By Shahadat Hossain (MSc Programme Leader)
This is a common question whether reading is a habit or luxury or mere necessity. I don’t want to be biased on any one of the readers’ traits or create a debate to establish the fact. I would rather say reading plays a central and prestigious role in enhancing our knowledge and understanding of how our mind is developed – “the more you read, the clever you stand to be”. Well, the underlying point of reading is to learn more and acquire ideas about our ever-evolving human civilization. On a practical note, you can develop a wide range of vocabulary and language skills by reading as well.
Again, I’m purposely going back to the title, the question – reading is a habit or luxury, or necessity? Reflecting on my personal experience, for example – reading newly published textbooks for the courses that I teach at the university is a necessity as I must go through and understand the contents in all chapters to prepare the lectures for the students. Whereas my reading habit refers mostly to exploring published journal papers of my interest, this gives me a superlative occasion to enrich my knowledge of contemporary research. As I read a different article almost every other day, even a small section, I can connect my research, and comprehend a clear sense of the overall perspective of that specific topic. And of course, I indulge myself by reading The Economist or The Financial Times on a cozy Friday morning or a peaceful Saturday afternoon with uncounted cups of filtered coffee – this is truly my luxury of reading.
Once you start fondness of reading or love the habit of regular reading you will end up getting addicted to it, I believe most of the readers would agree with me. Reading is helpful, according to numerous researchers, to reduce stress and finally an intelligent way to relax – ultimately your brain muscles are stretched for lively functioning. So, now the question is, as a student in a business school, what exactly should you read? Well, the obvious and less onerous answer is to refer to your academic textbooks to grasp a clearer sense of wisdom about the subject areas that you are studying. However, I firmly believe that your subject specialist lecturer or professor of any relevant course undoubtedly navigates you to that path of reading requirements to comprehend your disjoint notions to accomplish assessments and fulfill the learning outcomes of the courses. I would rather persuade you to read something else because as a business school student you may wish to broaden your knowledge of the contemporary business world. Here, I might be marginally biased toward my own reading addiction, nonetheless, this might help you to travel across the realm of wisdom, and then enlighten you with a revived and inspired mind, maybe?
First, you may consider reading books to start with. But don’t force yourself to read either a difficult book or a lousy one, it might spoil your reading mode. You can read any books that you like, primarily non-fiction books, I would prefer. Just find a particular time of the day, essentially of your own time, and read a few pages of a non-fiction book. As non-fiction books incorporate relatively true facts and contextualise real-life stories, they are tremendous sources for making connections to the real world and increasing willingness to discover new things. You will discover that your brain has started trading with new ideas, senses, and thoughts – ultimately your reading habit will be redeveloped, and I suggest it’s worth trying. Books are available on online platforms as digital books, or you can explore them within easy-reach libraries in Qatar.
Secondly, reading newspapers can be a considerable way to indulge yourself in reading and improve your familiarity with current global business affairs. Practically, this is an utmost priority for business school students to stay up to date with the changes and trends in the international business arena. Acquainted information from newspapers not only helps you to write a high-quality assignment but also separates you from the others in the classroom when you might do a presentation or group work. Now the question arises of which newspaper to read. Well, there are many options that you may explore. But my suggestion is, maybe on another biased note, you could read The Financial Times (FT). This British daily but globally acclaimed newspaper depicts sensational stories to untold nitty-gritty facts about international trade, commerce, economics, marketing, finance, investment………. you name it! The business world’s adorable FT offers you to explore some in-depth coverage of various industry sectors of countries around the world – from manufacturing to technology, service industry to the health sector, luxury to socio-economy, sports to science, what else do you need? For example – “Elon Musk sells almost $4billion of Tesla shares to close a $44billion deal to buy Twitter” – a recent sensational takeover, or “Roger Federer signs deal of £300million with Uniqlo” – one of the biggest sports endorsements in history. Well, there are hundreds of articles, features, and in-depth analytical news in The Financial Times every day that will open a new horizon for you to enrich your knowledge of the real business world. This mine of information on investment, strategic marketing policy, e-commerce, business reengineering, finance, economics, and foreign trade will supplement your academic erudition and will prepare you as a critical thinker, and a future business leader.
The Financial Times is a daily newspaper that is available in both printed and digital formats. Now, the good news is, you don’t need to worry about getting the latest copy of the newspaper, as you’re a student at AFG College with the University of Aberdeen, you are privileged to have access to the online version of The Financial Times. Use the link www.ft.com/afg to register for reading it online on your laptop or iPad. Besides, you can just download the app on your phone, and read all exciting news stories anytime, anywhere. If you need any support, please feel free to ask our ever-helpful library staff member.
Finally, some final top tips to foster your reading habits:
- Setting your own time: at least 10 minutes each, with your morning coffee or tea, after lunch, or before your bedtime.
- Prioritise tapping The Financial Times app on your mobile than less useful social media.
- Keep a book with you, in your car or your bag, and read a few pages in between classes to take you away from the tedious routine; a nice way to have silent company.
- Make reading interesting: find news and articles that interest you – traveling, sports, music, or even geo-political or socioeconomics, as you like.
- Make reading pleasurable: slot your reading time into your best-loved time of the day, at a comfortable and quiet place in the house with some tea or coffee. Some prefer reading at the sea-beach.
- List your reading: well, that is suitable for serious book readers, but you may apply it when you get the weekend edition of The FT, just skim through and list which news catches your attention, and read them during the week.
- Talk to your peers or family members about your recent reading, just don’t bore them, use an opportunity to share your new knowledge.
- Try to write something out of your reading, just to reflect on what you have learned, reading definitely widened your vocabulary.
If you want to share your reading experiences or just talk more about reading, or any curiosity about other sources of reading, you know my office in Villa-7 or just drop me an email, and we can arrange a meeting with coffee at our refractory or in the library located on the upper floor of the Frederick Soddy House.
