Five Reasons To Read Every Day – No Matter Your Age

October 2, 2015 by Jerry Daskoski

In today’s increasingly technological world, it can seem as though most our days are spent staring at backlit screens and reading lines upon lines of text. However, step back and truly consider that experience. Internet experiences are specifically curated to deliver as much information, entertainment, or coverage in as direct and easily consumed a manner as possible. In contrast, reading for the express purpose of savoring a literary experience opens up an entire new world of benefits and joyful experiences. These are varied – some might initially strike you as abstract while others yield decidedly tangible positive impacts. Regardless, it is important to recognize that reading is such an integral part of the human experience for many excellent reasons. Below are just five of most prominent.

Stimulate Your Mind

A large body of research exists which indicates that mental stimulation slows the progress, and even has the potential to fully prevent, cognitive deterioration. This has been linked to offsetting the effects of Alzheimer’s and dementia. Simply put, much like any other muscle, keeping your brain active is necessary to maintain its strength. Put simply – use it or lose it. Games and puzzles, like chess, are also helpful when it comes to creating good habits that are both fun and stimulate your cognitive functions.

Reduce Stress

There are certain to be a number constant stressors in your life that are just unavoidable. Whether it be due to challenges you face in your personal or professional spheres, stress is simply a part of life for basically everyone. Fortunately, losing yourself in a great story is an excellent way to find some respite from the demands of your day-to-day life. Great books totally transport you to entirely new worlds, far removed from your own. The best books are even able to color your perspective and perhaps inspire a new frame of mind in you, the reader, to better interpret and shoulder the burdens from which you were originally running. Regardless, a short mental vacation in the pages of a good book are often exactly what you need to let the stress that once weighed you down to just melt away.

Never Stop Learning

One of the most incredible things about humans is our natural proclivity towards learning. Our minds are truly capable of fantastic feats and the nonstop accumulation, organization, and processing data which happens both consciously and unconsciously within our brain is too often taken for granted. Reading packs your mind with new info, most of which may just come in handy one day. The old adage, “knowledge is power,” exists for a reason. Most everything in this world is impermanent. The one exception is your knowledge. Leverage the great power that is your mental capacity and flex that brain! To learn is to live and reading is a great way to learn something new regularly.

Expand Your Vocabulary

Speaking of learning, one of the things reading most directly teaches you about is words. The more of them to which you are exposed, the faster and greater volume of them are certain to find their way into your regular usage. The ability to gracefully and effectively articulate your thoughts is universally beneficial. Being well-spoken comes in handy all the time. Being well-read, well-spoken, and knowledgeable is a wonderful combination of characteristics to fuel everything from your rise up the corporate ladder to a charming and engaging dinner date conversation.

Improve Your Recall

Following a narrative or theme demands a certain degree of cognitive gymnastics. Remembering the rotating cast of characters and their personal histories, ambitions, and nuances takes effort. It also involves keeping tabs on everyone as the plot and subplots twist and weave. Studies show that every new memory you create builds new synapses in your mind, as well as fortifies the pre-existing ones. This not only boosts your short-term memory, but can even stabilize your moods.

Filed Under: Jerry Daskoski, Leisure, Literature, Reading Tagged With: advice, books, read, reading, tips

Fantasy Series Every Fan of the Genre Should Explore

September 29, 2015 by Jerry Daskoski

Top 10 Epic Fantasy Series You Need to Read – Jerry Daskoski from Jerry Daskoski

Filed Under: Epic Fantasy, Favorites, Fiction, Jerry Daskoski, Literature Tagged With: books, fantasy, favorites, read, reading

Reading Room: How J.R.R. Tolkien Transformed the World by Creating a Universe

August 2, 2015 by Jerry Daskoski

Since Peter Jackson brought The Lord of the Rings to the big screen and birthed a global cinematic phenomenon, J.R.R. Tolkien’s work has cultivated a modern, international following. When paired with the literature’s original fandom, it far exceeds most anything the world has ever witnessed before. The tale of the One Ring and all the related stories observably impacted generations of fantasy writers, so much so that his influence is starkly visible, even today. Beyond just books, J.R.R. Tolkien introduced characters and tropes of such intense cultural importance that to list where his work rears its head in popular culture would be an utterly exhaustive and arguably impossible endeavor. The way he conceptualized folklore like elves, giants, wizards, dragons, and dwarves is mirrored in various movies, TV shows, novels and comics today. Direct references to his work is mentioned in every conceivable medium of entertainment stretching back decades, from ‘90s sitcom Friends to music by The Beatles.

