How to Read More Books – Benefits of Reading

For some people, there’s no greater pleasure than settling into a comfortable chair, cracking open the stiff spine of a new book, and diving headlong into a different world. Books open up infinite possibilities and pleasure, but sadly, reading is a pastime that fewer people are engaging in.
If you’re like a large percentage of Americans, you haven’t picked up a book at all this year, and it’s even likelier that if you did, you didn’t finish it. Poll results released by the Associated Press and Ipsos show that one in four Americans don’t read books at all, and half of Americans read less than four each year.
Although the drop in time spent reading is sad, what’s sadder is our declining ability to read. According to Oxford Journals, the average reading ability of Americans hovers around the eighth or ninth grade level, and the UN Chronicle reports that up to 25 million citizens can’t read or write at all. The United States ranks 21st in the world for literacy. Number one in terms of nationwide literacy? Cuba. What’s even scarier is that according to a report published by Renaissance Learning, the average reading ability of our high school graduates is at a fifth grade level.

The Benefits of Reading

In today’s hectic world, picking up a book might seem like it’s not worth the time. However, reading offers countless benefits:

1. Reading Uses Your Brain
The average American spends five and a half hours every day watching TV. While television can be entertaining, it does little for your brain or for your body. You actually burn more calories reading a book than you do watching TV. Reading is an active mental process: you think more, use your imagination, and you increase your knowledge.
2. Reading Expands Your Worldview
I’ve never actually walked through a dusty village in Mali. I wasn’t born into life of a Plains Indian in the 1800s. And, I’ve never trudged along the rainy, dark streets of Paris with a hungry belly and nothing in my pocket except a notebook and a blunt pencil to write my next story. However, I’ve experienced all these things through the magic and mystery of books.
Books allow you to experience other people, other places, and other cultures that you might never be exposed to in regular life. This helps you develop compassion for suffering, empathy for those different than you, and an open mind.
3. Books Build Focus
When you read a magazine, you jump from pictures to captions to story, page after page. When you read a website, you’re constantly distracted by moving ads and links urging you on to the next site or story. While any reading is beneficial, books help you develop the ability to focus and concentrate because there is no distraction – there is only the story. Furthermore, reading helps improve your memory.
4. Reading Makes You Interesting
The world’s brightest, most creative minds have written millions of books, sharing their wisdom, all of which are just waiting for you to pick up and discover. The more you read, the more you have to talk about with colleagues, friends, dates, your spouse or partner, and complete strangers. Reading gives you a rich store of knowledge, ideas, and experiences that you can then share with others.
5. Reading Helps You Learn
I taught myself how to start a business by reading books. I’ve learned about yoga, Buddhism, American history, mythology, and many other fascinating subjects through reading. Reading is a very cheap way to learn new skills and concepts. Instead of attending a class and paying overpriced tuition, or instead of wishing you knew how to build a blog or program software, teach yourself through books. Reading empowers you to take responsibility for your education, no matter how young or old you are.

External links:
http://www.moneycrashers.com/read-more-books-benefits/