The Importance of Reading Books

Written on August 17, 2018

Reading book is the first step to expand your mind and change the way you live. You will be pleasantly surprised to find out that reading has numerous positive effects on your emotional, intellectual and psychological state of mind. There is much proven scientific research about the benefits of reading books from different kinds of study. Nevertheless, books are frequently neglected.

In 2016, a Central Connecticut State University study put Indonesia’s literacy rate at the second worst among the world's 61 most literate nations, only higher than Botswana. Why are we in this miserable literacy rank? Generally, there are two reasons. Firstly, a lack of opportunity to read. Let’s take a look at the data. In 147,503 primary schools, we only have 28,137 libraries in good condition, that’s only 31%. In addition, the number of bookstores is also much lower compared to the vastness of the country. Therefore, how would people develop some reading interest if access to books is limited?

Secondly, which in my opinion is more important, some of the people don’t use the access wisely. These people live in big cities, have a huge amount access to books and internet access, and yet they lack of reading interest. Neglecting this opportunity would close their minds to the world and shrink their knowledge. And most importantly, they ignore the importance of reading books. Here’s why reading books is important.

1.      Reading makes you smarter

Diving into a good book opens up a whole world of knowledge starting from a very young age.  There is a lot to discover when you read, whether you are reading fiction or non-fiction, fantasy, historical, biography, sci-fi, or even romance. Explicitly, reading gives you a glimpse into places and culture, history, people – and even better – language. Surprisingly, reading fiction can make your emotional intelligence better. Because the same psychological processes are used to navigate fiction and real relationships.

2.      Improves memory

This thing is related to brain connectivity. For instance, when we read silently in our mind we make only visual connection and whenever we read loudly we don’t only make a visual connection but also make an audio connection. Likewise, both of the techniques work more effectively when you practice to read more.

3.      Improves concentration and focus

Simply by reading the book that you find the most intriguing is one thing that you can do to increase your concentration ability and reading interest in general. In other words, reading something fascinating makes you curious. Thus, being curious sparks our concentration and focus.

4.      Boosts creativity and imagination

Lastly, reading engages your imagination and forces you to think and fantasize. It’s basically exercise for your brain. Visualizing and understanding more complex stories is beneficial in helping you develop creativity and clarity. Additionally, in reading, you have to comprehend ideas and reasoning, and like any exercise, the more you train the better you will get. It is absolutely better than TV that only serves images and videos that often doesn’t require the audience to think and imagine.

Developing steady reading habit is crucial to get these advantages altogether. How can you benefit from reading in today’s times when most of the people are only busy with their phones and social media? It sounds very hard. But, don’t worry. There is a solution to get the benefits of reading without letting go of your gadget. Utilize your phone! Start listening to audiobooks, it provides pretty much everything as reading. Also, you can download E-Books and read it anywhere.

Reading offers you amazing life-changing benefits and there is no denial about that. Reading books is indeed a shortcut to obtaining knowledge. It requires patience, diligence, and determination. Even an author Derek Beres said that reading is a great way to practice being human. Let’s flip through those books and conquer the world of knowledge.

REFERENCES AND RESOURCES

The Jakarta Post: As illiteracy rate lowers, RI struggles with reading habits

Book Riot: Books and The Brain

The New Yorker: Do Teens Read Seriously Anymore?