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It wasn’t very long ago that a summer holiday meant a week or two with a stack of books to read while I sat on a sun lounger sipping cold beers and puffing my way through a small country’s worth of cigarettes. Three kids later, and while I’m not sorry to have seen off the smoking, it’s hard not to yearn for those long days with no responsibility and nothing at all to do.
The reason I’m reflecting on this today isn’t because I’ve just returned from a wind and rain swept camping trip with the family - despite the severe weather warnings, I genuinely loved the opportunity to spend so much time together. Instead, it’s part of my attempt to trace back to why I stopped reading fiction.
The easy answer is time. After all, when it’s limited by the ever-increasing number of obligations and commitments that life brings, compromises must be made. In the scheme of things, of course, reading less literature to continue consuming information from non-fiction books is hardly the greatest sacrifice ever known.
The truth is, though, that time is rarely the most significant impediment to reading more books. After all, the University of California San Diego found that the average American reads 100,000 words per day. The problem is what they’re reading, with less than 10% being in ‘print’. Since this research was produced in 2009, we can assume that an even larger proportion of those words are now consumed by social media and email (of which the average office worker receives 121 of each day).
So, why does this matter?
Well, it sounds obvious, but reading books of any type really does make you smarter. Specifically, recent research from neuroscientists has shown that reading literary fiction builds empathy, improves critical thinking, and opens the mind more effectively to other viewpoints. It supports the development of in-demand skills, which are typically hard to train - such as flexibility and adaptability, creative problem-solving, and judgement.
Personally, because of my perceived lack of time – and bear in mind I still read books for between 30 and 60 minutes per day - I’ve prioritised acquiring knowledge through non-fiction books over the past few years. My experience of picking up a novel last week for the first time in a long time, though, was evidence of the value of transcending the here-and-now and seeing life through someone else’s eyes. I don’t usually turn to Game of Thrones for a quote in this newsletter, but this one summarises my point perfectly:
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies...The man who never reads lives only one.”
From a scientific point of view, there are numerous benefits too.
Reading and social cognition – the process of perceiving other people and social situations – both tap into the default network, the part of the brain that supports our capacity to simulate hypothetical scenes, spaces, and mental states. An ability to keep an open mind improves decision-making. And there is now overwhelming evidence of how people’s propensity to resist what’s called ‘cognitive closure’ allows them to become more thoughtful and creative, all of which contributes to higher EQ.
People who depend on cognitive closure are more likely to struggle to change their minds as new information arises and less willing to produce alternative explanations or solutions to problems. They will also draw on a smaller pool of information and data, while their natural ability to consider other viewpoints is significantly reduced.
The simple explanation is that when framed through a story, the experience of others is easier to relate to. Issues, when confronted within ‘real life’ may raise the shackles and force people to become less defensive, while their objections become less contentious.
Away from the science, a well-written narrative is incredibly engaging and can persuade and inspire in fundamentally different ways to that of non-fiction. And if you think I’m overcomplicating it, perhaps it’s enough to just enjoy a good story!
Last week, I discussed switching off your brain following a busy spell at work, but I’d forgotten how reading a great novel helps to do this at the end of a stressful day. I’ll, therefore, be maintaining a list of must-read books (to avoid that familiar scrabble to find something new) and reading fiction-only before sleeping at night.
To that end, any recommendations are welcome, so please share!
Have a lovely weekend and happy reading.
Ollie
If you're interested in the themes I've written about today, you can read more in these articles:
Neuroplasticity and learning new things
Strange dreams and creative things
And if you like an infographic to explain subjects like this, then here’s an excellent one from Global English Editing:
