Penna Dexter

Do you love to read books — but don’t do it enough? That’s me. The most interesting people in my life are those who read a lot of books.

Why do I not read as many books as I’d like? Why do I have a stack of them on my bedside table that never seems to get shorter. It’s not that I don’t read. Computers and phones give us things to read all day. “Fear of Missing Out” keeps some of us clicking and reading.

Megan Cox Gurdon reviews children’s books for The Wall Street Journal. She has a potent message for adults in a recent Journal column: “Put Down the Phone and Pull Out a Book.” In her piece, she describes “a culture in which reading is increasingly alien.”

Ms. Gurdon points to research showing that even “college English majors are losing the ability to interpret metaphorical language.” And, she writes, “High school students taking the SAT are no longer expected to understand passages longer than 150 words.” In recent decades, especially in public schools, classic works of literature are being sidelined.

Books entertain us. They teach us. Megan Gurdon puts it beautifully, saying they join “the minds of men and women long dead with those alive today.“ But, reading books “is vanishing from our world because we live as if it doesn’t matter. We are on our phones.”

I do read books for radio interviews. I consider it an honor to interview the author of a book. So, I normally read those books to the end. Christian authors write to encourage faith and goodness, to spread grace and truth, to clear up misconceptions, and to help people think about God and the world He created. Christians, of all people, ought to be readers.

And, yes, audiobooks count as reading.

As summer ends, join me in ditching your phone more often and picking up a book. Let’s make it a habit.