FORGE YOUR WISDOM

Why Reading is Your Superpower in a Divided World

“Imagine a constellation of diverse minds gathered in quiet communion—some nestled in bookstore armchairs with dog-eared paperbacks, others sprawled across library floors surrounded by towering shelves that smell of aged paper, dust and grand possibilities. This increasingly rare scene of intellectual curiosity offers more hope for our collective future than all the trending hashtags and viral outrage combined.”

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The Call to Arms (and Pages)

Today, we find ourselves adrift in an ocean of information while dying of thirst for actual wisdom. Our modern information ecosystem bombards us with headlines engineered not to inform, but to instigate—each notification a small electric shock that leaves us both overstimulated and numb; always more exhausted than enlightened.

Our political landscape has devolved from one of reasoned disagreement to a seemingly unbridgeable chasm that sucks whole families, neighborhoods, universities, states and societies downward into its pitiless gorge.

Social media platforms promised us connection and global community. Instead we got multibillion-dollar outrage machines that manufacture division, animosity and fake news, all the while causing us to hate ourselves just as much as the supposed enemy du jour.

The concept of "shared reality" has become increasingly quaint, like believing in Santa Claus past the age of eight—a charming notion, sure, but kinda weird outside of a Hallmark Christmas movie.

Meanwhile, apathy is marketed to us as a reasonable response to this overwhelming complexity. Thousands of passive, quitter-chic memes infiltrate our attention-sphere each day, asking us to laugh at our helplessness, as if this constant downward spiral isn’t terrifying but somehow cool and expected.

<cue ironic millennial shrug>

But let's be clear: in an era marked by resurgent authoritarianism, entrenched racial injustice, and industrial-scale disinformation that would make Orwell reach for stronger metaphors, disengagement isn't merely passive—it's complicity.

The natural question arises: what meaningful action can an ordinary person take? What the actual fuck can we do about all this?

When those in power violate norms and manipulate systems with such velocity that yesterday's outrage is buried beneath today's fresh “WTF”, the sensation of powerlessness becomes our baseline.

Yet here's the uncomfortable truth about this powerlessness: it's largely bullshit—a convenient fiction that benefits those who prefer a disengaged and dumb citizenry. And, I hate to break it to you, but yep, this entire shitshow is by design.

They know what they’re doing to us and through our own ignorance, bias, racism, sexism and parochial hatreds, we not only validate their evil plan, but beg them for more.

<sigh>

Yet, with all that being said, we do possess a formidable instrument for reclaiming agency. Ironically, an example of which is likely gathering dust somewhere in your home, perhaps forgotten on a shelf between warranty manuals and worthless consumer knick-knacks.

I’m talking about a book. I’m talking about reading.

Not the shallow skimming of political rants at midnight, nor the frantic scrolling through comment threads beneath conspiracy theorists' vitriol. I mean sustained, deliberate engagement with literature—challenging books, paradigm-shifting ideas, narratives that dissolve the boundaries of self and allow another's perspective to reshape your understanding of our world.

Is reading our only recourse against societal dysfunction? Of course not, much work across numerous topics must commence. But reading, growing a deeply literate populace constitutes an essential foundation upon which other reforms can eventually build.

“We are facing a holy-shit-five-alarm-cultural-fire and growing an army of diligent readers is the extinguisher.”

But let me establish an important boundary: this is not an exercise in literary snobbery. If you find pleasure in escapist beach reads or the latest Dan Brown thriller (which I've pre-ordered myself, without apology), that's entirely valid—joy is not the adversary here.

However, if your entire literary diet consists exclusively of werewolf-reverse-harem smut, James Patterson thrillers, books with cover art of supernatural billionaires with improbable abs, or even worse, anything at all written by Jordan Peterson, perhaps it's time to introduce some nutritional diversity to your reading regimen.

“My personal reading maxim: ‘read what you want, but WANT to read widely.’”

Read for pleasure, certainly, but also read for intellectual growth, for moral challenge, for empathetic expansion. Because ultimately, what stands between our society and complete capitulation to fear-based governance and authoritarian rule by horrible dipshits isn't sophisticated technology or cleverer memes—it's an educated populace that values substantive thought over algorithmic reaction.

So… what’s the point here? Why am I saying all this?

I am seeking to build that army mentioned above, to mobilize not a few of you, not hundreds, nor merely thousands… I’m talking millions!

