Does reading make us wiser?

There is academical knowledge and survival knowledge.
I believe the latter 'primary' learning.

To learn a skill that can provide one with enough knowledge to earn a living requires extensive reading.
I remember reading something to the effect that Accounting majors did well in school, because their study habits were above average.
The reason I majored in Accounting was purely by accident. As a Business major, Accounting 101 was required, and I got an A. It was the last A in Accounting I received, but there were only three of us left in Advanced Accounting when I graduated. It provided me with good jobs and living.
After 3.5 years as a Field Auditor for Florsheim Shoes, they promoted me to Audit Manager. After three years in Chicago, we were ready to return to California to be with family and friends, but I was able to work in management for the rest of my working career, and I retired early. I also did consulting work for small businesses that was very lucrative.
I think Accounting is still a good major with many job opportunities.

How do you think humans survived before books, Cic?

Graphics on cave walls, verbal, and papyrus.

Then how do you think 400 trillion (Non-reading) creatures, on earth, manage?

They have many forms of communication. Many are not verbal.


Animal Communication. Most animals (including people) use “body language” as well as sound and smell in order to communicate with one another. Here are some of the ways animals express themselves. Many animals communicate by smell: they release pheromones (airborne chemicals) to send messages to others.
Animal Communication - Fact Monster
www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0768578.htmlFact Monster

You're 'strawpersoning' beyond belief, Cic!
Thread is about 'Reading books', not communication-at-large.

CLUE: Reading and communication are directly related.

So are amino-acids and pokemon-go.
Strawpersons r us.

I'd say 'strawmen' r us, but I'm avoiding gender-discrimination atm - So 'strawpersons' it is.

We are not talking about chemistry; read the OP.

Cic - You're not just on a 'different page', you're on another planet.
Nice enough bloke - But blooming heck.
My fault (Mea culpa).
Have a brilliant everything.

I am glad there's such a thread that I'd like to share.

I didn't like reading that much and didn't think those were helpful, untill one day I am able to choose the right books I'm interested in. They open very different worlds to me, while I was limited in my own one.

Many times I read the books as if I was talking to people who selflessly share their best knowledge with me with open heart. I often told myself if I had read them earlier my life would have been changed; if I had read them earlier, I wouldn't have done so...

They are quite lovely companies, never condescending.

The only pity is the books cannot repond to my questions.

Reading is the best way to improve your knowledge about the world we live in. The next best education is to travel around the world to observe it on your own. World travel became a passion for me when I enlisted in the USAF and got stationed in Morocco for one year, and had the opportunity to visit Tangiers, Madrid, Paris and London. I have since traveled to 112 important and interesting countries and sites listed in the Travel 100 Club,

There's an ancient saying here, literally it means: reading 10,000 books, meanwhile setting 10,000- mile road afoot.

I become a book addict now, because books bring me fasincating knowledge and meanwhile make me its slave. My to-be-read book list is as long as my arm. That is not supposed to be. I want to spend the upcoming next year on the books I most want to read in my life so far, and then make some adjustment.

Appropriate books in quality and quantity make people wiser;
Excessive books make people slaves to knowledge.
Good books set free people thoughts.
Bad books shackle and poison people's mind.

My two cents.

Besides reading, you need to get out of your house to socialize with others.

I am sure I know what I need, but I don't know how you know what I need.

There's a macro-world, where people can travel all over the world, socialise with different people. There's a super-macro-world, universe, which mostly remains unknown to people. Life of individuals is very short and fleeting, and this means what we have to choose something and leave out something with pity.

There's a micro-world too.

To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.

- William Blake

If people make a lot of friends, that could likely make people no genuine friends.
If people make a couple of friends, they could become the real bosom friends.
If people want to grasp everything, they likely lose everything, or never gain anything.

This effectively says "I am sure I know what I need, but I don't know how you know that I need to socialise".

Everyone needs to socialise, but some people forget to... and CI's suggestion seemed to arise out of concern for you. So even with the smiley face afterwards, your reply comes across as condescending.

All that said, it seems to me that you are working hard to better yourself, and both the hard work and the desire to better yourself I find that admirable and good. I also find it a good thing to respect peoples concerns / well meant advice, even while disagreeing with them.

This is a public forum, and when any of us express our views, goals, journey - people are going to reply with their thoughts. We can be appreciative, even if we disagree.

There's a preposition- You need to socialise which implies I don't socialise. How does the speaker know that?

I don't agree everyone needs to socialise, and some people forget to.

Examples are Symeon of Trier, who lived within the great Roman gate Porta Nigra with permission from the Archbishop of Trier, or Theophan the Recluse, the 19th-century Russian Orthodox monk who was later glorified as a saint. Celebrated figures who spent, or have spent, significant portions of their lives as recluses include Virgil,[1] Michelangelo,[2] Isaac Newton,[3][4] Emily Brontë, J. D. Salinger, Emily Dickinson, Gustave Flaubert,[5] Paul Cézanne,[6] Nikola Tesla,[7] Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, H.P. Lovecraft, Marie Curie,[8] Marcel Proust,[9] Howard Hughes, Greta Garbo, Jackson Pollock, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli,[10] Jean-Luc Godard,[11] Thomas Pynchon, John Swartzwelder, Paul Allen, Layne Staley and Michael Jackson.[12]

--Source: Wikipedia

Besides that, a lot of people focus on their works and study day and night. It's important for them to indulge themselves into what they want.

You claim "everyone" is a wrong assumption. I can tell you there are some people who give up their comfortable lives and choose to be recluses in mountains according to reports.

Life styles are people's chooses, and the other people don't have right to instruct them.


I don't mean to be condescending, and I appreciate people's concerns as you do if the concern doesn't sound like you need to do something or not do soemthing on the basis of prepositon or assumption.

You didn't know about me as you misunderstood me previously.

I just seriously want to know how he knows what I need. I don't deny mind reading exists, but I don't figure out how he knows with a couple posts exchanged between him and me.

I agree people can express their opinions freely, but people shouldn't instruct the other people what they need or needn't . If you are talking about your own opinion, experiences, I appreciate. If you wrongly judge me and tell me, I have the right to ask. If you judge me and don't tell me, it is up to you.

I honestly don't try to be condescending. In order not to be misunderstood, so I added a smiley.

A Buddha said if you see a lotus because there's a lotus in your heart; if you see bullsh*t, because there's bullsh*t in your heart.

You read some books about NLP. I suppose you might know the maps of yours and mine are different to the territory. Please don't use your own map to define my own map.

What I want is I want to know how he thinks, and then I might tell him that preposition is incorrect. I don't want to pick up a fight with you or anyone esle. Please don't intrepret my words or thoughts at will. I've told you several times, please feel free to ask me if you don't know.

Please understand we are very different individuals from genders, cultures, native languages, to experiences.

That's all.

How do you know the speaker knows that? That's a pretty big assumption from someone who really, really doesn't like assumptions about his or herself.

I don't know who is the someone you refer to. But in case you refer to me, here's my response.

I don't mind and don't have any right to oppose if peopole assume me, but when people assume something about me and tell me, I want to figure out how he assumes that. If it is wrong, I need to clarify. If it is right, I accept.

Assumptions can be good. It is necessary for (scientific) research. I don't say I don't like assumption.

If anyone assumes anything about me and tells me, I hope they can have my verification.

What I don't really really really like is people instruct me. I don't need instructions if I don't request. Suggesions are welcome. Instructions are not acceptable.