Anyone who knows me very well knows that I really enjoy reading. I also know many people who are vehemently against reading. However, what people might not know is that I can get easily distracted just like everyone else, so I can not get get around to reading on some days. Some days I’ll even think about reading, but I just have no desire to do so. It is on these days that I have to remember that reading just like anything else is a habit, and one that can easily be lost if we routinely allow other distractions to creep in so that we go several days without reading.

On these days I know that I don’t have to read much, I just have to open a book and read one sentence. Yes, that’s it. Only one sentence and I can put the book away. Many times I come to the end of the day and realize that I haven’t read like I wanted to. On these days I will read one sentence, and I can still go to bed proud of the fact that I accomplished my goal of reading even if it was only a tiny amount.

Whether you are an adamant reader, or if you would rather gouge your eyes out than open a book, I have put together a list of reasons why I think reading is important. I have included fifteen reasons as to why reading is important, though there are plenty more reasons that I have not included.

1 Reading can be fun

I am going to start with probably the most controversial on this list in saying that reading can be fun. I know people on both sides of this debate. Those who enjoy a good book, and those who would probably like it if books had never been invented in the first place. To those who enjoy reading, I don’t need to tell you about how wonderful it is to curl up with a good book and escape into the text for hours at a time.

For my non-readers, first of all, I am sorry that you have yet to enjoy this hobby, but there is still hope for you. Maybe you were first introduced to reading in school, and it aggravated you to no end when your English teacher made you go through books you didn’t want to read, and then you had to either discuss or right a paper about it describing why the author was describing things a certain way such as “Why was the door blue?” I completely sympathize with you as I believe that this is one of the fastest ways to ensure that someone never picks up a book once they graduate from school.

How dreadful is that. The teachers who should be the ones who are trying to help us fall in love with reading are often the ones who are pushing people the furthest away. I definitely agree with many of you who can’t for the life of it figure out why the door was blue. Was the author sad, or was he just outside looking at the blue sky and thought it would be nice to have a door that was blue. I agree that sometimes there can be a deeper meaning in a text, but forcing students to go through the process of trying to discover what a writer was trying to mean when it could be completely arbitrary can make reading completely undesirable.

In his book, Field of Farmers, Joel Salatin describes how at one point when he was in college he got a bunch of the faculty at his college together to have them read some high brow literature. What the faculty didn’t know is that he and his friends had slipped several of their own writings into the pile and they were astounded when they heard the things these professors said were the hidden meanings while Joel and his friends knew there was absolutely no hidden meaning in anything they had written. This is just one example of how sometimes we can read too much into something when there really isn’t anything there at all.

Now that I have sympathized with the non-readers, I hope that you will be willing to pick up a book again and read. This time you don’t have to worry about writing a paper about it, or extracting some kind of hidden meaning from it. All you have to do is read the book, and see if you can’t find more enjoyment out of it when there is no other pressure on you to read it.

2 Reading allows you to see new ideas

One of the great things about reading is that in a fairly short amount of time you can introduced to a wide variety of new ideas. Basically anything you can imagine wanting to learn about, there’s a book that exists on the topic that you can read. Regardless of the topic, if you read even one book about a topic, you will know more about that topic than most people who have never read a book on that topic. Obviously you wont be an expert from only reading one book, but you will have knowledge that you didn’t have before.

3 Better Vocabulary

Due to the fact that every author has had a different life experience, it is understandable that many would have different vocabularies. When we read we can be exposed to these differences in vocabulary which will in turn affect our own vocabularies. This can help us to become better speakers, better communicators and better writers. Regardless of what job you have being able to communicate is a necessary skill, and many jobs require giving speeches or presentations or doing some form of writing.

By taking the time to read more you can up your vocabulary which will then allow you to stand out. I am not proposing that you use big words superfluously (case in point), but knowing which word fits best in a situation can really make a difference. Communication is about making sure that the other person involved understands you, so using big words just for the sake of using big words doesn’t necessarily help you communicate because there is more of a chance that the other person doesn’t know what you are talking about. Sometimes though, knowing the right word can make all the difference. An example of this would be in Electrical Engineering. If you try to understand the basics of electricity, but you didn’t know the basics such as the definitions of voltage and current, then it would be very difficult to get a deeper knowledge of the subject, but once you learn the basic vocabulary then it becomes easier to understand the more difficult concepts.

4 Mentally Stimulating

Some people think that reading is incredibly boring, but it can actually be very mentally stimulating. According to research done by the Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation, reading and other mentally stimulating activities can help with memory.

The researchers found that people who participated in mentally challenging activities most often, both early and late in life, had a slower rate of decline in memory compared to those who did not engage in such activities.

Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation

If something like reading can help prevent Alzheimer’s then why wouldn’t we want to do it. It seems to me that it would be in our best interest to try to keep our brains healthy and in good working order so that we can still enjoy our memories even as we get older.

