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Darrell White
Professor Thomas
Enc 1101
18 June 2015
Nevada Smith Started Me Reading
Reading at an early age was something that didn’t spark my interest until I picked up a
novel by Harold Robins called Nevada Smith. Nevada Smith, the protagonist, was my hero
because he had to grow up fast. His parents were robbed and killed by a gang. Revenge for the
rape of his Indian mother was his main motivation. After killing her, one of the men cut off one
her breasts and made a tobacco pouch out of it. Befriended by a gunsmith he is taut how to read,
write, use a knife and be a gun fighter. For years he had to develop skills that it would take to
chase down these bad guys. Eventually, he changed his name to Max Sands. Killing people came
easy for him because he had so much hatred in his heart. He became a man and caught up with
the killers one by one and goy his revenge. Because I had never been out west learning about the
life of Indians, this book kept me turning the pages. The adventure of the open plains and wild
animals made my imagination grow. It opened up a world of literacy for me.
That book kept me up late at night. I later found out those types of books are called page
turners. Once you get started and get connected to different characters or even animals, these
books are hard to put down. Your mind takes you places that you have never been. The
adventures become endless episodes that can have you thinking of so many things.
Not being able to go out and run the streets made me read even more. We didn’t do a lot
of television. My father, raising a family of five, had to do something to keep us focused on more
than just playing all the time. He made the wise decision of buying the Encyclopedia Britannica
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when the door-to-door sales man came to our neiborhood. That opened my eyes to a world of
information with color pictures and stats, which kept me turning the pages. I became a book
worm and my thrust for more began to grow. I could think on any subject and have it at my
fingertips, from the migrations of whales to the movement of snails, from how long it takes to
get to the moon to how deep the oceans are. The animal kingdom is so fascinating that it would
keep me up for hours at a time. My understanding of wildlife became something very comforting
to me because I always though them to be so fascinating. I can still hear my father, say “Turn
them lights out.” At age twelve, I was falling in love with reading, which made my father a
happy man because reading let him know that I wasn’t getting into any mischief. In retrospect,
reading kept us in the house quite a bit, which was fine with him, having three girls and myself.
As a matter of fact, my first girlfriend said she liked me because I was always reading
something. She would come over and hang with my older sister so we got to know each other
better. I was not silly like most boys my age. Information is power and it became important to
me and also to my sisters who always wanted to know “why, why, why.” The why of things will
have you researching in more and more books, so we began going to and spending a lot of time
at the library. Back then, learning was not something that was looked down upon by others in our
community.
People like Dr. John H. Clark, one of our great historians, or Black Nationalist Malcolm
X are good examples of people who that were well read and had something to say. Let us not
forget about Harlem Congressman Adam Clayton Powel Jr. These people I admired. Supporting
the youth in the community was always at the top of their lists of “things to do.” We were
encouraged to do well, no matter what the endeavor we chose. Great men doing great things can
be all so inspiring. When I reflect on my younger, years I see how important it was to read not
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only books but also magazines and newspapers too. We had to keep up with current events in
order to stay in step with what the grown folks were talking about.
Stumping the grownups with facts was always rewarding to me because seeing
the looks on their faces would be priceless. I loved showing off my knowledge of things that
impressed them. Having access to books even had my sisters’ friends coming over which gave
me more time to get in closer and make a move on them. What a life. The more I read, the more I
understood the literacy, that there is a wealth of information that I don’t know about. Just
thinking of all the colors in the world can be mind boggling. Reading can take children on trips
around the world and back. I am glad my uncle gave me that book by Harold Robins that sparked
my interest in reading. That’s one of the reasons I am always giving books to the young folks, so
their minds can be opened to the world of information.
Information such a science has taught me that facts can make the truth show up when
someone is trying to pull the wool over our eyes. The facts of many things or situations are
hidden in order to sell a product like vaccines, when we read the fine print and discover the side
effects; the truths of the drugs are exposed. We just need the facts “ma’am.” It’s all a part of any
mathematical equation, if you put the numbers in the right place, the answer will always be the
same. Don’t get me wrong sometimes the facts can be distorted or misconstrued. Nevertheless, I
find science to be the closest thing to the truth. The truth will set you free so the saying goes.
Having the desire to read many different types of books helped me to become more literate. I am
truly blessed to live in a country where we are all free to read.
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