» Reading
By Vince on March 9, 2012
Does what you read at an early age influence you?
I will say right here and now that I have NOT done any in depth study on how the psyche is developed in children and young adults. Or, dare I say it, in adults?
Aren’t we still growing as we get older? Still learning?
I know I am.
I pray that you will be open enough to be as well.
I tell you with great insight that I was a child and a young adult and that certain books did, in fact, influence me, and I can honestly say that they made me the man I am today.
I was having a conversation with one of my students the other day and we were discussing Frank Herbert, the author of the Dune series of books. Somehow, many people think that because I have tattoo’s and am a martial arts and firearms instructor and am in pretty good shape for my age, that I am not well read, or a reader at all. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact it is because I read that I went on the path to the martial arts.
In the conversation, my student and I turned to ERB’s John Carter books and how he was having a difficult time getting into it due to the Victorian writing style. I mentioned how the book had influenced me and he stated that he then had to finish it, if I recommended it. I truly hope he not only enjoys it, but that he will get something from it.
Dune itself was a tremendous book, even tho technically, it wasn’t even all that big a book page wise. I have found that many books that have an impact are not huge tomes.
Authors like Michael Moorcock, Lin Carter, Andre Norton, Anne McCaffrey, Barbara Hambly, L.E. Modesitt, George R.R. Martin, Jim Butcher, Stephen King, Steve Perry, Steven Barnes just to name a few off the top of head.
Books like “A Princess of Mars” by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan, also by Burroughs. J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Issac Asimov’s Foundation, Arthur C. Clarke’s works. Robert E. Howard was a huge influence and not just with his better known Conan character. One could hardly do better than to emulate Robert B. Parker’s Spencer.
I know what you are going to say. You will say those are not real people. You should emulate people like Jesus, Ghandi, Mother Teresa , Abraham Lincoln, George Patton to name a few. Great people who lived once and changed the world. And who is to say I do not? I do.
But let me give you this:
Just because a character does not exist in real life does not invalidate that character or their beliefs and morality. He/she DOES exist in your head, and if you believe in those values, in your heart.
You should find out for yourself.
Read a book