Monday, July 27, 2020

#Reading #Readers Reading to live... longer!

My latest book. Reviewers agree that it's a great read.

The September 2017 issue of Reader’s Digest is titled “Genius Issue – Secrets to a Sharper Mind.”

The article “Why It Pays to Increase Your Word Power” on pages 66-73 begins with a question.

“How many hours did you spend reading books last week?”

In 2016, researchers at Yale School of Public Health began analyzing data collected from 20,000 people every other year since 1992. They narrowed the focus to the 3600 respondents over 50 years of age. Included in that data was an answer to the above question over almost one-quarter century.

“People who read books—fiction or nonfiction, poetry or prose—for as little as 30 minutes a day over several years were living an average of two years longer than people who didn’t read anything at all [emphasis mine].”

Other research included suggests that
“[C]hildren as young as six months who read books with their parents several times a week show stronger literacy skills four years later, score higher on intelligence tests, and land better jobs than nonreaders.”

The article goes on to discuss the benefits of reading in adults.

Summary
Reading books is more beneficial for adults [maybe everyone] than reading newspapers and magazines.

Why?

First. Brains build many connections and pathways when keeping track of chapters and storylines. This doesn't happen when skimming headlines, as is common with newspapers and magazines.

Second. Empathy and emotional intelligence scores increase after reading even only a part of a chapter in a story.

Another concept discussed is “cognitive reserve”—your brain’s ability to damage. More reading, more ability over a wider range of damage types. Shocking to me was

“This [cognitive reserve built up by reading] could explain why, after death, many seemingly healthy elders turn out to harbor signs of advanced Alzheimer’s disease in their brains despites showing few signs in life.”

The article takes a turn in its story arc for the last part. Benefits of bilingualism are presented. That's another blog, someone else's blog.

If you are reading this post, you are most likely a reader. There’s a different level of probability involved with you being an author—but you might be one of those, too.
  1. If you’re a reader, you should be fired up by the above content—especially if you read books.
  2. If you’re an author, I hope you’re inspired by how you are contributing to more than just the list of books in print.
  3. I suspect that writer’s brains have good-sized cognitive reserves.


I taught high school and college biology for 39 years. From what I know about brain function
  • An author’s brain must build at least connections while determining the plot, fleshing out characters, and developing a plausible setting—while writing.
  • The number of those connections must be at least as many as a reader builds while following those plots and characters in that setting—while reading.
Bottom Lines
  • Because of restrictions on human movement and gathering during "the pandemic," you are likely to find yourself with more time for you than usual.
  • Instead of googling or streaming or gaming, give your brain a boost...
READ A BOOK.

  • I highly recommend all my books for great stories suitable for 8th-grade-->octagenarian readers. 
  • To save you time, here's the link to my Amazon Author page

SEO: reading, brain function, stories, increasing brain power

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My Blogs
Life as I see itTopics rotate between those of general interest to lovers of life,  authors, teachers—probably you, too.  Posts on Tuesdays and some Mondays.  http://crdowning-author.blogspot.com/?alt=rss

My Christian Context. Posts M/W of discussion questions. Thursdays - Timeless Truths. Fridays - Expressions of Faith. https://mychristiancontext.blogspot.com/  

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Monday, July 6, 2020

#Nostalgia Nothing But Positive about the USA

I found this wonderful image at
 
http://www.amindfulmigration.com/5-reasons-why-im-proud-to-be-an-american/
Today my plan was to find factual information on the current COVID-19 situation. I taught biology long enough to know that too much of what's been broadcast and mandated doesn't make sense from the science of viral infections standpoint. Because of that, my search never ended. I'll try to do that next Tuesday.

Instead, today I offer a nothing but positive post about these United States of America.

My eyes misted over the first time I heard this on the radio. They still mist over when I hear it.

Read Sinclair’s commentary below. When I do, I’m prouder than ever to be an American.
I suspect your eyes will tear up, too. 


The reality is, America is still doing most of the service described by Sinclair 44 years later.

The commentary below by Gordon Sinclair is true, although people along the way have altered portions of it.
Originally written for a Toronto newspaper, it was broadcast on June 5, 1973, on CFRB radio in Toronto, Canada.
It had a big impact at the time. A recording of Sinclair reading his commentary became a best-selling record that hit Canada’s top 30.  Canadian broadcaster Byron MacGregor produced a version in his own voice.  It was called “Americans” and became a hit record as well, rising to Canada’s top 5, selling 3.5 million copies.  That meant 3 gold records for MacGregor.  He donated the proceeds to the American Red Cross.
“The Americans”

The United States dollar took another pounding on German, French, and British exchanges this morning, hitting the lowest point ever known in West Germany.
It has declined there by 41% since 1971 and this Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least-appreciated people in all the earth.
As long as sixty years ago, when I first started to read newspapers, I read of floods on the Yellow River and the Yangtse. Who rushed in with men and money to help?
The Americans did.
They have helped control floods on the Nile, the Amazon, the Ganges, and the Niger. Today, the rich bottomland of the Mississippi is underwater and no foreign land has sent a dollar to help.
Germany, Japan, and, to a lesser extent, Britain, and Italy, were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of those countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.
When the franc was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.
When distant cities are hit by earthquakes, it is the United States that hurries in to help… Managua Nicaragua is one of the most recent examples. So far this spring, 59 American communities have been flattened by tornadoes. 
Nobody has helped. 
The Marshall Plan .. the Truman Policy .. all pumped billions upon billions of dollars into discouraged countries. 
Now, newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent war-mongering Americans. 
I’d like to see one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplanes. Come on… let’s hear it!
Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tristar or the Douglas 107? If so, why don’t they fly them? Why do all international lines except Russia fly American planes? 
Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on the moon? 
You talk about Japanese technocracy and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy and you find men on the moon, not once, but several times … and safely home again. 
You talk about scandals and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everyone to look at. Even the draft dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, most of them … unless they are breaking Canadian laws..are getting American dollars from Ma and Pa at home to spend here. 
When the Americans get out of this bind … as they will… who could blame them if they said ‘the hell with the rest of the world’. Let someone else buy the Israel bonds, Let someone else build or repair foreign dams or design foreign buildings that won’t shake apart in earthquakes.
When the railways of France, Germany, and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. 
When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke. 
I can name 5,000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble?
I don’t think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake. Our neighbours have faced it alone and I am one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. 
I hope Canada is not one of these. But there are many smug, self-righteous Canadians.
And finally, the American Red Cross was told at its 48th Annual meeting in New Orleans this morning that it was broke. This year’s disasters... with the year less than half-over… has taken it all and nobody…

but nobody… 
has helped.

God bless The Real United States of America! 

Note: Some of the situations described by Sinclair are no longer as described. There have been instances--9/11 for example--when help for Americans was provided post haste.


SEO: nostalgia, America, memories, values

Follow me on 
Twitter: @CRDowningAuthor

My website is: www.crdowning.com

My Blogs
Life as I see itTopics rotate between those of general interest to lovers of life,  authors, teachers—probably you, too.  Posts on Tuesdays and some Mondays.  http://crdowning-author.blogspot.com/?alt=rss

My Christian Context. Posts M/W of discussion questions. Thursdays - Timeless Truths. Fridays - Expressions of Faith. https://mychristiancontext.blogspot.com/  

I appreciate your feedback on Blogger!