Why I Keep Reading

By the time I entered kindergarten, I was already a relatively proficient reader. I don’t think that my mother made any special efforts to teach me to read, but books surrounded me. Many we owned, and more were obtained when she took me by bus to the library, where we checked out the maximum number of books allowed. I would usually finish them within a few days. Wash, rinse, repeat.

I read voraciously. The back of the cereal box, junk mail, and from quite a young age, the middle column of the front page of the Wall Street Journal. That column used to feature a human-interest story far more to my youthful taste than the financial pages that were the reason for my father’s subscription.

I am still an avid reader, though my attention span is perhaps shorter than it used to be. This explains why, as I am increasing my output on Substack with my weekly blog, I am overwhelmed by the volume of articles on the platform. Some have become my go-to for current news analysis while others awe me with their laser focus on specific issues. A few draw me in through excellent writing and engaging ideas.

There are always new authors to explore. Of course, there are hundreds whose topics don’t interest me or that I choose to ignore. I read many for only a few times and then drop them after sensing too much AI writing for my taste. Some bring me too little benefit for the time involved. Substack has probably added over half an hour of reading to my day. I even follow one or two writers whose views are far apart from mine; that is precisely why I find them valuable.

In spite of the angst of “Why didn’t I say that” or “Did I say that as well as he/she did,” I’ve come to admire some Substacks whose writers bring a sharp focus onto a specific issue. Among these is Them Before Us, founded and mostly written by Katy Faust.

The site covers a subject I care deeply about—family. Katy’s lens is clear: she evaluates cultural norms, policies, and laws not from the perspective of adult desires, hopes, dreams, and aspirations (“Us”), but through the impact on children (“Them”). I appreciate her consistency in that whether we are talking about IVF, homosexual marriage, adoption, sperm donors, or surrogacy, she is laser focused on the needs of infants, babies, and children.

Her writing isn’t filled with human-interest stories, the kind that lure you into following your heart, but rather with logical and fact-based explanations for ideas that appeal to your head. My own thinking has become sharper and more organized after reading these articles and I have been introduced to facts of which I was unaware. Them Before Us is one of a number of sites that has, although adding more to my reading plate, expanded my world.

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