Is it better to read or to think?!?

Question

but doesnt reading brainwash you?!!

Answer 1

It is a matter of balance.

Reading is a medium to take in what others have learned.

Thinking is our process of coming up with our own answers.

If we only think we are not drawing on the hundreds of years of experience coveneyed through text.

If we only read we will not know how to think and therefore live.

When reading ask yourself 'what does that mean to me?'

Answer 2

I do both! When I'm reading a good, though-provoking book I enjoy the tale and I also let my mind take a point and go off on a tangent and see what develops. Sometimes I'll read a passage and imagine what I'd do if I were confronted with a situation described in the book. Other times I'll read something that brings back a memory. Perhaps a conversation, a thought, a place where I experienced something. Sometimes I'll empathise with the character and drag out situations I've shared.

That is one of the many beauties of reading a book versus watching a movie or a TV program. You can get off any time you want ad get back on after you've had the digression when reading a book. If you're watching something on TV and you blink, you might miss an important moment that has been carefully handfed to you.

Think of Movies and TV as trains travelling on rails at a speed and in a direction you have no control over, once you get on, whereas a book or a magazine are like taking a car and touring the country. You can stop, get out, smell the wheat, and continue.

More senses are involved.

(Finally reading John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" Powerful stuff once it gets you in.)

P.S. Just read the rest of your question regarding reading brainwashing. The other comments are fair. Reading doesn't brainwash. What can happen is that if you read up on a subject and only find books of a single opinion you will tend to believe only that version and discard the rest. I have recently discovered a love for reading up on Spanish history. But the best books are written by foreigners, non-spainiards and you need to read several about the same time period to avoid picking up a bias from the author. Otherwise you will find yourself brainwashed into his/her take on the period.

Same with fiction. If you only read John Grisham, you will get a very firm opinion about lawyers and the legal system in general. Tom Clancy will skew your view of governments and how they keep our countries safe. If you grow up reading Beatrix Potter, life will be bunnies and foxes...

Read as much as you can and think while you read. No two people come out of reading a book with the same reactions because when they fell in they took their own live experiences, past and thoughts in with them.

Answer 3

The two actions don't exclude each other. You can read and think about what you've read about that and make your own opinion. Reading can also help you find out interesting things, it's not brainwashing. Reading without thinking after and accepting everything that someone says, that's brainwashing.

Answer 4

Reading something can modify your opinions. If you are worried about being brainwashed you should read books that are created to inform you information rather than spout a persons opinion To get the most out of reading you should apply what you've read by asking yourself questions about the text. Reading works best when you think about and are engaged in what you are reading. Thinking and pondering alone without reading something are good as well.

Answer 5

It is dangerous and useless to have one without the other. Reading represents knowledge but what good is knowledge if you don't process it? On the other hand, what good are our own opinions and ignorances without knowledge behind them?

Of course you could acquire knowledge in other ways, through lecture for example. That is a tedious and expensive way to do it and you would not acquire much that way, hence much ignorance would still prevail.

I suppose that if I had to pick just one of the two, I would say it's better to think. The world is in the state it's in today because many people do not think critically for themselves. Realize though that this would still be incredibly limited. ALL of the smartest people and best thinkers that I know (academically speaking) are avid readers.

~ FR

Answer 6

NO, reading does NOT brainwash you, unless you let it

reading helps you to get knowledge of something or someone you did not know a lot about .

Answer 7

it is better to read. no its not a form of brainwashing. u read the book and then think about what u got out of it.

Answer 8

Reading will build your vocabulary and give you fodder for thinking. So it's pretty good stuff. Thinking has actually improved athletes performance on the feild or court so there is a lot of merit to both. Read, then think about what you've read and you can't go wrong.

Answer 9

it's best to do both, anything that stimulates you to think in any way can't be a bad thing, reading excites the imagination, not a bad thing. as to brainwashing, I don't understand what you mean, the fact that you're writing on this forum must mean that you read, after reading you're free to make your own decisions as to it's importance,

Answer 10

Reading brings knowledge and allows you to think on a broader scope. Ignorance gives birth to small minds....so read and think at the same time.