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

[gardenfeature]

DS has only ever read a handful of books. Is it possible to do well at GCSEs and beyond without picking up a book? He has moderate dyslexia which I guess does not help making reading pleasurable. His reading ability is good but probably not up to the level of book that he might really enjoy - he used to listen to audio books. (I will get him back into that again).

He's good at History and English and is taking them for GCSE but how detrimental will not reading be? Any "non avid reader" success stories?

I think it depends what other things a person does instead of reading.

If a person'a life is full of different activities and experiences, then they can still be successful (though I would say there would always be a hole ).

That said, I would say that even if a student doesn't read for pleasure per se, they still need to be able to read extensively and take in large amounts of material when necessary. And this is a skill that needs honing!

My DSSs are not readers - I doubt DSS1 has ever read a book for pleasure in his life! He's 19, French and reading Economics at Bristol University and is right at the top of his year group. DSS2 read a bit more for pleasure as a child than DSS1. He is frighteningly clever and performing way ahead of DSS1 in the same subjects at the same school at a comparable point in time.

He might in later life Bonsoir.

My DH never read as a child or teen or young adult. I remember him being shocked by all my book cases when we first met .

And slowly he began to read. And now is voracious. Reads two or three books a week of catholic taste. He's currently got his nose in the new Donna Tartt...

My DS1 read avidly as a small boy but pretty much stopped reading by the time he was a teen. I have an English degree and can't understand not reading for pleasure so I try my best to entice him. I've got him to read a few novels that might be said to be at the boundaries of taste e.g. American Psycho, The Wasp Factory, The Cement Garden in circumstances of remote holidays with no wifi, but it never translates to any ongoing enthusiasm. He has straight A* in his GCSEs and is now in Y13 with an Oxbridge offer for Maths. Two of his A levels are German and Politics so assume he has read something at some point. His set text for German is The Reader, but I'm not even sure he has read that in translation though he has definitely read the original a good many times.

It's such a shame. I remember him as a Y7 getting his MFL teacher to read The Book Thief because he loved it so much and her saying both the book and the way she came to read it would always stay with her.

My other 2 DC are less academic (good enough for me not to worry, but not Oxbridge material) and they both read for pleasure every single day.

Thank you for this thread OP and for all the people who've contributed with positive posts. My DD2 still struggles with reading (age 10), and though she can do it now, its hard work and so not enjoyable. Obviously I try not to but inevitably worry that this will hold her back from achieving her full potential elsewhere. So thank you for this, it really helps.

I don't think reading is some sort of miracle indicator of future successful adulthood. I come from a family of big readers on my paternal side and the only reasonable conclusion I can draw is that too much reading prevents humans from normal maturation and integration into society! It's important to participate in Real Life, not lose yourself in a fictional world.

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.

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.

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 .

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.'

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.

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.

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 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 .

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!

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!

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.

Dreading!!! Reading!

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.