"Soar Reading" book vending machines.

Third page of this mornings Detroit News ran an article about book vending machines in the Paton Rec Center that allow kids to access books for no charge. These vending machines are sponsored by Jet Blue so it's not an altruistic endeavor. However, it brings to mind a time when we were living in the Parkside Projects and had no easy access to a library. The "Bookmobile" came by, I believe, twice a week, and it opened a door to a lifetime of reading for me. I now have a kindle and make use of the main library in my area. When me moved to the lower east side, I was a frequent visitor to the Montieth library on Kercheval, I believe it is still in operation. [[Can someone confirm?)
The intent of this tread is to make a personal observation. It is my opinion that reading is the key to getting out of the grip of poverty. I realize this is a very general statement, however, it has been my experience that each and every person I know that is an avid reader, no matter what ethnicity, has exceled in school and the work force. I would welcome anyone's comments to the contrary, I'm sure there are exceptions to this rule. I would rather read a good book than see a movie. [[The exception is the Godfather 1 and 2, [[3 sucked):mad:) When I attended Wilbur Wright one of my fellow students turned me onto the James Bond novels, pretty soon most of the class were reading them. Not exactly college prep material but it got a lot of people interested in reading.
I have recently retired and have the luxury of more time to read, I read both Fiction and non Fiction, I making use of the library more often now.

dguy4ever, I couldn't agree with you more.

Reading opens up vast new worlds. I have provided money to all of my grandkids to buy as many books as they want, whatever they want. No limits. They are all, thankfully, great readers.

I started out with comic books - by the dozens. Couldn't get enough of them. That's what everybody read when we were kids. We traded them constantly so your dime sometimes exposed you to 5 or 6 other comics as none of the kids in the neighborhood bought the same ones so we could trade.

I did not do well in grade school and not a whole lot better in high school, but in reading and comprehension I was way ahead of my grade level.

Of the hundreds [[1000s?) of books I've read my favorite is J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye." I'll bet a great percentage of people my age have read it at least twice. Laugh-out-loud funny and thought provoking.

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Originally Posted by 3WC

dguy4ever, I couldn't agree with you more.

Reading opens up vast new worlds. I have provided money to all of my grandkids to buy as many books as they want, whatever they want. No limits. They are all, thankfully, great readers.

I started out with comic books - by the dozens. Couldn't get enough of them. That's what everybody read when we were kids. We traded them constantly so your dime sometimes exposed you to 5 or 6 other comics as none of the kids in the neighborhood bought the same ones so we could trade.

I did not do well in grade school and not a whole lot better in high school, but in reading and comprehension I was way ahead of my grade level.

Of the hundreds [[1000s?) of books I've read my favorite is J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye." I'll bet a great percentage of people my age have read it at least twice. Laugh-out-loud funny and thought provoking.

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If it's not too forward of me, how did you do in the workplace? Did you have good luck landing jobs? My reason for asking is I would like to think that not only does reading open up new worlds, it increases your vocabulary and helps to interact with people. Just wondering.

My favorite book was Catch 22 by Heller. Of Mice and Men was great too.

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Originally Posted by dguy4evr

It is my opinion that reading is the key to getting out of the grip of poverty.

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That, good nutrition, and a solid community base. If only jails really worked for building up in these areas where some had lacked, than we truly be working towards rehabilitating folks instead of petty retribution via one giant rape farm. I only wish some states had better books for prisoners programs.

....that aside, books are reliable and wondrous things. It's a shame that just because they are not as flashy as any of the electronic mediums out there and that they just require a few ounces more effort to apply ourselves towards, a majority of human beings are taking the easy route out and becoming more and more illiterate. It's like comparing pinball to chess.

Sadly, the internet enforces more and more bad habits of skimming [[guilty here) and even that of boiled down, distilled quick blurb magazine articles online. There may've been a Book of Lists series back when that is now echoed in the Buzzfeed/Cracked articles of today, but at least the same authors also expanded with the People's Almanac series that had much, much more to read and take in. The internet has far too many diversions and flashy distractions for the eye. Sadly, this is a problem with e-books that offer all these pop-ups, quick trivia fact footnoting, and other distractions [[or even ads, the worst we had in the 70's were these http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/bo...ns-t.html?_r=0). There is less of a distraction free ability to train the eyes to calmly and thoroughly read a novel "cover to cover" like Moby Dick or Tolstoy [[which is hefty reading, mind you). The book "The Shallows" by Nicholas Carr addresses all of this.

It saddened me when the bookstores left the malls over seven years ago [[and eventually the toy stores, as well). I was in Boston when the Border's chain went belly up [[the crummy one on Ford Rd. still has it's sign lit at night). Remember to support more libraries for their books [[Dearborn has a dang good one) and the used bookstores [[like John K. King) while they are around. I think of one in Dearborn that will be closing at the end of the month....http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...store-to-Close

dguy4ever: To answer your question, I did very well in the workplace and in businesses I owned. My reading habits were a material factor I am sure. Of course, hard work, persistence and LUCK have much to do with a person's success. Everyone faces adversity and failures along the way and having read of the way many others have handled them makes it a little more tolerable.

