decided that the best way to go about it would be to get a hold of a copy of a dictionary and study it. He requested a dictionary, some pencils and some pads of paper. When he first got the book he spent a while just looking through it wondering where to start. He decided that the best place to start would be with the A’s. So he just started copying. He copied every word and punctuation mark on the first page. It took him the entire day, and when he finished he read aloud what he had written over and over again. The next day he woke up thinking about the words that he had written and to his surprise he even remembered what some of them meant. So he went back over the list again until he knew what every word meant. He was so fascinated that he copied the next page and had the same experience when he woke up the next morning and reviewed them. He eventually copied the entire dictionary while he was in prison. As his word-base broadened he was able to pick up a book and read it all the way through. Being able to do his made him feel important and smart. He became so good at reading that he spent all of his free time reading, and because of this his time in jail went by quickly. “In fact, up to then, I never had been so truly free in my life.” ...
