[WertyNtont]

My wife reads newspaper and magazines, but, again, no novels. I read primarily scientific journals. I don't bother with novels either. My wife has not had much formal schooling, and she takes pride in her ability to read Thai. She also knows her ABCs and does word search puzzles all the time. When her restaurant switched from hand-written to computer generated tickets, she learned to recognize the words on the slips within a few days, and prepares the orders almost flawlessly. Everyone at the restaurant was quite impressed.

If one is intelligent formal schooling certainly provides an advantage, but schooling doesn't automatically make one intelligent. Conversely, a lack of schooling does not automically mean someone lacks intelligence.

To me, most novels are boring and I only watch TV to give my brain a rest from all the academic stuff. It helps to get stupid once in a while. My wife reads to stay in touch with what is going on in Thailand and to pass the time a bit.