How Not to be a Shallow Person
WARNING: Reading may cause intelligence and other hazardsIn my early high school years, I began to have a nagging worry: that I was a shallow and superficial person. That I had no depth. That I knew next to nothing about politics or history or war. I recall having a conversation with my mother when I was around 13 years old. I can no longer remember what we were talking about, but I do remember exclaiming - “HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT?!?!””
My mother raised an eyebrow and very coolly replied, “YOU READ.”
Soon after worrying about my shallowness, I decided I must expand my reading life to more than Sweet Valley High (how I loved Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield) or I feared I would grow up to be a unsubstantial “brainless wonder” or “worthless lump” (expressions uttered frequently by my mother - though not necessarily about me).
My solution to being more substantial was to read something substantial. Knowing next to nothing about the book (but liking the title and knowing it was a tragic love affair), I plucked Anna Karenina off the shelf and made a go of it.
Although the long farming passages made me nearly pull my hair out (short attention span and I’m sure I skimmed most of the book to get to the love affair parts) I surprised myself by also liking it. It remember it was very long with tiny type (about 350,000 words long; the average length of a novel today is 80-100,000 words.) But boy was I proud of myself for reaching The End.
I kept reading. My brain grew. Neural pathways slowly formed. I read books for pleasure and books for school. Gone With the Wind, The Great Gatsby, multiple books about the Lindbergh kidnapping, Marilyn Monroe biographies, Of Mice and Men, V.C. Andrews, Agatha Christie, Huckleberry Finn, The Good Earth, and Anne Frank.
Reading has given my life depth. It’s changed me for the better. At the very least, I’m a little bit less shallow.
I worry about the rapid decline of reading that we are seeing among kids and adults. I worry about what happens to a world and a people who do not know their history and who cannot focus long enough to read words on paper - and who don’t really care.
How Digital Media Turned Us All Into Dopamine Addicts The Guardian. The solution? READ a book
Is the Decline of Reading Making Politics Dumber? As people read less they think less clearly, scholars fear The Economist The solution? READ a book
I’m a High Schooler. AI is Demolishing My Education: The end of critical thinking in the classrom. -Ashanty Rosario for The Atlantic The solution? READ a book
Dear reader, thank YOU for reading. For bringing depth and care to our world.
May we all pass it on.
Happy International Literacy Day (yesterday)
❤️ Amy
p.s. If you could only recommend ONE book to someone right this minute, what would it be??? I’d LOVE to know why…
If you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of any one of my books 🙏 and then I will do cartwheels because you have made MY YEAR of writing possible <3
The Last PartWatched: K-Pop Demon Hunters on Netflix. Seriously? Yes. Usually not my thing, but made me watch and I’m glad! Golden is now on my running playlist.
Eating: These apple cider donut holes (I actually preferred them before rolling in the sugar coating). Alas, no one else is here to eat them so…help.
Wearing: The love affair is going strong with these New Balance sneakers. So trendy, so comfortable (and you can throw them in the wash).
Reading: Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green and it’s so good
Visiting: Hopefully your classroom bc I love classroom visits - get in touch!
The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair is part-mystery, part understanding of the human heart 💖
Ten Thousand Tries is Golden’s quest to save his dad and the soccer team ⚽
The McNifficents is one summer with six rambunctious kids and their miniature-schnauzer nanny 🐕 New Hampshire’s 2024 Great Reads for Kids selection!
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