LilBambi 3,279 Report post Posted January 15, 2014 7 Unconventional Reasons Why You Absolutely Should Be Reading Books - HuffPost In a world of omnipresent screens, it can be easy to forget the simple pleasure of curling up with a good book. In fact, a recent HuffPost/YouGov poll of 1,000 U.S. adults found that 28 percent hadn't read one at all in the past year. But the truth is that reading books can be more than entertainment (or a high school English assignment). A study released earlier this month suggests that enjoying literature might help strengthen your "mind-reading" abilities. The research,published in the journal Science, showed that reading literary works (though, interestingly, not popular fiction) cultivates a skill known as "theory of mind," whichNPR describes as the "ability to 'read' the thoughts and feelings of others." And that's hardly the only way being a bookworm can boost your mind and well-being. Below, six more science-backed reasons to swap the remote for a novel. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
V.T. Eric Layton 6,015 Report post Posted January 15, 2014 Between each day's new NSA revelations and issues keeping my computers running, I'm about ready to just give it all up and go back to the simpler pre-Internet days of computer-free living. That'll give me a lot more time to read. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LilBambi 3,279 Report post Posted January 15, 2014 I don't think I would want to go that far. I want to be able to have access to it all! I would not want to go totally back to pre-Internet times, just as I wouldn't want to go back to pre-indoor plumbing. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
V.T. Eric Layton 6,015 Report post Posted January 15, 2014 I've thought about it at times. I believe I could manage just fine without a computer or the Internet. I'll stick around for a while longer, though. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sunrat 1,965 Report post Posted January 15, 2014 Reading a book is good to reduce stress/anxiety level. I highly recommend "Lost Horizon", by James Hilton or "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho. From http://www.harpercol...n=9780061122415 Every few decades a book is published that changes the lives of its readers forever. The Alchemist is such a book. It certainly touched me. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
V.T. Eric Layton 6,015 Report post Posted January 15, 2014 +1 for Lost Horizon. http://tuppence-times.tumblr.com/post/37508075113/lost-horizon-by-james-hilton Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LilBambi 3,279 Report post Posted January 16, 2014 The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and Lost Horizon by James Hilton are on my reading list. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
abarbarian 3,076 Report post Posted January 16, 2014 I'm halfway through this at the moment. And the Mountains Echoed is the third novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini. It is a very engrossing read. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
V.T. Eric Layton 6,015 Report post Posted January 16, 2014 Hmm... may have to have a looksee at that Alchemist fellow. OK... just put it on a hold at my local library. I'm 3rd on the list with 3 available copies in the system; shouldn't have to wait too long. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sunrat 1,965 Report post Posted January 18, 2014 I'm halfway through this at the moment. And the Mountains Echoed is the third novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini. It is a very engrossing read. Might have to read that one. His first novel, The Kite Runner was excellent; the movie was OK too. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Webb 423 Report post Posted January 18, 2014 Just take a year off and read some novels written by the greatest English novelist ever. Pickwick Papers Oliver Twist Nicholas Nickleby David Copperfield Bleak House Hard Times A Tale of Two Cities — my personal favorite as the greatest novel ever written Great Expectations Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
V.T. Eric Layton 6,015 Report post Posted January 19, 2014 Just take a year off and read some novels written by the greatest English novelist ever. Pickwick Papers Oliver Twist Nicholas Nickleby David Copperfield Bleak House Hard Times A Tale of Two Cities — my personal favorite as the greatest novel ever written Great Expectations I've read them all... and occasionally read them again from time to time. Greatest English novelist? Myeh... matter of opinion. Great, yes. Greatest, I dunno' about that. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sunrat 1,965 Report post Posted January 19, 2014 Speaking of books, anyone want to buy a $23,698,655.93 book about flies? http://www.michaeleisen.org/blog/?p=358 Also Money for nothing Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
V.T. Eric Layton 6,015 Report post Posted January 19, 2014 I can get it used for $35. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Temmu 1,929 Report post Posted January 20, 2014 the difference between books (not public school texts) and the internet is: books have editors and sources cited. the vast majority of what is on the internet is worse than useless. anyone can write anything (wikipedia, for example) and people gobble it up believing it to be factual, truth. encyclopedias are no longer published, er, printed. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
V.T. Eric Layton 6,015 Report post Posted January 20, 2014 I saw it on the Internet. It's gotta' be true! Americans are so gullible. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sunrat 1,965 Report post Posted January 21, 2014 I saw it on the Internet. It's gotta' be true! "You can never be sure if quotes on the internet are genuine." - Benjamin Franklin Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
V.T. Eric Layton 6,015 Report post Posted January 21, 2014 To hack or not to hack that is the dns query. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
amenditman 891 Report post Posted January 21, 2014 Just take a year off and read some novels written by the greatest English novelist ever. Pickwick Papers Oliver Twist Nicholas Nickleby David Copperfield Bleak House Hard Times A Tale of Two Cities — my personal favorite as the greatest novel ever written Great Expectations I liked all of those, but I would need a lot more than a year off to read them all in succession. Don't think that I could stomach that much Dickens in one marathon read. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
V.T. Eric Layton 6,015 Report post Posted January 21, 2014 No. Reading any author one after another is actually a negative reading experience for me. The author's habits and idiosyncrasies that are entertaining in one book become boring, expected drudgery when you read many consecutive books by an author in a short time period. I can do two max. After that, I have to take a break and read something from someone else. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Webb 423 Report post Posted January 21, 2014 You could alternate reading a Dickens novel, then a Vonnegut novel, then a Dickens novel, then a Vonnegut novel ... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
amenditman 891 Report post Posted January 21, 2014 You could alternate reading a Dickens novel, then a Vonnegut novel, then a Dickens novel, then a Vonnegut novel ... Kill me now! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Webb 423 Report post Posted January 21, 2014 OK, throw in a Clancy novel every now and then. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
amenditman 891 Report post Posted January 21, 2014 OK, throw in a Clancy novel every now and then. From bad to worse!Give me some Asimov, just not the entire Foundation series all at once. Give me some classic A. C. Clarke, HAL, for the love of God. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
V.T. Eric Layton 6,015 Report post Posted January 21, 2014 I have alternated Dickens and his friend Wilkie Collins before. That was interesting. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
