In this talk, Jehan Unwala informs the audience of the growing body of scientific evidence that reading for pleasure leads to academic, economic, and civic success. He also discusses simple steps each of us can take to help shift cultures toward embracing reading.

Jehan Unwala believes that creating a peaceful and prosperous Bahamas starts with creating a nation of readers. After the birth of his first son, Jehan researched the scientific literature on reading to children and found the results irrefutable: children who are read to are more likely to become readers themselves, and readers grow up to be happier, healthier, and more successful in life.

To spread this knowledge in The Bahamas, Jehan and his wife Kristen co-founded the Brighter Bahamas Foundation (BBF) in 2014. BBF has two goals: to put great books directly into the hands of children and to encourage parents to read aloud to their children.

BBF projects include distributing free infant books to new mothers in the hospital, providing books to doctors to disseminate in the clinics and in their private practices, and creating school and classroom libraries in public schools.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx