Do we need to read books?
Let me take you to the wonderful world of books and book reading.
Book reading is not just a hobby; it is also a vital part of our existence, a necessity. Societies, where books are published and read in vast numbers; have progressed far beyond than those that lacked the ability or infrastructure to publish books or make them available to the masses. Of course, there may be a few exceptions; however, this is largely the rule.
Inculcating the habit of reading helps us to develop our knowledge and broaden our horizons. Our mind too tends to be active and cognitive. It develops our intellect and makes us smart. No wonder that people who are well-read have good cognitive skills, vocabulary, and better expressing ability.
Ever since, man invented and learned to use the alphabet, writing has always been to the fore when it came to preserve history. Through the ages, every event has been recorded and preserved for posterity in the form of books. It is to be understood that books hold vast information and a plethora of thoughts, emotions, and stories. When we read books, we don’t just read the content, we also learn a little bit about the authors and their state of mind. Book reading has always been timeless and will never go out of fashion.
“Reading a book, and taking the time to ruminate and make inferences and engage the imaginational processing, is more cognitively enriching, without a doubt, than the short little bits that you might get if you’re into the 30-second digital mode.” - Ken Pugh.
For a vast majority of people, reading was the only form of entertainment. The benefits derived far outweighed the drawback, which was probably spending a few rupees on the book. As it turns out, even this drawback is of no consequence, as one can become a member of a library or download e-books for a small fee.
Reading is the best gym to develop your brains:
When we begin to read a book, we subconsciously tend to become a part or character of the story. We get so invested in the story that we mentally substitute the protagonist with ourselves. In other words, we play the role of the character we like most in the story even if it is of opposite gender. The story stimulates our mind and cerebral functions. We are also alert and focussed on the storyline and the twists and turns it takes. It has been established that this activity stimulates the neurons in the brain.
It has been proved through many scientific studies that reading does to our brain what physical exercise does to our body. Just as regular physical exercise helps build our muscles and keep them strong, book reading keeps us in the best mental health. The onset of Alzheimer’s disease is more likely delayed or avoided if we are able to maintain our mental health. Reading also helps us to make better logical decisions under stressful or panic situations.
Reading helps us to polish our language:
Regular book reading is a definitive way of improving our vocabulary. Whatever the language, it helps us to learn more about the language, meaning of new words, usage, and style. Through reading, when we come across a word we do not know, we are more likely to retain and recollect it when we go through the process of searching for the meaning and its usage. Reading helps us to learn many words we are not familiar with in our day-to-day usage, but are essential for acquiring a higher standard of the language.
Ever since I started reading from my childhood, I learned to iron out the deficiencies in my language and improve the art of expression. Newspapers may give us news but don’t actually help us to improve our vocabulary or language. The best bet to improving our knowledge, vocabulary and language style is reading good books, fiction, and non-fiction and not sticking to one author or writer because every author or writer has something different to offer.
When we come of age, we begin to look at life from a personal perspective which may or may not be the right one. Books help us to look at life from a different perspective. When we read different authors, we succeed in realising how different our perspective was or how wrong it was and we tend to adapt ourselves and respond better to external stimuli.
We don’t have to travel the wide world to understand different cultures, customs or practices. Books bring the entire world to our drawing room. We can get familiar with different cultures without even stepping out of our home. Books help us to imagine and visualize better. Books can take us back in time or they can take us into the distant future.
Books can be read anytime of the day, or night; at home or while on a journey; on a hot day or on a rainy day; in a crowd or in solitude. Books help us kill boredom. In essence, books are our best friend. We may judge a book, but books never judge us… and they don’t answer back.
mbfarookh ©