Can You Read This?
I’m going to take a break from my discussion on “loving” for a day. I don’t know about you, but I need a break from too much thinking. So I thought I would share this email I got from my friend, Janice, recently. It’s one of those emails going around. Perhaps you’ve seen it.
Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteerbe in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it
I didn’t have any trouble reading it. How about you? My guess would be that those people who do a great deal of reading, don’t have any trouble. Over time we learn word patterns. I find this fascinating. I also find it fascinating that according to a recent survey by AP-Ipsos that one-fourth of the people in the US did not read a single book last year! Not one! The average median number of books we read is 4 a year. I’m saddened by that figure. Surely, we can do better.
I’ll leave you with this conversation I had with a waitress in a small town in Oklahoma this week (I won’t embarrass them by revealing the name). I sat at a table alone reading my book when this conversation took place.
“You’re not from around here, are you?” she asked.
Surprised, I responded, “No, how can you tell?”
“You’re reading a book,” she said. “People around here don’t read books.”
I laughed and said, “You’re kidding, right?”
“I’m not joking. When I tell people around here I’m a Stephen King fan, they ask, ‘What country band does he play for?’”
Read a book this week. You might want to start by checking out a few I’ve read in recent weeks in My Library.
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