Monday, September 19, 2022

The doctor's orders on reading

 I had a bowl of gumbo at Gaido’s in Galveston with friends. One sent me home thinking about books. Melvyn is 91. He is a professor of medicine at the university, still teaching, still practicing. But he’s also an insightful reader.

He told us two things that stuck in mind.

He said he was making a point of reading writers he didn’t know. With age comes the tendency to prefer the familiar, and that tendency narrows your horizons.

He also said he always begins a new book after finishing the old one —  he starts on the same day. That way, he’s always reading something. His mind is open, not idle. He’s learning.

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