From good reading we can acquire pleasure, companionship, experience, and instruction. A good book may absorb our attention so completely that for the time being we forget our surroundings and even our identity. Reading good books is one of the greatest pleasures in life. It increases our contentment when we are cheerful, and ease our troubles when we are sad. Whatever may be our main purpose in reading, our contact with good books should never fail to give us enjoyment and satisfaction. With a good book in our hands we would never be lonely. Whether the characters described are taken from real life or are purely imaginary, they may become our companions and friends. The people we meet in books may delight us either because they are like human friends who we hold dear or because they present unfamiliar types whom we are glad to welcome as new friends. Our human friends sometimes may bore us, but the friends we make in books need never make us tire with their company. By turning the page we can dismiss them without any fear of hurting their feelings. When human friends desert us, good books are always ready to give us friendship, sympathy, and encouragement. One of the most valuable gifts given by books is experience. Few of us can travel far from home or have a wide range of experiences, but all of us can lead various kinds of lives through the pages of books. Whether we wish to escape from the seemingly dull realities of everyday life or whether we long to visit some far-off places, a book will help us when nothing else can. Through books the whole world is ours for the asking. The possibilities of our literary experiences are almost unlimited. The beauties of nature, the enjoyment of music, the treasures of art, the triumphs of architecture, the wonders of engineering, are all open to those who read books.