Dear LPG, 

I recently read that one-fifth of the people in this country are still unable to read or write well enough to get through their daily lives adequately, which is not a good thing, but I think there are so many more of us who have become lazy readers. 

I have spent much of my working life reading to achieve, and I am pretty good at it.  As a retired person, I have done all the essential reading I need, but perhaps there is more to reading than meets the eye.   I have worked out that while I can read as well as the next person, it has never really been something I enjoy doing.   I used to flick through magazines but have gotten away with only ever reading two novels my whole life.  Films, radio, television and now computers mean that you can listen while others do the reading, and I take full advantage of that.  I have only ever read any book for the information that I needed to get through school or work, and these days, when finding a fact is a case of offering Google a few words to get only a sentence or two with the answer, my need to read hardly becomes used.  

Of course, I can read as well as the next person, but when it comes to reading anything in detail, I read the words, but retaining what I read is another business.  I skim, and this day and age have made many of us lazy.   

This was unimportant to me until I decided to make a will.  Despite everything written about it, I have been putting it off. About a year ago, I found myself a solicitor and the draft was sent to me.

Even the most straightforward will is full of legal jargon, and I must admit that the number of words on so many pages got me procrastinating like never before. It was only when I received a letter from the solicitors asking if I would ever confirm the details that I decided I needed to do some serious reading. 

The secret to reading anything as essential and long-winded is to read it aloud while someone else is listening. Still, wills are somewhat private, and while the solicitor will help, for them, ‘time is money’… usually yours. 

I found a solution that might work for a few others: If you don't want to share your thoughts with anyone else, get a Dictaphone and read them aloud. You can then read them in stages. One good thing about reading aloud is that your questions and worries usually come to the fore as you read. That is when I start a new tape and highlight my concerns as I go along.  

Listening and reviewing your tape after the first read-through stops the need for all those ‘pencil to paper’ interruptions when I work through any wordy, jargon-filled contract. I hope that my suggestion works for some.

BT, Brockley