I think I can never repay my mom for inculcating this deep abiding love of books within me & I hope I can do the same for my children some day.

From one book lover to another, thank you for this wonderful article.

When I was a child, I read everything in print. Steamed open packets in which dal or poha came, back of cereal and detergent boxes, newspapers (learnt the word ‘assassination’ at the age of 7!) and books. All books that I could legitimately reach – with the help of a chair, stool, table, sideboard – I could read. I read complicated things and when I asked for their meaning, I was explained patiently and was also regularly dispatched to the dictionary. When I was around 6 or 7 , my father started explaining ghazals to us, which means even today I cannot hear a word or phrase without recalling an appropriate sher or song :-)

I learnt these lessons from my father: Teach a child to read; lead by example. Teach a child to filter and sometimes shocks are necessary in the process.

If I had my druthers, I would make an OLPC standard issue for all schoolchildren, worldwide. As standard as pencils and erasers and protractors and compasses.

And I would try and convince everyone that wireless everywhere was a must. Like breathing, only cheaper.

I graduated to more sophisticated literature, like MAD Magazine and Scientific American. This led to science fiction, then “true” literature like Tolkien.

I’ve read voraciously and omnivorously throughout the years. I find that I don’t read as many books as I used to, but I spend lots of time reading on the Web.

Does this count? I think this is a fair question. While it’s true as one goes from books -> magazines -> newspapers the content becomes more ephemeral and less deep. But which direction does “reading on the Web” take us? Certainly it can be toward the trivial, but it is also more targeted as we are able to better able to aggregate information specific to our interests.

I think the education side of the equation weighs heavy on this one – indeed it was shown that when failing kids were taught to read, they responded voraciously.

Unfortunately – if you thought IT was full of jargon, you haven’t been to an educationalists debate! It was mind-blowing. Reminded me of student politics writ large – so much concern about the proper way to do things at the expense of actually getting anything done.