What does reading books give a person? Essay on the topic: Reading - what it gives a person What literature gives us

Why our future depends on libraries, reading and imagination

A great article by writer Neil Gaiman about the nature and benefits of reading. This is not just a vague reflection, but a very clear and consistent proof of seemingly obvious things.

If you have math friends who ask you why read fiction, give them this text. If you have friends who convince you that soon all books will become electronic, give them this text. If you remember trips to the library with fondness (or vice versa with horror), read this text. If you have growing children, read this text with them, and if you are just thinking about what and how to read with children, even more so, read this text.

It is important for people to explain which side they are on.. A kind of declaration of interests.

So, I'm going to talk to you about reading and how reading fiction and reading for pleasure is one of the most important things in a person's life.

And I'm obviously very biased, because I'm a writer, a writer of literary texts. I write for both children and adults. I've been making my living through words for about 30 years now, mostly by creating things and writing them down. Of course, I am interested in people reading, in people reading fiction, in having libraries and librarians to promote the love of reading and the existence of places where one can read. So I'm biased like writer. But I'm much more biased as reader.

About the benefits of reading. Social video

Nikolay Grigoriev: National security and the benefits of reading

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Many people ask the question: what will reading this book give me? Why should I read it? After all, this is only a book, but life is life. In life, everything is different. In fact, reading smart books gives a lot. School and university provide only basic training, the basics of knowledge. And often not about what a person needs to be effective and successful in life. In the modern world, a world of high competition not only between companies or states, but also between people for a place in the sun, it is necessary to be a body ahead of your neighbor in life. Just to keep up with life, and even more so to succeed, knowledge must be replenished regularly and in a wide range. Friends, colleagues, the Internet - these are the sources of information for the modern average person. But these sources, let’s say, are not competent enough. The information that comes from them is, as a rule, scattered, unorganized and often represents information garbage. To get useful structured information you just need to read books! The book is the result of the work of many people, each of whom is a professional in their field. This is the author or authors who share their professional knowledge, editors, designers, illustrators and other specialists who make the book not only rich in useful information, but also “readable”. Unlike the Internet, where every day many people post a lot of their own or other people’s nonsense, the book is the result of the work of many professionals. Each book, before reaching its reader, goes through several “filters”. After all, in order to publish a book, you need to find a publishing house that will consider it appropriate to print it. As a result, at least some part (and this is the majority) of so-called “crazy” and/or unreadable books are eliminated at an early stage. We are spared from reading various literary garbage. So what are the benefits of reading books? Again, it is obvious that books provide knowledge. Sufficiently structured, ordered knowledge. Knowledge that you were not given in educational institutions. Knowledge that you lack to solve your life problems. Smart books make you think. After reading some books I want to exclaim: This is it! In the book you can find information that will make you think about things you never even thought about. One single thought in one single book can change your entire life. What else does reading books give? Books often describe examples on the basis of which you can understand your own situation. Case-based learning is a very popular form of teaching in business education. A case is a certain complex situation, a real example or a virtual one, most often ambiguous, which requires resolution. Having worked through a significant number of such standard, or not so standard, situations, one develops the skill of solving complex real problems. And finally, the important role of books is that they inspire and motivate us. They motivate to improve, self-development and achieve better results. After all, someone was able to achieve everything they wanted and overcame their shortcomings. What, I can’t do it?

How often do you read books? Most people read about 1,000 books in their lifetime, but there are also those who don't read them at all. Statistics say that only 55% of Russians and 51% of Ukrainians read at least 1 book in 2017. An interesting fact: according to the results of a survey in the Russian Federation, it turned out that people from villages read the most (6-7 books on average), and residents of Moscow and St. Petersburg read the least (5 books on average).

Why read books

A person reading can be seen a mile away. He is comprehensively developed and intelligent, while being an excellent conversationalist. In life, it is much easier for such people to cope with difficulties and achieve their goals.

