To think being a reader doesn't make you better or smarter?

[OnceaReaderNeveraReader]

Never been a reader. I have tried many times in my life and have enjoyed the odd book here and there but have never managed to actually become a regular reader and don't miss books ever. I was talking about this with some colleagues the other day and one of them made me feel a bit bad about this as if reading is a sign of better intellectual ability and superiority.
I am uni educated and enjoy a variety of other cultural hobbies such as art, theatre and dance but I just cannot understand what is so special about books!
How does one become a reader later in life and is it really that bad if I don't enjoy it?

They are saying that reading broadens your knowledge which is true if you read non fiction books.

And fiction. Depending on what you read.

Currently reading Phillips Gregory. I know all about the Tudors and the English Civil War. I didn’t know much about these a few years ago. Certainly not the English civil war.

I think reading is a chance for those who didn’t have a good education to expand their knowledge. Basic education was much more common in the past so for some people library lending was a godsend and allowed them to become more learned. I think that’s where this idea stems from and perhaps not so relevant today.

I do think reading - perhaps especially for children/young people - can improve vocabulary and spelling/grammar - these things are likely to be absorbed naturally.

And I don’t mean ‘literature’ - any book from a mainstream publisher should be sufficiently literate.

I love reading, read loads, but often read what is considered trash or not very useful stuff. Love a sports romance, love some fantasy. Absolutely cannot stomach a classic. Hate reading to analyse themes or whatever. Just want to enjoy my book and move on with my day.

But I know for a fact that even though I do not read highbrow literature, or very much non-fiction, reading has 100% improved my vocabulary and general comprehension skills. I have mispronounced a lot of words in my lifetime because of only having seen them written down, but I wouldn't have otherwise known those words or how to use them if I hadn't found them in books.

General comprehension skills are massively declining. You only have to look at an internet comment section to see people are missing the point of a lot of content they are viewing online. Reading helps with parsing information, analysing, looking for context clues, literally reading between the lines, in a way that I don't think other media can replicate like for like.

That said, you can definitely be a smart, intelligent person without reading, it's just that reading on top of that would contribute even more.

This. Well researched fiction can be incredibly interesting and informative.

My friend has worked in a library all her working life. She never reads books. As an avid reader I don’t really get that but I am not better or smarter than her, just different. She knows lots of things and is a genuine, compassionate person - much nicer than I am.
Some people don’t read, some people don’t.
I think I have learned things from reading but books aren’t the only source I’ve picked up things from.

I'm 60 and have had a book in my hands basically as soon as I was born!

I've got literally hundreds of physical books and read each and every day and night, I'd actually rather go without food than books!

I carry a paperback all the time in my backpack, and as soon as one is read, I swap it for another, but I totally understand that not everyone is a reader; some people find it boring, and I don't have any problem with that.

But your colleagues are wrong in saying that reading is a sign of better intellectual ability and superiority. I know/have known people who are 100% illiterate, they can't read anything at all, not even the basics, but they have incredible ways with other things, such as music, woodwork, whatever, so please, don't feel bad or made to feel bad by others because you're not a regular reader, it's not for everyone, just don't do it if you don't feel like it!

Is that Dr Seuss?

"online reading is often unbalanced and opinion based (aka my truth)."

Books are as well.
I've read a couple of Malcolm Gladwell's books. It's only because I also read the internet that I know his arguments and his use of data aren't necessarily respected by experts.

It was on the Internet that I learned that Oliver Sachs falsified his notes. I would never have found out if I'd read his books and kept it on the shelf.

There can be dodgy stuff, but the most read articles have many contributors, some of them world experts and incorrect information is usually taken down.

Oh definitely, including people who judge others for not having a big bookshelf in their living room, even if the books might be in their bedrooms.
Even not keeping books forever is judged. That Japanese decluttering woman got grief for it.

by junk, I meant popular novellist. He wrote to entertain and was serialised in popular periodicals of the time.

"As a result, I have become hooked on audio books and listen to them constantly in the car. But am I now able to tell people I have "read" a book because I have essentially had it read to me? This isn't like watching a movie of the book. I do listen to every word. But somehow I do feel that there is a kudos readers get from some people that that listeners may not receive."

I went through an audio book phase. Most of them are abridged. It also takes me less time so I'm familiar with more books than if I just read them.

