The Joy of Reading

I just spent an hour with Scott Kelly touring the International Space Station.

A couple of weeks ago I roamed the arctic with Buck and was accepted by a wolf pack.

I’ve been on stage in front of 100,000 fans with Bruce Springsteen and inside the Patriots locker room with Tom Brady after a five touchdown performance.

I’ve flown a Spitfire in the Battle of Britain, fighting through a screen of Luftwaffe fighters, to attack Nazi bombers as they bored through the grey sky intent on destroying London.

I’ve done all these amazing things, felt the rush of emotion in all those situations and I never left my home. 

I was reading.

I discovered the joy of reading in middle school. I read scores of books in 7th and 8th grade and I’ve never stopped. 

Sometimes I think I’ve learned more from reading than I have from sitting in a classroom. I read everything - fiction, nonfiction, biography, literature, science fiction, history, science (of course), and more. 

If something catches my attention, I’ll find about book about it. I get to choose what I read. It’s up to me. It’s anything I want. I’m free to explore the universe in any way I want with anyone I want. I can spend time with Sally Ride, explore sunken shipwrecks, escape from a POW camp, learn how our DNA works, or any of a billion topics. I can choose any title I want.

It’s a astounding thing. You read - you learn - you feel - you understand.