I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve gotten into conversation with friends who are maths and science buffs or friends who are heavily involved in buinsess who proclaim loud and clear that they have no time to read novels. Fiction they say is a waste of time. If time is to be spent reading, they say, it will be magazine or newspaper articles that have facts and figures relevant to their field or reports, findings or other factual based articles that feed into their job. Spending hours wading through a novel is not for them.
So when I came across an article: The business case for reading novels on Bloomberg, I was really pleased to read Anne Kreamer‘s comments about data collected by academic researchers “indicating that fiction-reading activates neuronal pathways in the brain that measurably help the reader better understand real human emotion — improving his or her overall social skillfulness”. In other words, reading provides the reader with opportunities to consider the feelings and emotions of characters they are reading about and to then transfer this understanding into their everyday business interactions. And as Kreamers says, ” ….. to understand others’ points of view — to be empathetic — is essential in any collaborative enterprise.” She concludes:
It’s when we read fiction that we have the time and opportunity to think deeply about the feelings of others, really imagining the shape and flavor of alternate worlds of experience.”
It is without a doubt that reading gives us so much more than a good story, an exposure to a world that we may not otherwise explore. Giving us an insight into the thoughts and emotions of others is just another response to the question: Why read?
I think this is my number 1 reason to read. The ability to be empathetic is so important in all our relationships and it would be hard to understand a full range of emotions if we had not experienced them. I grew up in a very happy and well balanced family. To understand misery, distress, fear, etc etc etc would have been almost impossible for me without the wonderful world of books. Living vicariously through the eyes of others, hearing their inner thoughts is almost like a privilege. I think it is this that actually is the tool or mechanism that makes us suspend disbelief and be transported to another world for a short while. If the character’s emotions seem real and coherent we believe them and off we go with them wherever they go both physically and emotionally.
Thank you to all those books I’ve read, I’m a better person because of it and all my relationships are richer and deeper too.
I totally agree with you Heather. You’ve said so well exactly what I think. The joy, the knowledge, the awareness and the experience I’ve been able to gain from reading is overwhelming in its breadth, depth and quantity. Being able to inspire students with this insight, about the value of reading and all that they can gain from it, is indeed a driving motivation for me each and every time I engage with them.
Thanks so much for your contributioh here.