I realized that I’ve always taken for granted that reading is a good thing - that it’s better than TV, video games, talking on the cellphone, and watching movies. At its core though its just an assumption.
Is reading really a good thing?
Reading and the Brain
There are a few interesting pieces of research on the effect of reading on the human brain -
- ‘To Read or Not to Read’ by the National Endowment for the Arts. This report finds that reading is declining in the US – young adults are now (i.e. 2004) spending nearly 2 hrs a day on TV and just 10-20 minutes a day on reading books. It also finds that there is a direct correlation between reading and success in a lot of areas in life i.e.
- Good Readers generally have more financially rewarding jobs.
- Good Readers make good citizens. One example – 90% of Proficient Readers voted in the 2000 elections compared to 53% of Below Basic Readers.
- Reading for pleasure correlates strongly with academic achievement.
- This neuroscience blog has an interesting post on how when you read a smell related/describing word like cinnamon, smell related pathways become activated throughout the brain.
- What Reading does for the Mind by Anne Cunningham is an interesting report. It basically talks about how reading is good and more reading is better. One of the things it points out is how much of a positive difference reading makes on ones vocabulary and comprehension skills. This actually has another important impact –
Our world is defined by the words we use and by their scope and diversity. ‘Being excited by the wake of the boat as it traverses across the creek’ creates a very different image from ‘Liked the boat on the water’. Similarly, someone with a limited vocabulary tends to take a variety of emotions or experiences (being petulant; irritated by the fog; nervous about the policeman pulling me over) and use just one word to describe them (upset) severely narrowing their range of experiences.
Reading can Make you Smarter
Reading the right kind of books definitely makes you smarter – For example I just read Matt Ridley’s excellent ‘The Origins of Virtue’ last week. There were a lot of things I learnt about people’s behaviour in certain situations (social proof; reciprocity) that will enable me to be better in social situations in the future.
There’s no doubt that reading books by really smart people and by experts in various fields makes you smarter. Personally I think the fact that you have to read a book and then use your own brain and imagination to interpret it makes it more effective than a passive activity like watching TV.
Reading lets you see the World, and not just through Your Eyes
Reading a variety of books gives you a better perspective of the world. Reading a book lets you share in the author’s view of the world and understand aspects of his culture and mindset.
As an example, let’s take a look at Guardian UK’s list of 1000 novels to read before you die. You could make a strong argument that someone who has read a significant number of those books would be much more capable of relating with other people than someone who hasn’t.
It was interesting to see A Clockwork Orange on the list because when I first read it it painted a picture of England facing an endemic problem of gangs of out of control young hooligans.
Actually living in London and reading about the frequent stabbings by and of young teenagers (not to mention being tracked by thousands and thousands of cctv cameras everywhere) reminded me that the book was far closer to the truth than I’d like to admit. Having lived in countries where police and people had access to firearms, the thought of gangs of young kids carrying knives isn’t very scary. However, in London, the kid gangs are a real menace – more so because the police don’t have guns.
Parting Thoughts
I feel closer to a definitive answer – However, I’m still not fully convinced that we have solid evidence that reading really is a good thing. Where are the studies and detailed research to show that reading books is better for kids and adults than TV? or movies and video games?
I’m hoping to collect more evidence.
Reading and, particularly, interactive reading (including making choices) are positives in that it’s been found (or at least strongly indicated) that surfing the web can “help to counteract the age-related physiological changes that cause the brain to slow down.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7667610.stm
And The New York Times wrote that
“Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, have shown that searching the Internet triggers key centers in the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning. The findings, to be published in the upcoming issue of The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, suggest that searching the Web helps to stimulate and may even improve brain function.”
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/16/does-the-internet-boost-your-brainpower/
With or without evidence, reading is one of the best things in the world for me. I can stay home the whole day and read especially if what I’m reading is interesting.
I subscribe to this blog via RSS and I would really appreciate it you turn off the content summary feature. I want to read VERY blog and you don’t have to try and entice me with a short post summary. It would make reading this blog much more enjoyable.
Thanks.
Chris – the reason I have only content summaries is to avoid duplicate content penalties. wordpress ends up serving a lot of the same content in multiple ways. let me check if there is a way that I can enable complete posts in the rss feed without incurring duplicate content penalties. If i can i’ll enable it. and thanks for letting me know.