About

A Mission Statement in the Poetic

        (best when Read out loud) 

To Share, and be shared, in quiet and in humble, 

to buzz without bumble and be,

To the Point, without pointing, as a light wit anointing,

In the form and a fragrance, of Bread, 

Bread fresh as fresh comes from the oven, 

like a Baker's delight and joy in his dozen,

hearty and filling for all faces to shine,

sweet up to the sun as a gladdened grape vine,

Beautiful as beauty when it rains with the roses, 

As a horse keeps time when it gallops and showses,

Truth seeking and wise, as a Giraffe neck so tries, 

to climb up more high, than a peak of blue sky,

Balanced, as bridges cross rivers so wide,

and allow men to walk on them day without try,

Colored as the artist who sings to his palette,

and knows a difference between mystery and magic,

With faith as the gardner, who brings all to his parlor,

and fills them with fruits of vegetable take farther,

Steady as the pine in a winters flung flurry,

when all snowflakes blend in one white big blurry,

To Discover the holy, in bright butterfly breathings,

and carry a tissue in case of it sneezing,

To Protect against all shortcuts and corners, 

bring justice to all the lies without borders,

To find pencils and return the shade to the grey,

in a peak of the mountain, on a warm sunny day,

To Swim in the pages of history not hide, 

as the beaver who knows all the rivers and tried,

To be more as the otter so skilled and un-despairing,

like a child unlearned who says "I will do the repairing",

To be more simple than wordy, preferring hints without hurry,

and grant a fine foothold to graces not showing,

As the sculptor knows right well about what he's molding,

To Bring restoring and hope to the hundreds,

of books who's faces sit so quietly waiting, 

for the right person to come, one day find and to read,

As the sower plants too, so that he may one day feed.

Mr. Adler sums things up well!

The  Study

I grew up doing a lot of simple reading, Hardy Boys, Boxcar Children, The Lord of the Rings..  However through high-school and college I was bound to the texts distributed by the rubric of courses and teachers.  Which has its due courage, time and place.  Just as the seasons and rising and setting sun. And to which I am grateful for.  However after two years of college I was a bit dried up when it came to reading.  And rather gave up the profession entirely.   

In 2011 I began reading again occasionally.  Slowly re-discovering my delight for books.  I also transitioned to reading almost all non-fiction.  In 2012, I became a little more serious. I attempted to read a book a week, also beginning to take notes on each book.  I was able to complete such a task, and by the end of the year I felt so rejuvenated and full of new ideas that I thought I may like to do this again the next year.  Well it is now 2013, and I am continuing the book a week tradition, and the sea of knowledge is growing vaster.  The expanse of learning growing wider.

An interest not only in books, but in learning how to learn has begun.  In the hundred or so books I have read in the past two years, I realize that I still greatly lack higher levels of reading.  Which involve greater comprehension, purpose, insight and memory.  And that I need more discipline of mind, and better study habits to become the reader I wish to be.  Not only that, but learning to choose wise books.  The lost and forgotten books, hidden books, books that will push me onward and be a challenge.  As Mr. Adler says "lifting your mind up from a lower level to a higher level" and connecting ideas to sharpen the mind, and expand the heart.  

As most of my friends can account for, I also love to share what I read with others.  Therefore to further inspire, grow and connect with the great Ocean of Book Readers, One Book Wiser was created.  Here I pray you find and are inspired by a space dedicated to a love and thirst of Wisdom.  Through books, language, beauty and understanding, may we ascend.
   

Email:  Jdmatts@gmail.com

"The art of reading consists in having the skills required for lifting your mind up, with a book, from understanding less to understanding more."  -Mortimer J. Adler