Finally, almost all successful individuals devote a significant portion of their time to reading. Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Pavel Durov - they all read at least 50 books annually and encourage people to do the same in their public speeches and interviews. But are books really as useful as is commonly believed?

How books make us smarter

“Knowledge is power,” each of us is told from early childhood, but this statement is not entirely true. Knowledge is only potential power, which is worthless until it is put into practice. This fact explains that out of millions of book lovers, only a few manage to achieve any significant heights. Unused knowledge is useless, and only actions bring results.

Types of reading

However, books provide more than just a collection of facts. There are several types of reading.

• Studying. Reading slowly with the goal of fully studying and understanding what is written. This implies the application of the acquired knowledge in the future. In this way, the most important literature or its individual fragments are read.

• Introductory. This is how fiction is most often read. The reader gets acquainted with the main content of the text and the author's argumentation. The degree of understanding of information is about 70%.

• Viewable. The reader quickly scans the text to determine whether it contains the necessary information, and then decides to study what is written in more depth.

• Search engine. The reader is looking for specific information without reading the entire text. The fragment in which the necessary data was found is studied in detail.

The benefits of search and browsing reading are limited to quickly obtaining the necessary data. Studying and introductory reading is much more productive in this regard. A person does not just receive dry facts, but also uses the analytical and creative parts of the brain.

Benefits of reading books

• Books make people happier. Scientists from the University of Liverpool came to this conclusion. Based on a survey of 4,000 people, it was found that people who read suffer less from depression, cope with problems more easily and have higher self-esteem.

• Books protect memory. The fact was established by researchers from the American Academy of Neurology. The experiment involved 294 people approximately 6 years before their death. It turned out that reading can slow down the rate of memory decline as we age by more than 32%.

• Reading increases intelligence. Scientists from King's College London and the University of Edinburgh followed 1,890 pairs of twins for about 9 years. During the experiment, it was found that there is a clear relationship between reading skills and the cognitive capabilities of the subjects. In other words, the more a person reads, the better he is developed as a person.

These changes are possible only during exploratory and introductory reading, when the reader is immersed in a kind of trance, left alone with his mind. This mental state most often occurs when a person reads something very interesting for some time. The outside world disappears, and in its place come vivid images created by the imagination based on what has been read. This means that the brain is focused only on the book and is actively developing, using both hemispheres.

Based on this, it is difficult to divide books into “useful” and “useless”. After all, in themselves they are only a bunch of information, and personal growth occurs mainly due to the reading process itself. Thus, when studying fiction, the right, creative hemisphere of the brain will work and learn more actively, and when studying non-fiction, the left, analytical hemisphere will work more actively.

How to read books correctly: effective reading

1. Set a goal. The benefits of reading will be maximum only if it has a clear purpose. For example, if you urgently need to find important information, it makes sense to use the browsing or introductory reading method, and study the useful fragment more deeply. If you hope to learn something in detail with the help of a book, the learning method is suitable.

2. Choose a good book. Reading everything is a bad idea. Choose only high-quality literature. Read reviews and reviews, carefully review the content. Do not start reading until you are sure that the book contains exactly what you are looking for.

3. Read in short sessions. What is read “in one gulp” is poorly remembered. If you are going to read a book in a study or introductory way (in its entirety), divide the process over several days or even weeks. Non-fiction is best read in the morning, when the brain is alert and open to new knowledge, while fiction is more suitable for evening sessions.

4. Write down what you read. When reading specialized literature, write down the most important points. This way you will remember them much better and will be able to quickly find them if necessary.

5. Give up perfectionism. Don’t read simply because “it’s a pity to quit.” If the book is of no use to you, there is no point. Leave her alone and study the literature you really need. It doesn’t matter how much you read if you don’t remember or learn anything.

6. Read regularly. Train yourself to read daily and soon you will notice how your life will begin to change for the better. You will become more confident, smarter, wittier, more sociable, and the difficulties on your life’s path will no longer frighten you.

