CDT Francemone, I completely agree with your opening statement that “reading is a trait that will never patricianly lose relevance.” Indeed, from an early age we are stressed the importance of reading carefully, analyzing a text, evaluate different schools of thought and theories, and enriching our vocabularies. What we have read in the past can shape our way of thinking about the situations we find ourselves in. Furthermore, by engaging in professional reading, we can view how persuasive arguments are made and defended. Moving forward, we can take these little tools/ tricks and reuse and weave them to fit our own needs.

However, I also understand the argument that reading can be time consuming, and some people cannot fully concentrate or get the full picture by reading. This can sometimes be the case for myself. However, living in the time period that we do, we have other great sources we can use. For example, documentaries are a great way to learn more about a particular subject. These also have images that can stimulate thought. As CDT Wineland pointed out, audiobooks could be another tool to use.

Lastly, I think that being assigned reading has its pros and cons. A pro is that, if you follow through with the reading, you actually read what you are supposed to read. However, I whenever a professor assigns a book to read, I don’t usually enjoy the experience. I would much rather pick up a book on my own accord, knowing that it will interest me, so I get much more out of it.