THE WORLD OF READING
Reading is one of the most beneficial, pleasurable and relaxing pastimes. Reading can never be replaced, even in this age of technology. To read makes us happier and more creative. Reading fiction can provide self-improvement benefits, even while exploring other worlds through stories that exist only in our minds. When we share what we are reading to our friends or communities, the election often tends to tilt more toward non-fiction. You can find people who are reading books that help us improve our jobs, or understand our world better, or become more productive in what we are doing. The practice of using books, poetry and other written words as a form of therapy has helped many people for centuries. Fiction is an exclusive influential way to comprehend others, to exercise your brain and to delve into creativity.
Fiction
Benefits of Reading Fiction
Don't feel guilty for picking up a work of fiction instead of a DIY book. Consider the follow benefits of reading fiction:
- Empathy: imagining creates understanding. Imagining stories help activate regions of your brain responsible for better understanding others and see the world in a different perspective when putting yourself in some else shoes.
In someone else's shoes
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“…In particular, interactions in which we’re trying to figure out the thoughts and feelings of others. Scientists call this capacity of the brain to construct a map of other people’s intentions ‘theory of mind.’ Narratives offer a unique opportunity to engage this capacity, as we identify with characters’ longings and frustrations, guess at their hidden motives and track their encounters with friends and enemies, neighbours and lovers.” Raymond Mar
When the psychologist Raymond Mar analyzed 86 fMRI studies, he saw substantial overlap in the brain networks used to understand stories and the networks used to navigate interactions with other individuals.
Disengagement
- Disengagement: Reading is most beneficial for stress. We need periods of withdrawal to rest our cognitive capabilities and get back to top functionality. Reading fiction is among the very best ways to get that disengaged rest.
The New Yorker reports that:
"Reading has been shown to put our brains into a pleasurable trance-like state, similar to meditation, and it brings the same health benefits of deep relaxation and inner calm. Regular readers sleep better, have lower stress levels, higher self-esteem, and lower rates of depression than non-readers."
Research at the University of Sussex shows that reading is the most effective way to overcome stress, beating out other methods like listening to music or taking a walk.
" Within 6 minutes of silent reading, participants’ heart rates slowed and tension in their muscles eased up to 68%. Psychologists believe reading works so well because the mind’s concentration creates a distraction that eases the body’s stress."
Readers sleep better
- Sleep: Regular readers sleep better
Serial optimizer Tim Ferriss also believes in the power of reading before bed—fiction only:
“Do not read non-fiction prior to bed, which encourages projection into the future and preoccupation/planning. Read fiction that engages the imagination and demands present-state attention. Recommendations for compulsive non-fiction readers include Motherless Brooklyn and Stranger in a Strange Land.”
Improved Relationships
- Improved Relationships: Books are a 'reality simulator'
Writer Eileen Gunn suggests that reading science fiction, in particular, helps us accept change more readily:
“What science fiction does, especially in those works that deal with the future, is help people understand that things change and that you can live through it. Change is all around us. Probably things change faster now than they did four or five hundred years ago, particularly in some parts of the world.”
Improved Memory
- Memory: Readers have a less mental decline in later life. To listen to a story is an excellent way to remember information in the long-term.
Those who read more have shown fewer symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, according to a 2001 study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Inclusivity
- Inclusivity: Stories open your mind
A study, published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology, tested whether the novels of Harry Potter could be used as a tool for improving attitudes toward stigmatized groups.
"After 3 experiments in which students read passages of the books about discrimination, the students showed changed attitudes about everything from immigrants to gay students."
Improved Vocabulary
- Vocabulary: Fiction readers build more language. We all would like to connect with others and to be able to do so, we need to have the kind of vocabulary that can help us express ourselves so that other people can understand us better.
Fiction can help you get there. A 2013 Emory University compared the brains of people after they read fiction (specifically, Robert Harris’ Pompeii over nine nights) to the brains of people who didn’t read.
The website testyourvocab.com analyzed millions of its test-takers to discover the somewhat expected conclusion that reading more builds a bigger vocabulary. What was less expected was how much of a difference the type of reading made: Fiction readers were significantly more likely to have a larger vocabulary:
The study noted: “That fiction reading would increase vocabulary size more than just non-fiction was one of our hypotheses — it makes sense, after all, considering that fiction tends to use a greater variety of words than non-fiction does. However, we hadn’t expected its effect to be this prominent.”
Creativity
- Creativity: Fiction allows for uncertainty (where creativity thrives)
We all want a happy ending, whether it be in the movies or reading fiction. Fiction can be vaguer, which makes it the perfect environment for creativity.
Researchers discovered that the fiction readers had less need for “cognitive closure” than those who read non-fiction and added:
“These findings suggest that reading fictional literature could lead to better procedures of processing information generally, including those of creativity.”
- Pleasure: Reading makes you happier. People who read books are more satisfied with life
"It’s fascinating to me to think about how much has changed in American life and media during the years in the chart below, published by Pew. Somehow reading for pleasure has been able to hang in there throughout—even with the advent of the Internet, smartphones and so many more attention-zapping inventions."
Discover the World of Reading
Reading is usually a progressive development. It begins with a parent reading to a child; a child reading to a teacher or peer group and then the pleasure derived from silent reading. Books are usually age and stage related and become interest related.
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Explore the author and/or the genre you enjoy and then try to broaden your horizons. Choose a book that interests you and that you will enjoy. Avoid books to which you can not relate or which are too difficult, as you will soon lose interest.
if you do not like reading, it is possible that you have not found a book that interests you!
A Good Start to Reading
The moment you find a book that interests you, you will begin a journey into a lifetime of reading. If you are not sure what to read, ask someone who knows and understands you to recommend a book that will suit you.
Visit your Local Library
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Go to the public library and describe your interest to the librarian and ask him/her to recommend a suitable book that will interest your tastes. Libraries are well-stocked and librarians are well-qualified and always willing to assist.
Well-read people are usually interested and interesting. newspapers, quality magazines and periodicals will keep you well-informed and up to date with current affairs.
Source:
https://open.buffer.com/reading-fiction/
By Courtney Seiter Read more
Productivity. Transparency. Culture.
Absolutly agree with you! I love reading fiction with all genres. Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is one of my fave fiction.
This is a good start to reading, so I also ask my children to read fiction first, so they falling in love with this activity at the first sight.
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for your reply. My favourite is Historical Fiction!
When we enter the world of reading we enter as a "trance" according to my opinion, when we read we disconnect from this earthly world and transport ourselves to the universe we are reading. I love your article that highlights that and that additional gives us to know the great benefits that reading can bring. thanks @frieda
Thank you very much!
A great overview of a favorite pastime - thanks for analyzing so many aspects of something we usually take for granted. Sometimes I forget how few people actually read fiction for pleasure these days.