising man who became a gifted essayist. Some time ago he set himself the goal of distilling the philosophy and wisdom of Western thought to extract the truth of "The Art of Living.'''' Under that title, many of the essays were published in This Week Magazine, and 23 were brought together as a book ("The Art of Living," Simon and Schuster, 1961, $3.00). The essays are also available from This Week as a paperback at $1.00.

To practice the art of reading, develop a hungry, curious, questing mind and then seek your answers in books. . . You open doors when you open books . . . doors that swing wide to unlimited horizons of knowledge, wisdom and inspiration that will enlarge the dimensions of your life. . .

Through books you can live a thousand lives in one. You can discover America with Columbus, stand with Lincoln at Gettysburg, work in the laboratory with Edison and walk the fields with St. Francis. . .

Through books you can encompass in your imagination the full sweep of world history. You can watch the rise and fall of civilizations, the ebb and flow of mighty battles and the changing pattern of life through the ages. . .

Through books you can enrich your spirit with the Psalms, and Beatitudes, the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians and all the other noble writings that are touched with divine fire. ..

Through books you can know the majesty of great poetry, the wisdom of the philosophers, the findings of the scientists. . .

Through books you can start today where the great thinkers of yesterday left off, because books have immortalized man's knowledge. Thinkers, dead a thousand years, are as alive in their books today as when they walked the earth.

Through books you can orient your life to the world you live in, for books link the past, the present and the future.

Read, then, from the vast storehouse of books at your command!

Read several books at a time, turning from one to the other as your mood changes ... a biography, a novel, a volume of history, a book about your business.

Read with a red pencil in your hand, underlining the important passages, so you can quickly review the heart of the book.

Read something each day. Discipline yourself to a regular schedule of reading. With only fifteen minutes a day you can read twenty books in a year. . .

Read to increase your knowledge, your background, your awareness, your insight. . .

Read to lead . . . read to grow!