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Originally Posted by G-DDT

Sadly, the internet enforces more and more bad habits of skimming [[guilty here) and even that of boiled down, distilled quick blurb magazine articles online. There may've been a Book of Lists series back when that is now echoed in the Buzzfeed/Cracked articles of today, but at least the same authors also expanded with the People's Almanac series that had much, much more to read and take in. The internet has far too many diversions and flashy distractions for the eye. Sadly, this is a problem with e-books that offer all these pop-ups, quick trivia fact footnoting, and other distractions [[or even ads, the worst we had in the 70's were these http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/bo...ns-t.html?_r=0). There is less of a distraction free ability to train the eyes to calmly and thoroughly read a novel "cover to cover" like Moby Dick or Tolstoy [[which is hefty reading, mind you). The book "The Shallows" by Nicholas Carr addresses all of this.

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I forgot to mention-the reason I say all of that is that when we were in school, we were given health books and circulars that highlighted the concerns and issues of reducing sight and sound pollution in our daily lives. I'm not just talking air, water, and ground pollution her, but the actual concept that too many loud and random noises and constant dazzling images all around us can have an overall adverse effect on one's state of mind.

Somewhere around the 80's all concern on sight [[and sound) pollution was phased out. It was no longer made an issue [[just like with blood-sugar and hypoglycemia). I honestly believe we are slowly being driven frenetic and [[attention-addled) fly-eyed, thus, more manipulated, if not all out crazy. I really do not want to live in a future like Minority Report where you have obstructive holograms beaming shrill advertisements at your face as you commute your daily routine [[or worse have them beamed into your sleep like on Futurama).

Does your neighborhood have a Little Free Library? Apparently the city of Detroit has about 16 of them.

https://littlefreelibrary.org/

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Originally Posted by G-DDT

I forgot to mention-the reason I say all of that is that when we were in school, we were given health books and circulars that highlighted the concerns and issues of reducing sight and sound pollution in our daily lives. I'm not just talking air, water, and ground pollution her, but the actual concept that too many loud and random noises and constant dazzling images all around us can have an overall adverse effect on one's state of mind.

Somewhere around the 80's all concern on sight [[and sound) pollution was phased out. It was no longer made an issue [[just like with blood-sugar and hypoglycemia). I honestly believe we are slowly being driven frenetic and [[attention-addled) fly-eyed, thus, more manipulated, if not all out crazy. I really do not want to live in a future like Minority Report where you have obstructive holograms beaming shrill advertisements at your face as you commute your daily routine [[or worse have them beamed into your sleep like on Futurama).

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I used to frequent the Montieth Branch of the Detroit library on Kercheval, there is a good reason they enforce the no noise rules. I used to love the smell when I went in there and it was so peaceful and quiet. We have a great library where we live now [[Clinton Township Main Branch). I have a preferred author list and they inform me when a new book comes out by one of these authors. I confess, I do have a Kindle Fire, but I prefer to read a hard copy book.
Am I the only one that thinks that these publishers are making a killing on e-books? There is no printing or binding costs and they still charge about 75% of the hard cover price. I mean, how much does a megabit of data cost to send wirelessly? I'm assuming they pay the same cost in royalties so they are pocketing the major cost of publishing a book.

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Originally Posted by dguy4evr

If it's not too forward of me, how did you do in the workplace? Did you have good luck landing jobs? My reason for asking is I would like to think that not only does reading open up new worlds, it increases your vocabulary and helps to interact with people. Just wondering.

My favorite book was Catch 22 by Heller. Of Mice and Men was great too.

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I believe it is fairly well established that reading skills correlate with things like vocabulary, focus and abstract thinking. I was/am an avid reader but was only average in school, because I only applied myself to things I was interested in.

Shai_: The story of my life as well.

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Originally Posted by dguy4evr

I used to frequent the Montieth Branch of the Detroit library on Kercheval, there is a good reason they enforce the no noise rules. I used to love the smell when I went in there and it was so peaceful and quiet. We have a great library where we live now [[Clinton Township Main Branch). I have a preferred author list and they inform me when a new book comes out by one of these authors. I confess, I do have a Kindle Fire, but I prefer to read a hard copy book.
Am I the only one that thinks that these publishers are making a killing on e-books? There is no printing or binding costs and they still charge about 75% of the hard cover price. I mean, how much does a megabit of data cost to send wirelessly? I'm assuming they pay the same cost in royalties so they are pocketing the major cost of publishing a book.

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dguy4ev......I too have so many wonderful memories of the Montieth branch. Every Monday my mother took me and my brothers to the Montieth branch. When you mentioned the smell I knew exactly what you meant. We were allowed to select one book that we wanted to read and my mother would select one book that she wanted us to read. I spent many hours during my childhood sitting in one of the many window seats at the library reading. Before I left Detroit and moved to Santa Fe, NM I spent many hours at the Burton Library gathering information on my family who moved to Detroit in the 1920's. When I moved to Santa Fe one of the first things I acquired was a library card. There was some talk of the Montieth closing but I believe it's still open.

After posting this thread I decided to revisit some books that I had read and some that I never got to read. I checked out; Of Mice and Men, The Winter of Our Discontent [[Never read), Cannery Row[[Never read), and Lord of the Flies. The library lets me extend my loan on line as long as there is no one waiting for the book so my summer reading list is complete! I'm going to try and read some Hemmingway when I get the chance as I have never read anything by him. Another author that I really liked as a kid was Jack London.