The title is not created by me, it is from a book written by an editor. – Sorry, I cannot recall the name of the author, as I just saw it among the book summaries I read while searching for new reading. Not to mention, I am a forgetful person, and remembering nouns and numbers is very challenging to me.

However, I recalled these words many times recently and feel I do share the same sense. Cannot agree more! In other words, it means that you can achieve the best life if you are reading; or, your life will be regretful if you are not reading.

Someone once laughed at me saying I am bookish. It is not praise at all in Chinese, and I was upset about it. But now, I feel it suits me anyway. I am not a bookworm and barely read consistently unless there is a book that attracts me deeply. I would read it on and finish it in days, as I am a quick reader who can literally read multiple lines at once and finish a page in seconds. If a book stays in my hand for more than a week, except for unexpected disruption, it is basically unattractive to me.

Regarding reading, people have given a lot of thought. There is a Chinese proverb: In books are sumptuous houses and graceful ladies, which means reading leads to both wealth and beauty. Also, there’s a saying that reading changes your way of walking. As I understood, it suggests that reading could make your life different by changing the way you think and doing. Recently I heard another new thought of reading: when you are reading, you are exploring the world through the author’s eyes. This sounds awesome, as everyone only has a pair of eyes and a limited view seeing the world. We see the world the way literally the same as the blind men in the story of Blind Men Feeling the Elephant – take the part as a whole. Thus, if reading offers us additional eyes to see the world, that could be amazing!

I feel I like reading just like I like travel. As I am not satisfied to be living in only my own world – as the popular online slogan says, the world is so big, I cannot stop thinking about taking a look (of the outside world) – I was enjoying reading world map in the book store when I was a mid-school student. One of my classmates laughed at me saying it is useless to read such a map as I would not have any chance to go elsewhere on the map. However, thirty years later, I have been to eight countries and am living on the other side of the earth. Furthermore, I am planning to explore more together with my children and extend the world map in our lives.

The desire to peek into the outside world encourages me to read; reading then helps me to get closer to drawing a full picture of the world. You may ask me why we need the full picture of the world while we are struggling in day-to-day life which is exhausting. Trust me, once you see a vaster world, you will finally get the right to the frustration of day-to-day life. A Chinese poem says that the true face of Lushan is lost to my sight, for it is right on this mountain that I reside. – As you misunderstood your life, you missed out on the best today.

(To be continued...)