5 Conversation Starter

When meeting new people, this is often of the go-to questions that I like to use. “What books have you read recently?” I will then usually get one of two responses: “Oh, I don’t read” or the other person will explain what book he is reading. If it is a book that I have read or at least heard about then I can comment on what I have heard about it and we can develop a conversation fairly quickly. For me this conversation can last a while as we go back and forth talking about the books that we like, why we like them, and what we are planning on reading next.

If I get the “Oh, I don’t read” answer or something along the same vein I can ask what they do like to do with their free time. This helps people really open up because almost everyone enjoys talking about themselves and the things that they like doing. When I start with the what do you like to do question few people say they enjoy reading, and I find it more difficult to keep the conversation going.

Just yesterday I was talking with a co-worker, and I was able to bring up what I was learning in one of the books that I was reading, and he said that he had heard about this idea, and we were able to discuss the book for a while. We never would have gotten to this topic if I hadn’t been reading a book on the topic.

6 Encourages Creativity

When reading a work of fiction, it is often important to figure out how everything in the creative world fits together. If you have never seen the movies of that were created from a book, and you decide to read the book first like a sane person, then you will see that it can be a bit of a challenge at times to develop a mental picture of what things look like, but a good author will make it very easy to at least get an idea of what things look like in the world.

Creativity is a skill that can be honed over time, and by reading, especially fiction you can develop this muscle and you will find that you are becoming more creative over time. This will also help when telling stories because one good way to get better at telling stories is by reading more stories. Many professional speakers say that the best way to engage the audience is by telling stories. The audience doesn’t want to hear just some story that is told in thirty seconds about how you went to the store and bought something. If instead you can put in the parts of the story about how you noticed someone with an incredible hat, or if someone fell, or if it was yourself who made a very normal situation very awkward very quickly, then these are all things that can be added to the story to help make the story come to life and you will better be able to engage your audience.

Additionally reading requires creativity because as your book collection increases, you have to become creative in where you are going to keep all of your books.

7 A big bookshelf is impressive

To piggy back off this last one a bit, if you are lucky enough to have large bookshelves and to have them all filled then it can be very impressive. I’m not saying that you have to get into reading just to show off with how many books you have, but if you do have a bookshelf, then you will definitely earn the respect of your friends who are readers.

This is a bit of a double-edged sword though because if you haven’t read any of the books on the bookshelf then it looks like you are only trying to show off. A large collection of books usually takes time to put together unless you happen to be rich enough that you can just fill a bookshelf because let’s face it, individual books aren’t that expensive. However, when you start buying a bunch of books at a time then you can be left facing a fairly expensive bill.

8 You could meet new people

Depending on your style and what you like to do, you might find that reading gives you the chance to meet new people. Some fairly popular ways you could see this playing out are through book clubs or book signings. This gives you the opportunity to meet with others who have a similar interest as you. Even if you don’t like some of the books that are recommended to you from book club, you still have increased the range of the books that you would read and you have met new friends along the way. Plus many book clubs have snacks, so even if you don’t like reading, it is but a small price to pay for snacks.

Out of the options I am listing in this section, book clubs are one that I am the most familiar with as I have never been to a book signing, but I can only imagine that if you are going to a book signing it is because you like the work of a particular author. This follows for everyone else there, and while you are waiting in line you can strike up a conversation with someone else in line since you both have at least two things in common. You like reading, and you like the work of the same author. Wow, look at that, you are ready to start a conversation.

Another realm where I don’t have experience, but can see that there would be the possibility of making new friends is Comic-Con. Here you will find many who like reading comic books. Notice? They’re comic BOOKs. So if you only like reading comic books then you still like reading, and you can still get many of the same benefits of reading from them. At these events you will find people who put lots of time and money into creating costumes that represent the different characters from the books. How cool is this. Not only do you get to have a big party with a bunch of other people who like the same things you do, but often there are speakers who give presentations or answer questions. Even though reading tends to be a solitary event, at something like Comic-Con people from all walks of life can come together and celebrate the things they enjoy.

9 You can read alone

On the other side of the coin is the fact that reading is something that is often done as a solitary event and can be very beneficial in allowing you to wind down after a long day. Get home from work, kick off your shoes, maybe eat a couple of bites and then snuggle up with a good book and forget about everything else until time for bed. Why would I say this is beneficial if I just said that it could be a way to meet new people? We all need time to recharge after a long day, and for us introverts at least we need to find a way that doesn’t require a lot of people around us.

If there’s an activity that can be done that doesn’t require other people, is still entertaining, gives you the opportunity to learn something new, and encourages creativity, then this could be a good hobby to develop. Also, unlike other hobbies such as playing an instrument, you don’t have to worry about making a lot of noise that could offend the neighbors.

10 You can learn from the experiences of the characters

“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.”

Eleanor Roosevelt

We have all heard this quote before that we should learn from someone else’s mistakes so that we don’t have to make them all ourselves. There are some people who actually do learn from other people’s mistakes and they can move on fairly quickly because they are learning. Other people refuse to learn from the mistakes of others insisting that they make all of the mistakes themselves. This keeps punching them in the face and they keep falling and wondering why all of the bad things always happen to them.

