Easy ways to begin reading some more

In October, many students will be sitting the new Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT ) introduced last March.

You will need to master reading comprehension and analysis for this new test. You’ll also need to understand the structure of the reading passages to answer many questions.

The College Board recommends you read about one book a week.

If you have not been reading and you need a relatively easy starting point, there are TED books, small books around 80 pages, which are a good model for structuring an essay. The trick to being able to read a book a week is to balance out the reading with some of these short TED books in between longer books. They may be short, but they’re some of the best examples of writing structure and analysis that you can hope to find. The authors of these books have been chosen to present TED talks because they are brilliant thinkers in their fields.

This week, we’re tackling The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere by Pico Iyer, a British-born essayist who is often featured in major newspapers and magazines like Harper and The New York Times.

In this TED book, Iyer, who travels a lot for the travel pieces he writes, talks about the benefits of stillness as a way of getting the most out of life. He presents interesting observations about the trips we take or the vacations we go on, arguing that it is the reflection after the trip – not the hectic pace of the trip itself – that gives meaning to our personal journey.

The Art of Stillness offers good advice to readers about how to slow down and appreciate life. There’s also much to ponder about why success really is.

After reading The Art of Stillness… you should be able to answer these questions: How does the author develop the theme? Why does the author rely on personal experiences to illustrate his point rather than developing a point based on research? Why is stillness important? Iyer talks about how western culture has made people feel as though they are not successful if they’re not moving at a hectic pace. Why is success tied with achievement rather than happiness? Can there be happiness without achievement? When you finish reading this book look back at how Pico Iyer structures his argument.

You are on your way to a year or meaningful reading. Here is a list of TED books.

The Terrorist’s Son by Zak Ibrahim The Future of Architecture by Marc Kushner The Boiling River: Adventure and Discovery in the Amazon River by Andres Ruzo How Did You End UP Here?: The Surprising Ways Our Questions Connect Us by David Rothbart The Happiness Manifesto by Nic Marks Smile: The Astonishing Powers of a Simple Act by Ron Gutman How We’ll Live on Mars by Stephen Petranek Follow Your Gut: The Enormous Impact of Tiny Microbes by Rob Knight and Brendan Buhler