The Importance of Reading by Earl Nightingale

The last time I checked the statistics I think they indicated that only about 4 percent of the adults in this country have bought a book within the past year. That’s dangerous. It’s extremely important that we keep ourselves in the top 5 or 6 percent. Reading good books is not something to indulge in as a luxury; it’s a necessity for anyone who intends to give his or her life and work a touch of quality. The truest wealth is not what we put into our piggy banks but what we develop in our heads. 

You do not read a book for the book’s sake but for your own. You may read because in your high-pressure life, you need periods of relief, and yet you recognize that peace of mind does not mean numbness of mind. You may read because you never had an opportunity to go to college and books give you a chance to get something you missed. You may read because your job is routine and books give you a feeling of depth and life. You may read because you did go to college. You may read because you see social, economic, and philosophical problems that need solutions and you believe that the best thinking of the past ages may be useful in your age too. You may read because you’re tired of the shallowness of contemporary life, bored by the current conversational commonplaces, and wearied of shoptalk and gossip about people. Whatever your main personal reason, you will find that reading gives knowledge, creative power, satisfaction, and relaxation. It cultivates your mind by exercising its faculties. 

Books are a source of pleasure—the purest and most lasting. They enhance your sensation of the interestingness of life. Reading them is not a violent pleasure, like the gross enjoyment of an uncultivated mind, but a subtle delight. Reading dispels prejudices that hem in our minds to narrow spaces. You can no more be a healthy person mentally without reading substantial books than you can be a vigorous person physically without eating solid food. 

I’ve often been struck by the meager libraries of so-called business executives. I guess they believe that managerial and creative talent and know-how is supposed to come to them in dreams and that they’re somehow above the need to read the words of others. They’re quite mistaken, and they are, more often than not, holding their jobs only because of a shortage of real management talent today. 

I believe you can judge the reaches of a person’s mind and capacities, as well as his or her real interests, by examining his or her library. I have known so-called experts on various subjects who don’t own ten books on that subject. They just keep saying the same things over and over again, hoping, I suppose, for a fresh audience every time they speak. 

There’s only one way to obtain knowledge, and that is through study—through reading. But as [José] Ortega [y Gasset] said, “Studying is for most people like paying income taxes.” They’ll never do it unless they have to. A good idea would be to provide a bookcase in every junior office. Then, from time to time, make the rounds and watch the bookcases. Their growing contents, or the lack thereof, will give you an excellent yardstick for determining future promotion—or the lack of it. 

This is an excerpt from Earl Nightingale’s The Direct Line, available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Porchlight Book Company, Google Play, Apple Books, and other fine retailers. The first beautifully packaged print edition of Nightingale’s famous audio program, this book offers a practical guide designed to help you find real and lasting success in your career, relationships, and finances. Order a copy today and begin the most exciting and rewarding journey on earth—your journey of self-discovery and personal fulfillment! Also, don’t forget the accompanying action guide, available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble! 

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