As we all are aware that the era of ours is the era of knowledge explosion. Much has been written and is being written by scientists, intellectuals, philosophers, scholars etc. in all fields of knowledge. The size of each field of knowledge is widening day by day due to research and analysis by experts of the field. Information technology has also provided tools to record scientific and socio-economic data and organize it into knowledge. Each year lakhs of research papers and books get published in various fields of knowledge. Take a single topic of interest and search it on your smart phones you can avail a lot of information about it in the form of books, articles, analyses, videos etc. Even every single field of knowledge is so vast that it is very difficult for the student of the field to read all the books and research papers of the field. Readers who don’t study for academic purposes but for only increasing knowledge and awareness get access to a lot of books of their interest. Internet is emerging a powerful source of information and knowledge.

Its search engines can give information about any topic of knowledge. Almost all available knowledge of the world is now present on internet. It will be right if internet is called “World Library” to whom everyone can enter and get information about his topics of interest. As in the words of a great physicist and professor of Kashmir Shakeel Ahmad Khanday that “there is always much to read, learn and understand”. Today’s readers have a lot of opportunities from the easy accessibility of books to good quality of pages. Also there is a good text structure present in books nowadays. Moreover today’s readers have also the facilities of reading books on their digital devices like smart phone, laptop, palmtop etc. One can read while in a train or an aero plane without carrying a book. Printing and communication technologies have indeed made reading massive as well as easy. From the last two decades the world has seen a great surge in the publication and printing of books. Due to increase in population as well as literacy rate in the whole world the number of readers have increased manifold.
The reading passion to read more and more books has also increased giving further edge to reading in the modern world. While reading is a good habit and activity to increase knowledge, a mere surface reading of books is not enough. A reader has to go deep in the stuff of the book to understand the message of the author properly. As it is said that little knowledge is a dangerous thing so reading very limited books or not reading deeply does not often bring expected results and the reader is unable to understand the events which unfold in his life and the world at large. Reading a lot of books with full presence of mind is the need of the hour therefore. A reader should not be a passive agent who is finishing the pages of the book for mere information only. Instead he should be active and alert with a sharp analytic approach to understand and analyze things in a fair and decisive manner. He must develop the ability to relate and differentiate things; understand what is right and wrong etc.
Through social media I asked various people with different professional backgrounds about their opinion on how a reader should read books to increase his understanding and knowledge. I will share their insights one by one
Aslam Dar (School teacher and political analyst)
According to Aslam Dar who is himself a deep reader becoming a voracious reader needs one to become a passionate learner first. As it is only a thirsty learner that could be turned into a rigorous reader. Dar has also said that developing a reading habit takes intention, planning, consistency and following small practical steps to get started like reading easy books at the beginning, setting a specific goal of how much to read each day, creating a reading routine when to read, eliminating distractions, using technology wisely etc. He also stressed on consistency as key to good reading.
DR Yaqeen Sikander (Psychotherapist, Turkiye):
Yaqeen Sikander who is a psychotherapist by profession with PHD in clinical psychology from Turkiye believes that the best way to become a strong reader is to first understand the value of knowledge and the contribution one wishes to make intellectually. Dr Yaqeen who is himself a great author as well as a passionate reader stresses on the importance of intellectual vision and mindset in realizing the goal of becoming a strong and beneficial reader. He also said that once such a mindset is developed in a reader, reading becomes the path for him to realize the goal of what he wishes to contribute intellectually.
DR Nikhat Ali Tamanna ( Physiotherapist):
Nikhat Ali Tamanna says that one must be enjoying reading if he has to become a good reader. Choosing books that speak to the reader’s interests and aspirations is the need of the hour. She also believes that reading as much as possible with wide variety of books is also important. Keeping a time and study schedule helps to become an extensive reader. Building a personal library with a peaceful space for study also turns beneficial in the long run.
Ashraf Allaie (School teacher):
According to Ashraf Allaie the hallmark of strong reading is deep comprehension and critical engagement with the text. He is of the opinion that active engagement, critical thinking, contextual understanding, retention and recall, synthesis, flexibility, empathy are the skills which allow a reader to fully grasp the essence and implications of what he is reading.
Mubashir Nazir ( Student):
Mubashir Nazir is of the view that reading with full presence of mind and developing the ability to differentiate, relate and understand things is paramount for becoming a voracious reader. He also suggests that reading without the purposes of gaining insights and applying the lessons in real life gives merely information while as reading with the purpose to apply the learned lessons in practical life gives us knowledge which is more valuable than information.
Shahid Yousuf (Student):
Shahid Yousuf suggests that one should first read simple books only. With time he will develop the ability to read difficult books. He also believes that with extensive reading one becomes able to understand the different meanings of a single word in different contexts adding to his vocabulary and knowledge.
I hope the reader of this article will ponder over the opinions of these people so that he can find a way to become a strong reader. In the end let’s conclude this article with the beautiful quote of APJ Abdul Kalam who was an aerospace scientist and statesmen of our nation. About reading he said “Books are my favourite friends and I consider my home library with many thousand books to be my greatest wealth. Every new book based on some new idea inspires me and fives me a new thought to ponder.”
The author is highly thankful to all the people who reacted to his message on how to become a voracious reader.

Email:----------------------------lonefarooqahmad80@gmail.com