The question, then, is “why?” What is it about J.R.R. Tolkien’s writing that so deeply moved so many people across not just enormous swaths of space, but also over incredible stretches of time? It is certainly an exciting tale, and the characters are definitely beloved. However, that only really begins to scratch the surface of what makes this work, more than almost any other, so special. In fact, there are literary critics to this day that are happy to debate the narrative merits of J.R.R. Tolkien’s writing from a technical standpoint. Although time has made it clear that the action and adventure of the story is beyond exceptional, what makes his body of work truly unique, unlike anything that has come before or since, is its depth.

Typically, the unspoken contract a fiction reader makes with the author is that he or she will suspend disbelief in return for entertainment. Tolkien hammered away at that archaic agreement with the tools he had available – words and his imagination. He called this notion, “secondary creation.” By creating a universe so shockingly rich with history and detail, Tolkien relieves that burden on the reader to suspend disbelief. The universe of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion is so dense and fleshed out, it is easier than anything literature had ever before seen to fully immerse oneself in.

Entire histories, languages, dialects, peoples, traditions, and nations are born, live, and die within these pages. True fans of Tolkien’s work understand that he did not make up a fictional world in which to tell a story – he wrote a story as a line by which to reel us into an impossibly immersive world. Therein lies his genius. He did not just give us fictional characters, he gave us that fictional cultures that defined them…and the histories which created those cultures, as well as the myths which influenced those histories, and so on and so forth. Tolkien’s creation is so deep that it leaves you absolutely craving more, and he endeavored to satiate that craving. This experience is simply unlike anything else available in the pages of a book elsewhere. And, as a result, our world is forever changed by the magic of one created in the mind of a brilliant man.

Filed Under: Epic Fantasy, Jerry Daskoski, Leisure, Literature Tagged With: Analysis, Fiction, Literature, LOTR

Lets Talk About Game of Thrones!

June 2, 2015 by Jerry Daskoski

Game of Thrones came about during an era of door-stopper fantasy series that are apparently endless. Its often tedious to consider entering the world of newbies when there are so many other attention grabbing fantasy book series hitting the shelves. After all, Robert Jordan or Terry Goodkind are already taking over the feild so why try anything else huh? Haha.. But in all honesty, each book should be judged on its own merits. For example: George R.R Martins A Song of Ice and Fire proves that there’s still room for diamonds among the rough.

The initial book in the series is the award-winning A Game of Thrones. Describing the book is not an easy task. Mainly because a short summary will miss one of the precious facets of a great piece work. But here’s an attempt to give those who’ve never read the book a feel:

Imagine a feudal kingdom on a massive continent in a world filled with many cultures and half-legendary lands, all connected together through an ancient history. Imagine a time where dragons once lived but magic is now dwindling,where the seasons can be long or short, bringing glorious summers or terrible winters that last years at a time. Imagine an iron throne from which seven kingdoms are ruled, with false knights and true all gathered about it in hopes of blood or glory or profit, and shadows behind it pushing the pieces that make up the game of thrones.

That’s the book for you, well…in a nut-shell. But if you want something more specific, try this:

The story begins with an immensely frightening prologue that announces who the truest “enemies are”, suddenly we enter the castle of winter-fell. We are then introduced to the Starks, King Robert and his Iron Throne. Yes, the beginning includes a man being executed and on the same bloody day direwolf pups are found next to the dead body of a huge direwolf, killed by a broken antler in her neck.

Later on down the line we the readers are introduced to a series of events such as a shock of fear that arrives when Stark Motto announces, “Winter is Coming”, this serves as a reminder that there’s a great danger that almost no one is paying attention to. Game of Thrones consists of Politics, murders, and conspiracies. Tournaments, love, hatred. War, battle, trials. Disaster and victory. But, thats not even the half, Game of Thrones is notably one of the best fantasies written in the last decade, and it stands proudly up there right next series such as The Lord of the Rings. In short, If you want something written in a straightforward tone without the use of political intrigues, minus bloody battles or frank language and sexual situations, without the use of a huge cast of characters, then A Game of Thrones may not be for you. But if you are looking for a fantasy book series that surprises you and leaves you yearning for more but also leaves you elated, angry and sad by the turn of the page, then give it a try! I promise you, you wont be disappointed.

Filed Under: Epic Fantasy, Fiction, Jerry Daskoski, Literature Tagged With: fantasy, Game of Thrones, Jerry Daskoski, Jerry Daskoski Kansas, Kansas, shawnee