Does reading a lot actually make you smarter, more insightful etc?

[cocoaero]

Recently I've been hitting a good reading streak reading on average 1-2 books a week since the start of the year. I read mostly contemporary (well last 50 years up to present day) literary fiction, some classics and a few non-fiction books.

I am enjoying it, I feel like it helps me relax and that I sleep better after reading for an hour than I do if I've been scrolling. I am enjoying less time online in general so that is good and I enjoy the entertainment of the books and I am not expecting it to do anything special other than that. I was talking to a family member the other day and they were saying reading is beneficial for your mind that it helps creativity and improves thinking and can even help protect against dementia.

Is this true do you think?

Marian Keyes has been a part of my life since I picked up Watermelon when it first came out, to give it a go. There are definitely ways in which she has changed my life.

I decided to really give Ulysses a go in its centenary. I got quite far but I had to stop because I wasn't enjoying it at all and what's the point of a book if you just have to keep working and working and working at it. I'm not sorry I tried and I'm not sorry I stopped.

I've never tried Moby Dick and don't feel the worse for it.

I've mean to read Dostoyevsky but not got there because I sort of fell in love with Tolstory and ended up reading most of hist output. Generally not enjoying all aspects of his longer books, but enough to keep me going and some parts of them so much that they still linger with me. Couldn't quote them, apart from the start of Anna Karenina, but it's a well known and very wonderful little sentence and so I wouldn't quote it but a friend and I might go, yeah that's true!

I go through phases of what I want to read. So, Sarah Waters will take me back to the Victorian classics, might lead me back to Donna Tart, and then I need something light, so easy chicklit, a bit of crime, alternative history (The Man in the High Castle type of thing) dystopian, I especially like it when women get the upper hand (The Power) and time travel. There's a book with Jane Austen and time travel which I'm sure was written when the author mind melded with me!😅

And then there are little or big magical best sellers, Seven Lessons in physics - not its full title - Sapians, that make the subjects sing to you.

I finally read a Christie and it was a cracking read! I'm light on poetry but have read all of Aerial by Plath and it's just wonderful. I adore Under Milkwood but being read to me. It's too beautiful to be read in my voice! I also love essays etc and short stories. Nora Ephron is the patron saint of the essay.

And breathe.

And yes, 1984 and Brave New World. I'm surprised that the former is the book that more people pretend to have read than read it. It's very much a cracking read, complex message and philosophy I guess, but written in such a way that whether you get the more complex stuff really doesn't matter because there's so much going on and the peril at the end. It's just a good book that seems neither low or high brow to me and I hate the whole ooh, high brow is it!

It definitely does make you smarter. Lots of people can’t seem to be bothered anymore or say they don’t have the time to even google anymore so use chat gpt instead. Most will have brains like mush in a few years.

Reading a good book is glory for your soul.

I’ve recently discovered cosy fantasy, it’s wonderful. “Glory for your soul” sums it up!

I think it depends on what you read. I read a lot, even when I was a kid. But I only read fiction -thrillers/drama/mysteries and I’m not smart or creative and still very forgetful.

Apparently repeated puzzles aren't as good as we first thought for dementia prevention.

Yep. Doesn't matter what. That's all snobbery. But READ

I think so OP.

I think reading improves your vocabulary, because you come across new words which you can look up and are then more likely to use yourself when speaking or writing.

I also find that it helps me to understand and empathise with a broader range of viewpoints and perspectives through reading from the POV of so many different characters in so many different scenarios. Books can really challenge us to consider the shades of grey and more subtle nuances of big issues. I like that!

Enjoy 📚😊

I don't think it does so much matter what you read. I think most books can teach you something no matter the subject. I've read a lot of Micheal Crichton and learned quite a lot from his books about technology and science. I've read horror novels that have taught me about other cultures beliefs. I've read simple thrillers that teach me about police procedure.

Even if it just teaches you some new words I think every book has something for you to learn.

Makes for much better spelling and grammar.

It does sound very interesting: tell me more...

ETA: to me, Tolkien is "cosy fantasy". Do you mean something like this?

@NameChangedOfc it’s defined as:

Cozy Fantasy can be defined as a fantasy book with a slice-of-life ambience wrapped up in a story that is healing or comforting, that centers deeply on its worldbuilding and characters, but in the end has a hopeful narrative.

I’m currently listening to Legends and Lattes where all that is happening is they are running a coffee shop. Beautiful narrative and lovely characters, all mythical (think dwarves and an Orc learning to make good coffee).

it’s like a big hug.

I’ve read (ha!) that there’s evidence of a link between reading fiction and how empathetic people are, presumably because it makes you imagine life lived and experienced differently to your own.

You don’t even have to look new words up. When you’ve read a word about ten times, in different contexts (ie different books or chapters) you’ll glean its meaning in a nice well-rounded and fulsome way. You’re more likely to remember it once you’ve seen it repeatedly and used it yourself. So the more you read, the more higher level vocabulary will be embedded for you.

This is especially true of child readers.

I know many odd facts through voracious reading - things that fall outside my usual areas of interest. My husband sometimes says "How on earth do you know that?" when I explain a reference to him.

Oh yeah. My husband will be prattling about some historical event, and I'll mention some related oddment or trivium gleaned from reading, and he'll shout, YOU LEARNT THAT FROM READING THOSE NOVELS! THAT'S CHEATING!

There’s definitely research that shows reading increases empathy particularly reading about cultures and life experiences that are different to your own - which is going to be pretty much any book. I read a lot, nothing too high brow or classic now because I can’t be arsed but anything that has a good story line that engages you with the characters helps develop empathy.

I know many odd facts through voracious reading

Same I read everything I could as a dc, FT, Time, Virginia Andrews, all very random.

There’s definitely research that shows reading increases empathy particularly reading about cultures and life experiences that are different to your own - which is going to be pretty much any book.

I find it odd on MNs how so many threads and responses can only have see on side/perspective.

Probably. And - on the back of another thread - those who read are less likely to commit written howlers such as rest bite, peddle stool, should of etc.

Listening to Radio 4 is similar. My ex used to say that almost everything he knew he learnt from Radio 4, through me. I would often say "there was something interesting on Radio 4 today about blah blah".

And - on the back of another thread - those who read are less likely to commit written howlers such as rest bite, peddle stool, should have etc.

|depends what you are reading though! I've seen bear with me so many times now that when I write bear it can look wrong.

Well yes, of course. But you're unlikely to see that in print, or in anything professionally published - I hope!

Obviously reading Facebook and Nextdoor will likely have the opposite effect.

That's amusing - you changed should of to should have. You obviously can't bring yourself to write it even on purpose! I feel you 😁

Yes