‘ We don’ t have to circle the world in order to find beauty and fulfilment. After all, most of living has to happen in the mind. And, to quote one anonymous sage from my trivet, “ The world is only the size of each man’ s head.” ’ Writers will often tell you that the most important thing you can do to build your skill is to read other great writers. Reading is not only food for the soul but also fodder for the brain. We often only realize in hindsight what impact reading a book leaves on us— when we work in new knowledge in conversations, when we use a word that even impresses us, when we articulate a thought so well it takes us by surprise, when we meet new people because of a book they saw us reading. In Read Well, Write Well, Ruskin Bond brings us a collection of stories, personal essays and poems that take us to wonderful fictional worlds, that illuminate— through his own encounters with reading and writing— the significance of association with the written word.