Next April 23rd International Book Day is celebrated and it is worth remembering some of the reasons why it is important to read novels.
While we are studying, it is common for our reading rate of novels to decrease. We relegate exciting fiction to the background or third place to get fully into the reading of essays and scientific articles, but on the occasion of the celebration of Book Day, we must remember why reading novels is so important.
Reading Novels Is Doing Mental Gymnastics
Few things train our gray matter as much as a novel; It turns out that reading a book exercises our brain and the effects last over time as this study on brain connectivity shows, in which brain scans were performed on a group of people before, during and after reading a novel. The results showed that the beneficial effects of reading were maintained long after finishing the book.
Increase Empathy
Reading fiction allows us to put ourselves in other people’s shoes, live other lives, and understand different behaviors and cultures. That is empathy. It is not about analyzing things from our perspective, but about doing it from that of another person who has experiences, emotions, and capacities different from ours. Reading novels develops this valuable ability and, therefore, readers are more understanding and better understand the emotions of others.
Power The Imagination
When a novel describes a place to us, we are able to visualize it almost as if it were in front of us, but reading not only allows us to “see” what is not there but also to feel it. A good description will make us feel the cold water of the sea on our feet, the warmth of a fireplace, the sensation of a chill that makes our hair stand on end… and the smells. There are few things as powerful (and surprising) as olfactory memory, but a good book can make us smell even things that we would not even want to imagine.
Patrick Süskind, in his famous novel Perfume, is able to make us situate ourselves in a place (Paris) and in a time (18th century) just by describing (disgusting) smells.
Elevate Creativity
Novels force us to draw conclusions in advance, thinking about how we think events will unfold, how it will end, who the murderer is… They make us constantly formulate hypotheses and that is a very creative and beneficial activity to train our brain, but, In addition, they also give us new ideas to solve problems, invent their own stories, etc.
Makeup Essays To Read
To get our university eTítulo we need to read a few (many) essays and scientific articles. It is true that there are exciting essays that reveal a completely new world of ideas, but, without wanting to diminish them in any way, they are like the serious and cantankerous brother of the novel. He is the practical, the introverted, the reflective. The novel, on the other hand, is emotion rather than thought. The perfect balance for every college student is to have as much of both as possible. Essay and novel must coexist to have the full experience.
Reading Novels Is Disconnecting From The World
If you think that the best way to forget about everything and take away the stress of everyday life is to watch a few episodes of your favorite series, we are sorry to tell you that you are wrong: if you really want to disconnect, read novels. It is the only way to mentally move to another place. A series tells us a story but it doesn’t really transport us. We are sitting on the sofa while the action happens on our TV. Our brain remains practically flat, without activity. Instead, when reading a novel we use different areas of the brain and form new neural connections. If you want true escape, there is nothing like a good book.
You may also be interested in A special selection of the 7 novels that we have enjoyed