No—A HUNDRED MILLION READERS, deeply engaged minds committed to this project of intellectual revitalization. Not for my benefit alone, but for all of our collective future.

Will you join this intellectual insurgency?

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In Defense of Substantive Engagement

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The appeal of contemporary media is undeniable—videos offer immediate gratification, social platforms deliver dopamine with algorithmic precision, and the promise of acquiring knowledge in sixty-second increments proves irresistible.

But genuine learning—the transformative kind that fundamentally alters your relationship with both yourself and the wider world—requires sustained attention and intellectual investment. There are no escalators to peak intellectual life.

But like repeated sweaty days at the gym, consistently breaking the spine of a challenging book pays off fast. Research consistently confirms what passionate readers intuitively understand:

Critical thinking

Reading actively engages our analytical faculties in ways passive media consumption (like video) can’t replicate. Rather than merely absorbing information, reading demands that we evaluate arguments, assess evidence, and integrate new ideas into our existing knowledge frameworks.

It's not simply absorbing facts; it's developing the intellectual musculature to interrogate new information from multiple angles, shifting through the bullshit (QAnon, MAGA, anything Steve Bannon says) to arrive at a preponderance of truth.

I realize many people find the concept of truth problematic in this post-modern world, but I reject much of that double-speak relativism. There is evil. There is good. There is right. There is wrong.

Reading the best thinkers in human history helps one see this clearly, whereas a lack of this cognitive muscle memory allows the simple minded to be led astray by silver-tongued charlatans (for reference, see anyone wearing an embroidered red hat).

Linguistic development

Regular reading significantly expands vocabulary and comprehension abilities. This isn't about linguistic pretension; it's about acquiring the precise conceptual tools needed to navigate complex terrain.

A robust vocabulary enables nuanced understanding and expression of sophisticated ideas—essential skills for meaningful civic participation. The correlation between reading volume and linguistic capability is among the most well-established findings in educational research.

Attentional resilience

In an age of fractured focus, the ability to sustain concentrated attention represents an increasingly rare cognitive asset. Attention is a super power and smart phones are our kryptonite. Each time you complete even a moderately challenging book, you've engaged in a form of attentional resistance training, like squats for ya smarts (say that last part in a Boston accent, it’s funnier).

The neurological benefits of deep reading include enhanced connectivity between brain regions associated with language, sensory processing, and executive function. Simply put, it enlivens the three pound lump of jelly between our ears.

“Reading is a Brazilian butt-lift for the brain.”

Beyond these cognitive advantages, reading profoundly shapes our development as ethical beings:

Empathetic expansion

Literature offers the closest approximation to experiencing another consciousness from within. Each immersion in a well-crafted narrative temporarily dissolves the boundaries between self and other, allowing us to inhabit perspectives radically different from our own.

This isn't the superficial sentimentality of greeting card empathy but a deeper reconfiguration of how we understand human experience across boundaries of time, culture, and circumstance.

When you lose yourself in a gripping novel, your brain doesn't know you're just turning pages. Research using functional MRI (R-fMRI) has revealed something remarkable: the neural regions that activate when you read about an experience—whether it's running through a forest, falling in love, or escaping danger—mirror almost exactly the patterns that would fire if you were actually living those moments. Your sedentary body might be in an armchair, but your brain is literally rehearsing the full sensory and emotional experience.

“Reading doesn't just describe life; it neurologically mimics it.”

I have frequently assigned fiction as self-development to some of my employees who struggle with valuing the diversity of our work colleagues. I tell them to read books about people not like them, not from China (I live and work in Shanghai), not straight, married and successful. Read about other cultures and diverse stories, novels in translation, even banned books, but especially old books that have stood the test of time.

Ethical sophistication

Great literature rarely provides simplistic moral takeaways. Instead, it confronts us with complex ethical dilemmas that defy easy resolution, compelling us to develop more nuanced frameworks for evaluating competing values. This capacity for moral complexity—for holding opposing principles in productive tension rather than reducing them to binary choices—represents precisely the intellectual disposition a functioning democracy requires.

It’s easy to blame everything on “those people”; to hurl racial, class, caste or immigration status slurs from the circled wagons of your online posse’s echo-chamber. It’s much harder to deny the commonality of human experiences when in the grip of a compelling story where we are soothed, cajoled, softened, and mysteriously romanced into opening our minds. Which, as often happens, eventually leads to us opening our hearts.

