Why we read?
We read because reading benefits our body, inspires us to be better people, and expands our capabilities to be imaginative, creative and empathetic. A negative stigma about reading has developed in the current century: that reading is a mere pastime, that it is a taxing chore [or labour], and simply a hobby for the elderly or people with time on their hands. But reading is much more than this. In recent years, research into the benefits of reading has shown us that reading helps to improve focus, concentration and memory. But what many have known all along about reading is arguably more important than facts and figures: it is that reading helps us to discover and create ourselves. More than this, reading opens our minds to new concepts, therefore naturally building a more empathetic perspective
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It is when this first step is taken that the eyes of our mind open and we can begin to understand the tangible and intangible differences reading can make. We read because reading is a powerful healer, mending the wounds that cannot be reached through modern medicine. We read because it allows us to examine what morals, perspectives and values make up our being and inspires us to change our outlook if that is what we believe will make us better people. As the author and journalist Anna Quindlen said, “In books I have travelled, not only to other worlds, but into my own.” Finally, we read because reading opens our minds up to new concepts and expands our capabilities to be imaginative, creative and empathetic. Like turning the pages of a book, our minds turn over new ideas that before may have seem incomprehensible, some ideas to remember, others to be revisited or obliviously ignored. Does reading really make us better people? To adequately answer this, one must pick up a book to fully understand the wisdom, peacefulness and companionship a good book boundlessly