With all of Michael Mosley's just one things, you cannot tell if it's causation or correlation of if the causation goes the other way, if you see what I mean.

I did a degree in English Literature as I have always absolutely loved reading. However after uni I was sick to death of it and didn't read again for years. Now I read voraciously but only psychological thrillers aka 'mental chewing gum'. I tried for years to read more intellectual stuff but finally admitted to myself I don't enjoy heavy books and just enjoy the escape of an easy to read page turner 😃 You like what you like, don't fight it. 😊

On holiday I recently read a collection of Hilary Mantel's essays "A Memoir Of My Former Self" some of which were so entertaining & thoughtful & beautifully written & occasionally funny that I ended up reading extracts out loud to DH.

I read for perspectives other than my own which broadens my thinking when another point of view is so eloquently expressed. It often leads to me pursuing further reading in a direction I might not otherwise have considered.

Reading is one of life's great joys because it takes you places you might not have gone, undiscovered countries if you like.
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CS Lewis famously said about poetry, but I think it applies to all literature really, that it doesn't matter where you break into the system, "everything will lead you to everything else in the end."

Also attributed to CS Lewis (incorrectly I believe) is the famous "We read to know we are not alone" which at one point IIRC Waterstones had printed on its plastic bags!

Yes he was essentially the soap operas of the Victorian era.

You mean it's the people with human empathy & understanding who tend to choose to read in the first place?

This may well be the case - good point!

A soap is a drama, very comparable to reading fiction. Pride & Prejudice is a type of soap imo.

I think reading for pleasure in childhood does make a big difference educationally. So in that sense, yes, reading does make you smarter. Regular reading is the only out of school ‘homework’ that’s beneficial at primary age and strong readers who choose from a decent range of texts generally will have more advanced vocabularies, and be stronger on the SPaG side than children who don’t read or who only read the bare minimum.

As an adult generally no, I don’t think being a reader for pleasure makes you smarter than an adult who doesn’t read. The habit forms young though so children who will pick up a book and read for pleasure are more likely to continue that as they grow over those who never developed any joy from it. It also depends sometimes if it’s something people see at home growing up. We’ve always had bookshelves and the children see DH and I read regularly, so it’s always been something that they do too and they both have well stocked bookshelves in their rooms. If you have a home where the adults don’t read and aren’t bothered about it, then the exposure to it will be lower.

@OnceaReaderNeveraReader define "better" and "smarter" and "reader"!

I'm sure you read words all day and every day? You went to uni, so presumably you had to read for your GCSEs, A levels and then degree?

If you mean that you don't read fiction, it is going to depend on what fiction you read. If it is low quality, poorly written fiction then it probably won't be adding much to make you "better" and "smarter". If you are reading James Joyce then that could well be making you "better" and "smarter"!

If you want to read fiction have a look at reviews of books in a recent publication (pick any newspaper, they all have book reviews) and see if anything captures your attention. If you watch the TV, what kind of shows do you like? You could pick a book from a similar genre.

FWIW, I looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove reading fiction and non-fiction. I read avidly as a child and think it did add to my vocabulary, imaginative skills and use and construction of the English language. Do I think I am better or smarter than people who read less avidly - no!

yup and they were written as "soaps" Novel reading was at first derided as something that no decent woman should do and especially not "in the mornings" https://onehundredpages.wordpress.com/2014/06/30/4-bad-side-effects-of-reading-fiction-according-to-the-19th-century/#:~:text=Stories%20can%20leave%20you%20dissatisfied,passion%20and%20excitement%20was%20frightening.

I think basically reading is a tool that is better for the skills linked to intelligence than pretty much any other medium. It doesn't mean that every person who reads is smarter than everyone who doesn't, but there is undoubtedly a link.

Oh my word, Lena Kennedy that’s a blast from the past! My Mum didn’t have M&B, but she and my Gran had shelves of Lena Kennedy and Catherine Cookson and I’d devour them from about age 9/10! Lily, My Lovely was my favourite and I still like a novel based in that era now. I’ve got LmL on my kindle!

The content was shockingly inappropriate for that age range in hindsight and as a Mum to a child that age I can’t believe they just let me at them. But they did, I’d read anything I thought was ‘grown up’ when I was little.