Just imagine that you can learn absolutely any skill, communicate with great people who died thousands of years ago, learn almost any fact known to mankind. Whatever your question, the answer is contained in books, since many hundreds of people have asked it before you. In a word, in the battle on life’s fronts, books are the best weapon. Arm yourself!

A person receives most of all information through reading. Of course, this is not only reading books or newspapers, but, for example, news on the Internet, updates on a social network, or even SMS.

Thanks to reading, a person learns the news, reads letters, can read the name of a store, a prescription for a medicine, an instruction manual for a device, a name on an election ballot, and much, much more. Without the ability to read, a person becomes helpless. Reading allows a person to live fully.

Books are probably the most important component of reading, because it is in books that we gain the life experience that will be useful to us in life. In books, we can live someone else’s life, analyze it for mistakes or, conversely, brilliant decisions. In the future, we will be able to use this knowledge in our lives.

Of course, it is advisable to read interesting and informative books. I can recommend my favorite books. They are more suitable for teenage boys. These are: “The Martian Chronicles”, Ray Bradbury, “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain”, Jules Verne, “The Three Musketeers”, Alexandre Dumas, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn”, Mark Twain, “White Fang”, Jack London, “Robinson Crusoe” , Daniel Dafoe, “Divergent”, Veronica Roth, “The Maze Runner”, James Dashner and “Gentlemen and Players”, Joanne Harris.

For girls, the list of books is as follows (my sister and her friends helped me compile it): “The Lovely Bones”, Ellis Sebold, “The Hunger Games”, Suzanne Collins, “Twilight”, Stephenie Meyers, “Pride and Prejudice”, Jane Austen, “ Eat, Pray, Love”, Elizabeth Gilbert, “Jane Eyre”, Charlotte Brontë, “The 100”, Cass Morgan, “My Best Enemy”, Eli Frey and “Scarlet Sails”, Alexander Greene.

Of course, this is a very small list, but if you want to immerse yourself in the magical world of reading, then for starters, this is very cool, in my opinion.

When there are some unresolved problems, or you just want to relax and get a charge of pleasant emotions, a person takes a book and starts reading.

The reader begins to “immerse” more and more in the story if it is written in a talented and interesting way. It’s as if he’s really swimming in a huge boat, with round portholes from floor to ceiling, and huge sperm whales are frolicking in the thick water, permeated by the sun’s rays.

While reading a book, you can “merge” into one with the hero of the book, who unexpectedly discovered paranormal abilities in himself and began to travel into the unknown. Reading the book, you can doubt whether the world in which you live is so real.

Experience and self-development

You gain experience by reading books. And the more you resemble the hero of the book, the more clearly his mistakes and achievements are remembered. In real life, you involuntarily begin to structure your own behavior in such a way as to prevent the mistakes that he made.

A good book is like a kind and intelligent interlocutor. In the process of reading, you seem to communicate and consult. What do the characters in the book do? Why? You begin to think about what you yourself would do in the situations described. You grow by trying to figure out what could be done. The more a book involves you in the process of thinking about different situations, the more it helps you understand the reasons for your own behavior.

Books give knowledge. There are cases when people sentenced to many years in prison began to read constantly, and with the help of books alone they learned foreign languages, or became outstanding scientists.

Forgiving yourself

A good book also helps you forgive yourself. You see that the hero of the book is doing the wrong thing. He also sometimes “stumbles”, just like you in life. But from the plot of the story it is clear that the character you sympathize with is a very good person, he is sincerely trying to correct mistakes. And therefore you forgive him. And by forgiving, you “forgive” your own sins. At least stop constantly judging yourself for them. Become kinder and more humane, more compassionate towards others.

Joy and happiness

By empathizing with the characters of the book, the reader is emotionally involved in the plot. When a happy ending comes, he experiences a feeling of relief and happiness. And for some time he receives psychological relief and peace of mind.