Sep 29 2008
10 Benefits of Reading!
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I’m indebted to my mother to have inculcated a great habit like reading in me. I still remember how she used to just gift books for the special occasions like birthdays and Diwali. Slowly her perseverance of this trend became a passion for me. This habit grew stronger as I grew up. I started working and the mounting pressure of work kept me away from reading for long spans of time. But whenever I got some pockets of idleness in between projects, reading always came to my rescue. It never let me be unoccupied. Besides just keeping me engrossed, reading helped me improve my vocabulary and general awareness about the world, introduced me to the different cultures around the globe, kept the motor of my brain working and imbibed a certain level of discipline in my life.
Reading is one of the best hobbies a person can have. But it’s saddening to know that majority of us aren’t introduced to the fabulous world of books. If you are one of the non-book readers who feels you “don’t need no stinking books”, here are some reasons to start the habit…before you are left behind!
- Reading is an active mental process: Unlike sitting in front of the idiot box (TV), reading makes you use your brain. While reading you would be forced to reason out many things which are unfamiliar to you. In this process you would use the grey cells of your brain to think and become smarter.
- Reading improves your vocabulary: Remember in elementary school when you learned how to infer the meaning of one word by reading the context of the other words in the sentence? You get the same benefit from book reading. While reading books, especially challenging ones, you will find yourself exposed to many new words you wouldn’t be otherwise.
- Gives you a glimpse into other cultures and places of the world: How would you know about the life of people in Mexico if you don’t read about it? Reading gives you an insight into the diversity of ethnicity of people, their customs, their lifestyles etc. You become more aware about the different places and the code of conduct in those places.
- Improves concentration and focus: It requires you to focus on what you are reading for long periods. Unlike magazines, Internet posts or e-Mails that might contain small chunks of information, books tell the whole story. Since you must concentrate in order to read, like a muscle, you will get better at concentration.
- Builds self-esteem: The more you read, the more knowledgeable you become. With more knowledge comes more confidence. More confidence builds self-esteem. So it’s a chain reaction. Since you are so well read, people look to you for answers. Your feelings about yourself can only get better.
- Improves memory: Many studies show if you don’t use your memory, you lose it. Crossword puzzles are an example of a word game that staves off Alzheimer’s. Reading, although not a game, helps you stretch your memory muscles in a similar way. Reading requires remembering details, facts and figures and in literature, plot lines, themes and characters.
- Improves your discipline: Making time to read is something we all know we should do, but who schedules book reading time every day? Very few… That’s why adding book reading to your daily schedule and sticking to it, improves discipline.
- Improves creativity: Reading about diversity of life and exposing yourself to new ideas and more information helps to develop the creative side of the brain as it imbibes innovation into your thinking process.
- You always have something to talk about: Have you ever found yourself in an embarrassing situation where you didn’t have anything to talk about? Did you hate yourself for making a fool of yourself? Do you want a remedy for this? It’s simple. Start reading. Reading widens your horizon of information. You’ll always have something to talk about. You can discuss various plots in the novels you read, you can discuss the stuff you are learning in the business books you are reading as well. The possibilities of sharing become endless.
- Reduces boredom: One of the rules I have is if I am feeling bored, I will pick up a book and start reading. What I’ve found by sticking to this is that I become interested in the book’s subject and stop being bored. I mean, if you’re bored anyway, you might as well be reading a good book, right?
If you want to break the monotony of a lazy, uncreative and boring life, go and grab an interesting book. Turn the pages to explore a new world filled with information and ingenuity.
27 responses so far
I agree that reading is the best hobby of all. Thanks for posting your well developed points. IMO they are right on.
Reading is a great time pass, especially when you are too tired.
i totaly agree with all of the points you’ve mentionned about the importance of the reading process in our daily life thanks for the useful article!!!
Have you ever noticed that if you read a book and then go and see the movie that you are just so disappointed in the movie and wish you could just read the book again? Thank you so much for your post. I only wish more people would read. I recently became a reader (again) and have already started to notice a lot of the benefits that you have mentioned. I have always read to my children and at 6 and 4 am really starting to see that pay off!
yah… all of what you have post are true. i just realized some of the benefits that you have post. it’s developing a lot of thing which i am not aware of, like the self-esteem.
Reading is the number 1 thing a person can do to improve their life.
http://www.squidoo.com/benefits_of_reading
Very nice article. I really like it. I use to read new paper daily.
Nicely said, reading is a good habit. I enjoyed the article. Keep it up the good work.
TL;DR
Why do you think people who “don’t need no stinking books” would be reading this?
Rick brings up a good point. A lot of those supposed benefits may not actually be caused by reading, but instead are a reflection of the innate traits of people who like to read. If you are close-minded and not interested in other cultures to begin with, there’d be no motivation to read about them; if you have poor self-discipline/concentration/focus, you’ll never get through a book, thereby making reading less enjoyable and less appealing of an option in the future, and so on.
That said, if you want to even be a moderately successful person, literacy is a good start.
As a voracious reader, I can’t agree with you more! I would like to take this moment to thank my mom who also happens to be a bibliophile! I guess it’s in the genes!
There are 8 good reasons… But reason 5… come on, that’s a load of bollocks. Reason 9.. not a very strong reason either. Ok, these two count if you’re narcissistic oriented person so could be true for some.
Nice written article. I liked them all. I use to read a lots of books in the past, but these days I read news online.
I am a student in KARDAN university. I read your article, it was nice, therefore I selected a few passage of that for my presentation. Thanks
good write up
Didn’t you just rape this article?!:
http://www.persistenceunlimited.com/2007/12/the-26-major-advantages-to-reading-more-books-and-why-3-in-4-people-are-being-shut-out-of-success/
Thank you very much. I found this article when I was searching information for my public speaking speech. Yes, reading is indispensable to succeed in life.
Reading has been my hobby since childhood.I just love to reading good books on litrature, and inspirational books..
I am fascinated by reading. I feel in this age reading is slowly
being replaced by other activities among our youngsters.
Thanks for your article. Reading I think is the best habit one could have, it certainly adds plus points to your personality.
sup u fuckin jerks
really i’m very surprised to know tha t which you tell definitly it is true and i inspire a lot with it
i really apreciate this article, i agree! the more you read, the better memory and comprehension you’ll get..thank you.^_^
Very good article; reading this is in fact, is already a very mentally-stimulating exercise. He who does not read or finds joy in learning scarcely knows the world, and even his ownself. The greatest presidents and leaders of history all loved reading; think they’re jerks now King Queen?
this is crasy
this is crasy
Awesome read, it is good to see this article coming at number two on google when I searched for benefits of reading.