Development and Sustenance of Reading Habit: Woven Around the Nucleus of Ideas of Prof. K.S. Deshpande

This book is a sincere attempt to cover various aspects of developing and sustaining reading habit. It emphasizes that reading habit is a major factor leading to success and happiness in life. It motivates everyone to ready by citing the lives of those who made an indelible mark by their great contribution in different fields touching the humanity. Development and Sustenance of Reading Habit is both diagnostic and remedial in its content. The first part of the book is Developing Reading Habits and it is addressed to parent’s teachers, librarians, friends and spouses in developing an individual’s reading habits. It tells what can be done at an individual’s level.

Here the author observes that children up to 10-12 years of age love reading. But, as adolescence sets in, children turn away from their love for reading. The author traces the reasons for apathy of adolescent children towards reading. Then he goes on to give practical tips for overcoming their indifference to reading.

The author prescribes what type of material is to be read at which stage of growing up. He further goes on to suggest the way in which scholastic reading and general reading has to be balanced during student life by drawing up a model schedule. The book presents various purposes of reading, it lists different types of reading materials and it provides different methods, techniques of reading. All these three aspects of reading are brought in juxtaposition and relationship among them is clearly shown.

The book advocates that reading habit can be groomed by knowing the right techniques. Reading newspapers, textbooks, poetry, reference books, manuals, reports, proposals etc require different techniques. The book gives an overview of speed reading skills. It presents a few techniques for developing comprehension, which is the ultimate purpose of reading. The second part is about Sustaining Reading Habit and it deals with education system, literacy, publishing, bookshops, and public library system etc. the role played by these institutions in sustaining reading habit is explained. The third part Reading Habit in Internet Era explains how Internet and TV are not enemies of reading. These are viewed as different means of acquiring information/knowledge. All these coexist and supplement one another. Parents and teachers should watch movies, TV programmes or surf the net with children. This helps in developing better reading habit among children.