Reading as a Prescription

Katha Pollitt presents a debate to figure out which books should be a reading requirement for students. If reading is “medicinal,” why are we not cured? Many people, including myself, take medicine for cure or relief. Reading is a medicine that cures vocabulary deficiency but raises other concerns.

Vocabulary deficiency are growing illnesses among students, debates are held to decide “which books make the best medicine,” to cure them. Studies have shown that they more you read, the more your vocabulary increases. Reading has succeeded in curing this deficiency; yet, people with wide ranges of vocabulary find it harder to interact with their peers because reading exposes them to a planet beyond earth’s comprehension, to the point that a new problem called social interactions deficiency develops.

Although reading has cured one deficiency, another arises which might take a psychological approach or the prescribed treatment of abandoning books in order to create a social life. Individuals with social interactions deficiency may ignore their condition and advance to be successful in life, still lacking in areas called people skills. The symptoms of this problem attracts friends that are no friends, those only for the good times not the bad and those controlled by the glamour of riches. In order words, money buys friends.

Social interactions deficiency also generates a new deficiency called the inability to know your real friends. If this condition persists, it might cause other conditions; for example an inability to trust people in general, feeling uncomfortable among strangers, insecurity, panic and terrifying illnesses. Time reveals real friends.

People say “friends come and go,” but in contrast, real friends will stick around no matter the circumstance. Although these deficiencies linked to too much reading are rare, it’s still good to look out for the symptoms. To avoid to these problems, use your reading medicine efficiently until your vocabulary deficiency is cured but be careful not to allow the world revealed while reading to control your life.