Anyone have a successful DC who never picks up a book?

Far too much of my life is spent in the car, what with all the sports fixtures and wotnot.

I think I'd resent it were it not for audio books!

Ds who is currently part way through his Masters will happily tell anyone who asks that the last book he read was "The Twits" It doesn't seem to have hampered him at all in so far as he has plenty of qualifications and even GCSE English Lit which he passed by reading analysis of the texts online and watching the films instead.
My only thought would be that he would have a far richer vocabulary had he read and so I read his dissertations and suggest alternative phrasing and vocab as otherwise I think he sounds a little bit repetitive.

Anyway, I suppose that I think that the conversation/analysis with others is very important for cognitive development - hence reading alone not being the sole route to higher thinking.

Not to diss reading alone, of course, which has many benefits and I encourage DD (who really likes reading) to read widely.

Car audio books sounds good - our life does not include long car journeys together so the opportunity isn't there!

My dh rarely reads for pleasure, though when he does he enjoys it. He got the top first in his year in English from a very good university. He's successful in a creative field.

One thing we do to share books is to regularly listen to audio books together (especially in the car, where DC and I are often all together).

Someone will often press pause to ask a question, or make a comment.

Obviously, it's easier for us as my DC are the same age, so don't have wildly different reading abilities/tastes.

I think that film (or television) can offer different opportunities for discussion and analysis to reading. Reading for pleasure is often a solitary activity and, even when several members of the same family read the same book they often do so sequentially rather than simultaneously, which to a large extent limits the spontaneous conversation around the action that can arise from sharing a film or TV series.

When we go on holiday and I choose books for me written in English, I then buy the same book in French for DP and we lie side by side by the pool etc and read in tandem. We love this and love the conversations we can have but it only happens a couple of times a year! Films and TV offer more opportunities and more opportunities to share with the DC too.

Dreading!!! Reading!

This thread seems to establish that a voracious passion for dreading fiction is not necessary for success in our world.

It's lovely though! Glad I've got the bug. DD 1 reluctant; DD2 obsessed. Both deemed fairly bright at school and happy.

As long as youngsters can read sufficiently well to access the curriculum, they are probably ok. And may come to reading for fun later in life? Never too late to start.

My DB2 was not a great reader. He got a good degree - law and French - from a good Uni. He has a very well paid job in financial services, a great - intelligent, funny- wife who also has a great job and 2 fantastic little girls. He has enough money - and enough time - to pursue his passions outside work. He has lots of close friends.

My other brother and I were both avid readers and neither of us is quite as successful - although DB1 does write for a living and my DH is amaZing!

DS1 read up to the age of 13 then gave up and played computer games/DJed. Now reads again and is very successful in a professional area (studied up to MSc)
DS2 never liked reading or sitting still much though perfectly competent as a reader. He finds writing (e.g. his dissertation) difficult, but is now reading more widely ... good thing as he is doing an MSc next year.
So yes, non-readers can do OK, but it is better to be a reader!

I think some of the main differences between literature and film (and I'm a huge fan of both) is that in any filmatic piece, the brain doesn't have do as much building.

The character is there for us. We see and hear him. There is little for us to do to conjure him.

Though of course, we don't (usually) get to hear his inner dialogue, so we have to do the work there in a way we don't in books, tough of course the inner dialogue is usually the thing that raises the most questions .

I agree that writing is harder than reading.

When I've done a few hour's work I know it .

Reading is light relief in comparisson. But still it requires work. Even the most basic book will require the reader to process not just words and descriptions but literary devices, voice, structure, narrative drive, characterisation, theme, motif. And it will raise as many questions as it answers.

The brain needs to do some graft...

I know some very successful people ( if success is measured by salary / position) who rarely or never read fiction or non- fiction just for pleasure. .They are quite often engineers or scientists by background though some will have moved out of their discipline. They will, however be reading and creating reams of reports / plans/ balance sheets/policies / scenarios.

Successful people who don't read for pleasure are always constructively busy, I think. Their hobbies are different.

'It's as passive as watching a film or reading a newspaper, you are 'consuming' something that has been produced. Yes you add your own connections and links, but you do that with film as well.'

The brain is engaged in making sense of all this. The extent of the work it is doing, as suggested above, depends upon the level of analysis and reflection. But writing (well) is harder.

My eldest was voracious until High School - then just stopped completely.

Never ever ever reads for pleasure, not dyslexic, she just can't see the point. I read all the time, for work and pleasure, the house has books everywhere, I always have about five on them on the go to read (and about the same number to write).

She would rather stare into space than pick up a book. It's very odd.

She's off to uni on an unconditional in a couple of months though .

It's as passive as watching a film or reading a newspaper, you are 'consuming' something that has been produced. Yes you add your own connections and links, but you do that with film as well.

Writing is IMO an awful lot more engaging than reading. I'd be much more anxious about the cognitive development of DC who rarely write than those who rarely read.

unrealhousewife reading is not a passive activity.

It may require nothing more physical than turning a page/pressing a button, but the brain is working on many levels.

For me the issue is whether DC live in (a) a language rich environment (b) a context of constant analysis of the world around them. Reading can provide those things (though not alone) but there are plenty of other sources.

I know a partner in my firm who boasts he has never read a book by choice and not read a book at all since he did eng lit O level. He's quite successful I suppose.

My dyslexic DS had not read a book by choice since he graduated from picture books, until this Easter when he started reading GoT. He's currently on Book 5 (A Feast for crows - I know that's technically book 4 but as far as he is concerned a storm of swords ws 2 books because - there were two books). So that's several thousand pages - and he's loving it. Will he go on to read other books once he's finished the books published to date? Not sure. He's already demanded that instead of the two copies of A world of ice and fire we had already pre ordered, we get 3 so he can read it without having to wait for me or DD1 to finish. But that probably doesn't count. He's expressed an interest in under the dome. And the dark tower. So maybe he'll carry on reading. He adores audio books though - he's extremely 'well read' (almost exclusively the classics and Shakespeare) but the physical act of reading defeated him a bit until now, because it's bloody hard work for him.

I agree with Bonsoir, I have a friend who spends most of her spare time reading and never seem quite in the present... Probably thinking about what happens next. I think it's almost an addiction.

Great for certain cerebral functions, but no more effect on the brain that some computer games.

I think the main negative point is it's a solitary pursuit so if done in excess it can reduce your social contact. It is also a passive activity so not much better than watching a film.

I asked DH about this last night, specifically why he didn't read much as a young person, but now reads so voraciously.

He says it's like much in life, it becomes a habit. If you don't have the habit, it can feel like a chore and you convince yourself that you're too busy, or can't be bothered or it offers you nothing.

But once it becomes part of daily life, it's like anything, you can't imagine life without it. An effort to get started, but rich rewards .

And I always read as a child and I'm a SAHM at 25 with no fancy job. So reading has nothing to do with it ,lol.

My brother never read throughout school but is now at University and is always up to date with current Affairs ,politics etc ... Things can change.