Well, of course you know how to read! You wouldn’t be here if you couldn’t, right? I guess what I’m really asking is, do you read–or do you just scan?

I know… I’ve advised, right here in this blog, to write short paragraphs, bulleted points and easily digestible copy. But that’s because we seem to have become a nation (world?) of scanners instead of readers.

The fact that our High School children are given remedial reading classes just to keep them on a basic level of reading ability is a sad fact of life these days!

I was taken quite by surprise this morning when reading an article at one of my favourite blogs, Copyblogger.com. The author, Brian Clark, made some salient and poignant points about the sorry state of our reading ability. But then he proceeded to enlighten by discussing the 4 points of critical reading skills. I thoroughly enjoyed the post, and highly recommend you read it, too.

He cites a book written by Mortimer J. Adler, “How To Read”–which is now on my reading list. I’ve included it in the Amazon widget over there on the right side. Yes, I get a commission if you buy from there, but that’s not why I mention it. You can take a look at the book from there, too. You don’t have to buy anything.

I don’t know what the answer is, here. You must write for the “lowest common denominator” if you want to get your message across quickly–and in today’s world, that’s exactly what you have to do. People’s lives are busier than EVER before. They want their information quickly and in easily understood chunks. But, every once in awhile, throw in something meaty. Besides seeing what kind of response you get, it’ll do your own soul a world of good.

Stumble it!