Reading

Reading is the only real way to learn to write well. As you read page after page of exquisitely written prose, you will naturally incorporate the same style, rhythm, and grammar into your own writing. We learn to speak in much the same way. What should you read? The classics, of course, beginning with Homer and then Chaucer and Shakespeare and Milton, etc. However, if you want some lighter, more fun reading, try these online links:

The New Yorker. High class literary magazine addressing current issues. Read by all elitist New Yorkers.

The New York Times. Premier American newspaper for current events. Coverage is reliable, well-written, and constantly updated.

Snopes. Urban legend site telling you the truth about a host of unreliable stories you may have heard.

Dave Barry. Humor columnist, best read late at night or during times of frustration, when absurdity is needed.

Thomas Friedman. Pullitzer-prize winning American columnist for the New York Times; almost always manages to put a positive, insightful spin on current events.

Onion. Political and social satire -- sometimes risque, sometimes ridiculously funny. At times slips into poor humor, but mostly good reading. Read with caution.

How Stuff Works. Explains how the most complicated, arcane, odd things work. Probably more interesting to the curious engineering minds.

Tech News.com. An online newspaper covering information technology issues with in-depth, interesting, articles. Good for computer scientists and other technophiles.

The Drudge Report. Alternative newspaper linking to scores of columnists and newspapers. Matt Drudge also presents his own news, the non-traditional sometimes not presented by other newspapers.

Al Ahram Weekly. English weekly of Cairo, giving the Middle Eastern perspective on political issues. Well-written, long articles, but sometimes one-sided and censored.

Cairo Times. English weekly based in Cairo, focusing on environmental, cultural, political, and human rights issues.

The Straight Dope. "Cecil" tells you the answers to nearly impossible-to-answer questions.

About.com. Learn about anything. Type in a topic in the about searchbox and see what the different "about.com guides" have collected on it.

Ehow.com. You know the Internet is about empowering individuals with information. Okay, here is a site offering more than 15,000 tutorials on how to do practically anything.

More Writing Resources. See this page to peruse other writing websites that can be very helpful in writing essays and doing other academic work.

Do you have a favorite site you read? Send me the link and I may put it on this reading list.