This may seem like a boring thing to most, but the activity of reading is a valuable thing that more people should be doing. I’ve come to embrace the act of reading each morning, though not the kind of reading most people do. From what I’ve seen and observed, people are hyped out about their romance books, graphic novels, and stories of imagination.
They love diving into worlds that are so different than their own, inspired by the heroes and heroines that fight off dragons, hide from aliens, or deal with sexual tension with the hot plumber who lives next door.
Though my writing career brewed happily as a pre-teen who read age-appropriate romance books and began writing short works of fiction, I’ve become enamored with nonfiction as an adult.
Nonfiction, in case you’re not sure what that means, is basically any type of writing that is true or factual. Most magazines you see at the checkout line at the supermarket (except for the tabloids) are nonfiction writing. They capture real stories about celebrities and offer fashion and cooking and crafting advice using real descriptions.
Another form of nonfiction writing is the news stories that are published online all day, every day. News is nonfiction; it is a factual report about a person, place, thing, or event. News contains real details, descriptions, and sometimes, the writer’s own point of view about that topic. If a personal opinion is involved, it’s considered an editorial opinion.
Each day, especially in the morning, I love starting my day at the main Yahoo page. The main page lists many photos and headlines of news stories. Some of them interest me, some don’t. It’s all a matter of personal preference. Sometimes, the news stories are about celebrities. Those appeal to me because I love pop culture and love the thrill of finding out details about their lives.
Other times, news stories fascinate me because they talk about topics I’ve either never heard about or vaguely knew about. In either case, I end up learning a great deal just by reading. Sometimes, I happen to pick up on one or two small bits of new information that I’ll just store in my memory bank. I do that a lot when the news stories I read happen to feature words that are new to me.
Today, there was a factual (nonfiction) story about Death Valley. I had heard of Death Valley and was vaguely familiar with it, but really couldn’t be able to answer any questions about this even if I tried. Was this place even a real location? Today, I learned that Death Valley is a national park in California. Wow. That was totally new to me! I had previously associated Death Valley with a fictional place that haunted people. Imagine that!
The news story I saw today provided real details about the fact that Death Valley may have recorded the highest temperature ever seen on earth – 130 degrees! Now that is just mind boggling. The place looks like a desert, but it’s considered a national park.
Obviously no one lives there because it’s a park, but can people safely walk through Death Valley? Are there any living animals that can withstand the high temperature of Death Valley? So many questions!
I definitely encourage adults to read the things that interest them the most, whether t’s print magazines, e-books, hard-copy physical books, legal treatises, whatever. Whatever floats your boat, that’s what you should do. Reading isn’t just intended for little kids. We need to do our part, too!