Obviously there is no way that we can learn from all of the mistakes that have ever been made, but we can learn from a lot of them. Often in books the different characters have to go through personal challenges. Sometimes they handle them well, and sometimes they handle them terribly. In both cases there is a lot that can be learned from how these characters react and respond. In reading you can see how these decisions play out, and no, they won’t play out exactly like they would in real life, but there is a lot of truth even in fiction. If the characters didn’t seem at least believable then there wouldn’t be much of an interest in the story. In fiction, it is the characters that make the story, not the setting or what kind of monsters there are, but people enjoy being able to connect with a character and see what is going to happen.

11 Could help with sleep*

By now all of us have heard about the fact that we should limit the amount of screen time if we want to go to sleep. By picking up a book and making it part of a night time routine, you can get away from your screens earlier and dive into a book that won’t have the same negative effects of the screen. Also, if you are like many people I know (my dad and my grandpa) even reading a few pages of a book will put you right to sleep. I know many times in school the required readings would do that to me as well.

*There is also the very real chance that once you start reading you will get caught up into the just one more page…no, just one more chapter… oops I finished the book and it’s 3 am trap. If this happens to you it is because you realize that reading can be fun as listed in the first benefit of reading.

12 You can learn more about a topic

Unless you are the subject matter expert about a given topic, there is always something more that you can learn about a topic. If you are the subject matter expert on something, there’s a good chance that you still want to learn about something else. Regardless of your motivation to learn, books are a great way to help you increase your knowledge on a subject. I believe life-long learning to be very important, and taking the opportunity to continue to learn can be very beneficial.

I personally enjoy going to books when I am trying to learn about something because the information is often presented in a very logical way and I don’t have to try to figure out what I don’t know. When jumping into a new topic it is hard to know what you don’t know, so having a book that clearly lays out a path forward can be very beneficial. You can often also find a list of books used in the development of the current book you are reading if you want to dig a little deeper.

13 There are more books than movies

Millions of people enjoyed the Harry Potter books, and still many enjoy the movies. This is true with many book series that eventually get made into movies. If a book can get enough traction then it can be made into a movie, but what about all of the other books that don’t get the same traction? When do they get turned into movies? Probably never. Does this mean that these are worse books, no, it just means that they didn’t get the same publicity that other books do.

If you limit yourself to only watching movies, or even only reading books that are being turned into movies so that you can say you read the book before watching the movie then you are severely limiting yourself to the books that you could enjoy. Think of your favorite ice cream. Even if there are very few people who like the same flavor that you do does that mean that you will stop eating the ice cream? Of course not. You know what you like, and if you can get exactly what flavor you want, why would you not get what you want.

The same is true with books. There are so many different options out there on what kind of books to read. If you like dinosaurs and space travel, there are books out there exactly for you. Or if you want something about flowers and mysteries then these books exist as well. Almost anything you can think of there’s something for you. You are no longer trapped by the limited number of movies, but you can find something in the very vast expanse of books that will satisfy that specific itch.

14 You can help your children become readers

A lot of people say they would like to be readers, but they just don’t have time. Talk to teachers, and they will tell you that it is very important to read with your children so they can develop a love for reading and jumpstart them on their path of life-long learning. As we know, children learn best from copying what they see in the world around them. Therefore, if you want your children to become readers it would be beneficial if you are a reader and show them what reading can be like.

15 Easy hobby to get into

Many hobbies require specific equipment that can often become very expensive if you are to enjoy the hobby. Not so with reading. You don’t have to have any special equipment. If you want to read physical copies of books you can look around your house, go to the library or a bookstore. If none of these suit your fancy, then you can ask a friend if they have a book you can borrow. This way you will know the book comes with a recommendation, and as long as you return it it doesn’t cost you anything. There are plenty of ways that you can find books to read.

If physical books aren’t your thing then there are plenty of eBooks that exist and you don’t even need special equipment to read them. If you have a smart phone, tablet or even a computer you have access to the Kindle library, and you can do your reading from any of these and they will sync with other devices you have registered with the same account. Don’t want to buy Kindle books, there are many that are free, and if you still don’t want to go this route you can use Project Gutenberg a website and app that specializes in free eBooks, hosting over 60,000 on their website.

If you still aren’t happy with either of these options, you do still have the option to go the audio book route. This allows you to listen to books while you are going about your day. Oftentimes these audiobooks are narrated by lively people who desire to make the books fun. Still sometimes it can be a whole cast of people involved in the reading, these plus added sound effects can really make the stories come to life. If you are interested in audio books, Audible is the go to name in the business though there are several other services that exist.

Conclusion

Hopefully by now you can see that there actually are some benefits of getting into reading. Even if you have never been a reader before, or you thought you hated it coming from school, I recommend thinking of a topic that you would enjoy reading about and then finding a book about the subject that you are interested in. You won’t get as much out of a book that you don’t want to read because reading is supposed to be fun.

It doesn’t even have to be a traditional book either. Get whatever you like whether that is comic books, graphic novels, fantasy, romance, or if you want to get technical and learn how to program your computer. You can find whatever you are looking for. Reading is supposed to be fun, so get out there and start reading.