The value of books and reading…where to start?
Countless devotees have weighed in on the subject. Everyone from Confucius (“No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.”) to Dr. Seuss (“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”)
Reading makes you smarter, broadens your horizons, keeps you mentally sharp. It can also transport you to somewhere else. As scientist Carl Sagan put it: “Books break the shackles of time…” Even more so for men and women serving time in prison.
Such reasoning underpins the Books Through Bars program. The Philadelphia-based non-profit’s roots go back to 1987, and it’s been supplying free books and reading materials to incarcerated adults in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia ever since. The books – approximately 2,100 monthly – are shipped to inmates who’ve mailed BTB a letter requesting specific titles or titles related to a given topic. These days, the group’s volunteers – led by Board President Dr. Tom Haney – estimate they receive and process some 700 letters a month…