There are many reasons for reading. Your purpose in school is most likely to spend time reading for knowledge. When you are finished, you may summarize the work and explain its plot or main point. You may even tell a friend that you have discovered a great story or essay. Almost without realizing it, you have gained knowledge as well as pleasure from reading. When you read for knowledge, you read to take the ideas and information away with you. You may marvel as you read and discover the way that the seemingly blank mind of a baby begins to understand its world and even acquires language. You may feel awe as you read about the technology of combustion engines and how they transform fuel into energy. Likewise, you may find your heart wrenched with pain and your mind turning in thought as you read about the struggle for equality in 20th century America.
