10 reasons to read good, old-fashioned books

With today’s dependency on the speedy media and internet at our fingertips, wanting it now and wanting it loud and bright, the simplicity and art of enjoying a good book is sadly falling away.

Books still have far more to teach us than any kind of faster means.

Below are 10 reasons to read a good old-fashioned book:

1. Reading develops your verbal abilities

Although it doesn’t always make you a better communicator, those who read tend to have a more varied range of words to express how they feel and to get their point across. As you consume more pages, your vocabulary range grows, giving you a higher level of vocabulary to use in everyday life.

2. Reading a book improves your focus and concentration

Unlike blog posts or news articles, sitting down with a book demands long periods of focus and concentration, which at first is challenging. Being fully engaged in your book involves closing off the outside world and immersing yourself into the text, which over time strengthens your attention span.

3. Readers enjoy the arts and improve the world

Studies done explain that people who read for pleasure are many times more likely than those who do not, to visit museums and attend concerts and almost three times as likely to perform volunteer and charity work. Readers are active participants in the world around them and that engagement is critical to individual and social well-being.

4. Reading improves your imagination

You are only limited by what you can imagine. The worlds described in books as well as other people’s views and opinions will help you expand your understanding of what is possible. By reading a description of an event or a place, your mind is responsible for creating that image in your head, instead of having the image placed in front of you when you watch television.

5. Reading makes you smarter

Books offer an outstanding wealth of learning and at a much cheaper price than taking a course. Studies have shown that heavy readers tend to display greater knowledge of how things work. Books at home have been strongly linked to academic achievement.

6. It makes you interesting and attractive

Having a library of information that you have picked up from non-fiction reading will come in handy in almost any conversation. You will be able to hold your own and add to the conversation instead of having to make your excuses or feel left out. You will be able to engage a wider variety of people in conversation, improving your knowledge and conversation skills.

7. It reduces stress

Studies have shown that reading reduces stress. Subjects only needed to read silently for six minutes to slow down the heart rate and ease tension in the muscles. In fact it got subjects to stress levels lower than before they started.

8. Reading improves your memory

When you read, you have more time to think. Reading gives you an unique pause button for comprehension and insight, as opposed to when you watch a film or listen to a tape, you don’t press pause. The benefits of this increased activity keeps your memory sharp and your learning capacity nimble.

9. To discover and create yourself

In his book ‘How to Read and Why’, Harold Bloom says that we should read slowly, with love, openness and with our inner ear cocked. He explains we should read to increase our wit and imagination, our sense of intimacy – in short, our entire consciousness – and also to heal our pain.

“Until you become yourself, what benefit can you be to others?” With the endless amount of perspectives and lives we can read about, books can give us an opportunity to have experiences that we haven’t had the opportunity to, and still allow us to learn the life skills they entail. Books are a fast track to creating yourself.

10. For entertainment

All the benefits of reading mentioned so far are a bonus result of the most important benefit of reading – the entertainment value. If it were not for the entertainment value, reading would be a chore. A good book can keep us amused while developing many important life skills.

Also read:

12 reasons to love your local library

Why do we celebrate library week?

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