Stance on Reading

This may be a little after the fact. I had wanted to comment on this in general since 5/28 class. I made a note but have been putting if off. I am glad I have because as we have progressed in our class, I have mentally added some things to my opinion of reading.
Personally I have always enjoye reading for as long as I can remember. I remember having fun reading stories in grammar school in our textbooks. Middle school was the same. But high school was where my reading exploded. It was there that my curiousity had me searching books for answers and links. History was always my favorites subject so I have always loved trying to reasearch links in history. I would always try to research anything I came across. One example: growing up playing baseball and ice hockey, I naturally became a fan of certain teams and athletes. I was the type (and still am) that needed to research the team or professional athlete. I wanted to know as much as I could about them. I would even research different styles of play of certain player positions.
The following is an example of the progression of learning I went through with ice hockey. Bear with me because I will try to bring it back to reading. When I was very young my father took me to a hockey game at Madison Square Garden. I remember being very excited about the game and especially interested in the goalies. I assume this was because I always played pitcher and catcher in baseball and was just an extension of being the center of attention in the game. I had always wanted to be in the most important positions. Perhaps liking the pressure. Almost immediately afterwards, I was looking into books on hockey and goaltending. Soon afterwards, I had my first set of equipment and was going to camps to learn the position better. But throughout my progression through practice, camps, etc. I was also reading about the game and the position. Why did I do that? I personally had a desire to better myself at what I was doing.
Changing gears a little here. There were times when I started the school year I would start the first class (particularly the Church History class) and start a discussion about reading, history, and school in general. I would often point blank ask who likes reading about history and why. The obvious response (it was almost always the same answer) was students liked reading about something if they perceived relevance to their world. But sometimes I would follow that with the question of researching a topic. I would ask if any had researched a favorite band, favorite team, or someone famous they admired. They would usually say they had not.
The question I have after all of my rambling, what forms a student into one that thirsts for that knowledge? I have found it difficult at times in teaching religion to motivate students to read about people and events that happened SO long ago. I have had success with the approach of telling them, these people had the similar problems that we have today.
I have had much success over the years focusing on topics, people and events I personally found interesting. Because of this interest I was able to convey my enthusiasm to the class. Once I did that I would try methodically to show them connections and relevance to their lives.