Historical consciousness

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Understanding contemporary challenges requires contextual awareness of how present conditions emerged from historical events. Reading provides the essential foundation for recognizing patterns across time, appreciating institutional development, and avoiding the perpetual present-tense thinking that renders us vulnerable to manipulation and really stupid decisions.

Reading isn't merely about acquiring information; it's about developing wisdom—training ourselves to think with greater precision, empathize with greater authenticity, and evaluate with greater discernment. These claims aren't rhetorical flourishes but conclusions supported by substantial empirical evidence. (The research documentation exists, though I'll spare you the full academic bibliography unless requested.)

In other words, it doesn’t surprise me that Fascism and Nazism are on the rise. In 2015, when Donald Trump announced his candidacy for President there were 930,000 American WWII veterans still alive. Today that number is 66,000—a 93% decrease in ten years! If you combine this eye-witnesses-to-atrocity die off (WWII claimed 50 million total lives world-wide) with our current dearth of historical literacy, is it any wonder we are flirting with these same ghastly ideologies?

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The State of Reading: An Uncomfortable Assessment

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The statistical landscape of contemporary reading habits presents a sobering picture: approximately 25% of American adults report not having read a single book—in any format—during the previous year. This figure includes audiobooks, which suggests the issue isn't merely about modality but about substantive engagement with extended texts.

Several factors contribute to this decline:

Temporal pressures

The perception of insufficient time consistently emerges as a primary barrier to reading. Yet curiously, the average American finds approximately five hours daily for television and social media consumption. This suggests the issue isn't absolute time scarcity but rather attention allocation amid competing entertainment options offering lower resistance pathways to gratification.

Digital displacement

Our relationship with screens has fundamentally altered our cognitive habits. The constant availability of fragmented, high-stimulation content creates an environment inhospitable to focussed attention—our minds are perpetually fending off the siren call of cheap dopamine hits. The mechanisms of digital platforms—engineered specifically to maximize engagement metrics—actively undermine the attentional prerequisites for meaningful reading.

“Our phones are Vegas, books are Church and most people will choose the packaged, easy-to-get pleasure of Digital Sin City.”

Cultural Devaluation

Reading is increasingly positioned as either an antiquated pastime or a solitary indulgence disconnected from social currency. The perception of reading as isolating rather than connecting represents a profound mischaracterization of an activity that has historically served as a foundation for intellectual community and civic discourse. We used to get together to discuss books, political pamphlets and essays. Now we just tweet, GIF or troll each other.

“Ironically, it takes an incredible amount of sophisticated programming and engineering to enable us to communicate so crudely.”

Structural barriers

Book acquisition costs, diminished library funding, and uneven access to literary resources create significant obstacles, particularly in underserved communities. These material constraints intersect with educational disparities to produce profound inequalities in reading opportunity.

The consequences of declining reading rates extend far beyond individual knowledge deficits. A population with diminished capacity for sustained textual engagement becomes increasingly vulnerable to manipulation through simplified narratives, emotional triggers, and information designed for immediate impact rather than lasting comprehension.

We saw this during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when less educated, low income communities disproportionately declined life saving tactics and care due to faulty, incomplete or outright malicious narratives. As a result, these communities suffered higher casualty rates than better educated and wealthier communities. This isn't merely unfortunate—it represents an existential threat to democratic governance, which presupposes an informed citizenry capable of thoughtful deliberation.

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Reading for a Better World: The Societal Imperative

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Reading transcends personal enrichment to serve as a crucial bulwark against societal dysfunction. It functions as a form of cognitive immunization against various ideological pathogens:

Against extremism

Exposure to diverse perspectives, historical precedents, and philosophical frameworks inoculates readers against simplified worldviews that promise certainty at the expense of accuracy. Research consistently demonstrates that educational attainment—particularly the kind that emphasizes critical literacy—correlates inversely with susceptibility to extremist ideologies; books are like sunlight to cultural and political vampires. The intellectual flexibility developed through varied reading creates natural resistance to absolutist thinking.

Against prejudice

Literary engagement, particularly with narratives centered on experiences different from one's own, consistently shows efficacy in reducing intergroup bias. By temporarily inhabiting the consciousness of characters from different backgrounds, readers develop the capacity to recognize common humanity across superficial divisions. Literature's unique ability to render the unfamiliar accessible creates pathways for genuine understanding where abstract appeals often fail. Reading makes you an empathy machine, an incredibly valuable virtue (unless you want to be a blood-sucking billionaire, then it’ll probably hold you back).

Against misinformation

The critical evaluation skills developed through serious reading provide essential defenses against deliberate deception. Beyond simple fact-checking, habitual readers develop pattern recognition abilities that help identify rhetorical manipulation, logical inconsistencies, and emotional appeals masquerading as reasoned arguments. Equally important, reading cultivates intellectual humility—the recognition that our understanding remains perpetually incomplete, requiring ongoing revision in light of new evidence.

“Contrary to popular belief, reading makes you way less of a know-it-all dickhead.”

If books offered nothing beyond entertainment value, I'd have no compelling case for prioritizing them over other media. But reading's distinctive capacity to foster intellectual development, ethical maturity, and civic responsibility places it in a category fundamentally different from passive consumption.

Books don't merely divert attention—they develop capacity. They don't just occupy time—they expand consciousness.

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Joining the Movement: Practical Steps Forward

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For those prepared to embrace reading as both personal practice and societal contribution, consider these actionable approaches:

1. Begin modestly

Establish a sustainable daily reading practice of just 15-30 minutes. Consistency matters more than duration; a daily reading habit, however brief, builds momentum more effectively than occasional marathon sessions.

2. Create environmental cues

Designate a specific location in your home exclusively for reading—a particular chair, corner, or room where distraction is minimized and focus facilitated. This creates a physical anchor for your reading practice, strengthening the habit through environmental association.

3. Maximize down-time

Carry reading material (physical or digital) everywhere to transform otherwise lost moments—waiting rooms, bathroom breaks, commutes, lines—into opportunities for intellectual engagement. These small reading intervals accumulate significantly over time. I never leave the house without a book.

4. Seek community

Connect with others engaged in similar reading practices through book clubs, literary events, online forums, informal discussions and of course my Instagram, Youtube and Substack. Articulating your reactions to shared texts enhances comprehension while providing social reinforcement for continued reading. I’m looking to start a Patreon bookclub in 2026, so stay tuned.

5. Expand boundaries

Deliberately select some books that challenge your existing perspectives or introduce unfamiliar subjects. Intellectual growth occurs primarily at the edges of current knowledge rather than within comfortable territory. As an example, I’m not a Christian, but late last year I read several books by Christian authors, large chunks of the Bible and even listened to the New Testament as read by Johnny Cash.

6. Support literacy infrastructure

Advocate for and patronize libraries and independent bookstores—the essential infrastructure of our literary ecosystem. These institutions provide not just access to texts but spaces for intellectual community. This is something I struggle with due to living in China; my local library is all in Mandarin. I do, however, spend thousands of dollars per year in the local bookstores that carry English titles.

7. Become an ambassador

Share your reading experiences with others, recommend books thoughtfully matched to individuals' interests, and normalize reading as a social rather than solitary activity.

Resources abound for those seeking to deepen their reading practice: curation platforms like Goodreads, free public domain texts through Project Gutenberg, audiobooks from LibriVox, community resources at local libraries, and specialized communities focused on particular genres or reading goals—including, not coincidentally, the reader army/insurgent community we are going to build together.

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Final Thoughts: Reading is as Revolutionary Act

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In our current moment, perhaps the most radical act available to ordinary citizens like us isn't performative outrage or political posturing but the quiet, persistent commitment to serious reading.

The greatest threat to manipulative governance isn't just louder opposition but more thoughtful citizenship—minds capable of recognizing complexity, resisting simplistic narratives, and maintaining intellectual independence.

You are simultaneously the author of your individual story and a contributor to our collective narrative. By developing your capacity for critical thought, ethical reasoning, and empathetic understanding, you reshape not just your own consciousness but the broader intellectual environment we all inhabit.

I invite you—earnestly and without irony—to join this quiet revolution. Not with sound and fury, but with the rustle of turning pages and the gradual transformation of minds equipped to envision and create better possibilities than our present circumstances suggest.

The most promising seedbed of genuine revolution might be found not in dramatic confrontation but in the seemingly mundane corners of libraries and bookstores where ideas take root and slowly, inevitably, change everything.

Are you prepared to read as though our future depends upon it?

Because increasingly, it does.