The Power Of Reading Books
“A study conducted in 2010 shows that children who read novels and stories very often have a stronger ability to present themselves. Another study, published in 2009, presents that reading novels improves the social skills and open-mindedness of people. In the 1990s, reading pioneer Keith Stanovich and his colleagues conducted a study on who read every day. They used the Author Recognition Test (ART), which is a strong predictor of reading skills. And the result shows that those who read every day had 50 percent more vocabulary and fact-based knowledge than those who do not read every day. There are many more advantages of reading books regularly.
Reading helps in stress reduction — Reading diverts your mind to a book that you are reading. Reading is like meditation. When you are reading a great story your mind only concentrates on the story.
Improve your memory — When you are reading a fiction book your mind is forced to remember the names of different characters. Going back to remembering your book’s story and the plot is very fun and also improves your memory.
Improve your imagination — When you read a fiction book you automatically start to imagine the story and the characters. Imagination stimulates your brain in a good way. Imagination dives you into the story of the book.
Inclusivity — When you read different fictional books you start to become an open-minded, tolerant and inclusive person. Your attitude toward other people changes. Reading books reduced negative perspectives toward other people. You can easily understand the other person’s story.
Better sleep — Reading books before going to bed can help you to sleep better. But when you’re reading a great book I am sure you can’t sleep properly because of the excitement to read more and more and this gets worse when you reach the last some pages of the book. Reading on tables and mobile will surely hurt your eyes."
Read the complete full article on Medium
✨Takeaway: According to studies, reading helps people present themselves more effectively and fosters social skills and open-mindedness. Additionally, reading broadens one's vocabulary.
✨Reflection: What’s your favorite book genre?
#Reading #Books #Benefits #Hobby
@innateJoy9602
I love this thread! I just finished one of the "Great Courses" audiobooks on audible, and the course was on "Artful Reading". I'll share a couple of takeaways of my own, but first I'll share my favorite genre(s)!
I love "literary" fiction, although that is an ambiguous term that can apply to so many genres. I guess to call the books I love "literary" is to say they're not "pulp", though I do love a good light-hearted sci-fi or fantasy novel. If it came down to one genre, it would be Magical Realism, like the works of Haruki Murakami. I ordered a motivational poster of his that will arrive tomorrow evening, and I'm very excited about it. It has a great quote stating that if you only read what everyone else reads, you will only think what everyone else thinks!
This leads me back to why I took the Artful Reading course, and my takeaways: over the years it became harder for me to read, and even harder to finish the books I started. Lately, that's changed quite a bit, though my "reading" has mostly been audiobooks. Though I recently finished "Crime and Punishment" by Dostoevsky, it was not the same, and not what the Great Courses would call "Artful Reading". So here are my takeaways (because the books that can really change the way you see the world are often challenging novels):
1. Pre-read: get a feel for the "lay of the land", and know what you're in for. See what the chapters are like, and the basic structure of the book. Are they long chapters or short? When I devote time to reading how long should I expect to be glued to my seat in order to get through the whole thing?
2. Give it the 50-page test: don't give up on a book until you've read at least 50 pages.
3. Look for the "destabilizing event": to access a deeper connection to a novel, it can help to keep the major destabilizing event in mind, and this usually happens within those first 50 pages. Once characters and settings have been introduced, something usually happens to launch the novel into its trajectory, whatever that may be.
4. Don't be ashamed to take notes: the denser the plot, rich the characters, or long (or Russian) the novel, the more helpful it is to keep a little journal of what happens and who it happens to.
There are other takeaways like looking for the subtext (what's said vs what is meant, or what people say and what they really feel), but these are some great tools to (hopefully) get me back into reading a real book that I hold in my hands and experience deeply.
Thank you for this post! I am inspired, and now I just need to pick a novel off my shelf. Hehe!
@ThadSterling
I know exactly what you mean when you say literary fiction!
As pulp fiction isn't my favorite either! :P
I've never tried audiobooks, but I feel they would be great while doing dishes or working around the house!
Also, many thanks for the lovely pointers!
Appreciate your wonderful comment<3💛💫
@innateJoy9602 Reading books tends to become an underestimated form of amusement. In reality books can be wonderful.
The descriptions made on a book and the effect that has on the brain in inreplaceable. It can boost mood, creativity, imagination and thinking.
I definitely think we should all make time for reading a book daily, though this is a challenge for me personally as well. I love Wuthering Heights and I'm trying to finish it currently!
Thank you for the great post!
