A Man Reads

Many men look back fondly on their halcyon school days as a time when life was easier and filled with the luxury of reading and learning and discussing that new knowledge with a panel of his peers. Of course, the nights were filled with booze-soaked parties and the mornings weighed down with banging hangovers, but the days! It is the days of learning I seek to recall here, stay with me. I am simply trying to say this: A man never stops learning. He reads. He questions. He’s curious. The minute he thinks he is done, that he knows it all, and worse, pontificates, is the sad moment when he becomes a pompous buffoon and hence, a bore.

It is important to apportion some piece of your day to improving your mind and keeping yourself intellectually engaged. One of the most basic and most important foundations of the civilized life is accessible to everyone. Read. Embrace the path of the lifelong student with joy and vigor. This is one unavoidable fact if you want to live the good and civilized life. You are never too old to learn and the sooner you embrace this fact the better. Place a dictionary beside your bed and bookmark dictionary.com on your laptop. Never pass over a word that you don’t know. Begin each day by reading at least two newspapers and one of them must be printed on old-fashioned paper (you can’t read everything online, can you?). The New York Times is a must – and I’m not just saying this to appease the Gray Lady after I dismissed her coverage on shorts, yesterday. Even if you are a staunch conservative, the Times’ balanced coverage on news, politics and the arts is without equal. The papers’ Sunday “Week in Review” section is the must must must read for editorial and opinions. The other paper could be The Wall Street Journal or any other balancing view as it’s important to look at both sides of an issue, or course. Local papers don’t count, unless you live in New York, LA, Chicago, Washington DC, London, Milan or Paris. The point is to broaden your mind with differing opinions from other perspectives.

Remember that none of the outward displays of style and grooming will matter if you stride into a room looking sharp and successful and open your mouth and sound like an idiot. Conversation is the key to the kingdom and if you can’t carry one in a bucket, you will be left out of the conversation and hence, out of the loop. And SP really wants you to be included, you know. It’s true.

SocialPrimer recommends: The New York Times, www.dictionary.com, and the magnificent reading room at The New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue.