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The Lonely Good Books Richard Rodriguez Analysis

Decent Essays

Throughout elementary school, we have always been told to read books. Some books for enjoyment, but the majority solely for educational purposes. The one question that I continually asked myself was, “Does reading really make me smarter?” Within hours of reading my textbooks, I find myself downing another cup of coffee, struggling to get through the tedious lines of ink. Not only was I uninterested in what I was reading, but I felt disconnected from the true meaning of the material. While deciphering text can be mundane, studies have shown that “reading has cognitive consequences that extend beyond its immediate task of lifting meaning from a particular passage” (Cunningham 137). Reading not only makes you smarter, but makes you rhetorically analyze things better. The skills that you gain through reading last a lifetime, not just for reading the latest Twilight book. In The Lonely, Good Company of Books, Richard Rodriguez describes himself as a small child looking at reading posters on the wall of his school. “OPEN THE DOORS OF YOUR MIND WITH BOOKS”, “READ TO LEARN”, and “CONSIDER BOOKS YOUR BEST FRIENDS” (172) were posters that young Rodriguez gazed upon in his classroom. He depicts himself as continually reading books to become smarter. “I vacuumed books for epigrams, scraps of information, ideas, themes- anything to fill …show more content…

Many studies have shown that students who participate in reading more often than those who don’t obtain higher GPA’s in school. Cognately reading an interesting book is stress relieving. Reading offers an alternate dimension that allows readers to escape reality. I agree with Rodriguez’s point of view that the more you read, the more precise and elaborate your English writing skills will be. If you read text that includes difficult vocabulary, you may establish a more professional way of writing using the vocabulary you found in your

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