"Reading Best Way to Increase your Knowledge in All Areas"

Have you ever been called a Neanderthal? If you’re a culturally literate person, then you realize you’ve been insulted. According to the “Dictionary of Cultural Literacy” by E.D. Hirsch, “the term Neanderthal is sometimes used to refer to a person who is thought to have primitive or unenlightened ideas: ‘I tried talking politics to Joe, but he’s a real Neanderthal.” But, if you thought that was a very sweet thing to say, then you’ll need to work on your core knowledge.

Of course the best way to enhance your knowledge is by reading. At the Columbus Public Library we have many sources for our patrons to educate themselves.

Please don’t think of reading as a chore. There are works of fiction and non-fiction that entertain as well as educate the reader. You can ask at the reference or the check out desk about a brochure entitled: A READING LIST OF OUTSTANDING FICTION. It’s free and available in bulk quantities. There are lots of web sites also. A couple that I’ve found exceptionally helpful is: http://als.lib.wi.us/Collegebound.html and http://www.ala.org.
Whether you’re reading a newspaper article, a piece in “Time”or”Newsweek”, or just watching the evening TV news, in order to understand references that are being made you must develop your cultural literacy. For instance, a reporter on the evening news may say Iraq was an autocracy under Saddam Hussein. This statement should not perplex you if you’ve been reading books about current affairs or world politics.

With that reading background you would have realized that autocracy is a system of government in which supreme political power is held by one person. And with your extensive reading, you might want to compare a monarchy, a democracy, and an oligarchy. If you would like to read some books on the subject, might I suggest Alexis de Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America” or Plato’s “The Republic.