Pleasure of Reading
Introduction
The pleasure of reading books is undoubtedly very high.
Before the invention of printing, books were hand-written, and so were few in number, and difficult to get.
But in the modern age, books are easily available, and those who wish, can have no difficulty in enjoying the blessing of being able to read books of their choice.
The pleasures of reading are indeed many and varied. They vary according to the taste and temperament of each reader.
Intellectual Pleasure of Reading
Those who are by nature intellectual, who find delight in grappling with difficult problems, naturally derive a great joy from reading books dealing with serious problems. The exercise of the mind that such reading affords is for them a source of infinite pleasure. Thought to them is a necessary exercise, and therefore their pleasure is great when books provide them with the substance of thinking.
Emotional Pleasure of Reading
Reading also brings satisfaction to men of emotional temperament. They read poetry and drama and fiction. Reading gives them all the thrill and excitement of variety for which their emotional nature is forever hungry. Emotional pleasure is a permanent need for the human mind.
Reading therefore gives man pleasures that are denied in real life as long as the latter remains stunted and crippled in an imperfect social order.
Creative Value of Reading
The ordinary man enjoys reading, in a large measure, as a healthy and innocent form of recreation. After the day’s labor, one feels happy to relax over a pleasant book, a book of one’s own choice, which makes no very great demand on the mental power, and is therefore soothing and comfortable. He turns over the pages, taking in what amuses him and without any other ulterior object.
Such reading is, in a material sense, unprofitable, but it serves the purpose of refreshing the tired mid. Few pleasures can really be greater than this.
Conclusion
Human companionship may be sometimes unwanted and irritating. It can neither be always received with pleasure not dismissed without giving offence or causing pains. But books make no such demand. One can take up a book or lay it as one’s mood dictates. Is no this a great joy in itself? Life indeed has few greater sources of pleasure and happiness than the joy of enjoying freedom in the matter of dictating our own happiness in terms of our convenience.
