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Short Essay on Benefits of Reading

Essay on Benefits of Reading (1300 Words)

Reading helps our minds grow in ways that we can’t be taught in school or at home. No one is born with an innate love of reading, but everyone has the capacity for literacy, reading, and writing.

Reading is more than just something that you do on the bus or on the train. It’s a way of life. Reading is important because it allows us to escape into another world, see things from someone else’s perspective, and empathize with them.

Essay on Benefits of Reading

1 – what is reading.

Reading is the act of decoding letters on a page to extract information. For many, reading has become an everyday activity.

It might happen in the morning when you read your daily news before breakfast, in the evening when you read your favorite blog before bed, or even during the lunch break at work when you catch up on your phone for just five minutes.

For most people, it’s hard to imagine life without reading. However, not everyone can read. Around 15% of the world’s population has some form of learning disability that prevents them from being able to read. This means that they cannot interpret words and sentences on paper or digital screens.

Reading is one of the most popular hobbies in America, with nearly three-quarters of adults reading at least one book per year. Reading can take many forms, from novels to comics to magazines to blogs. It can be done privately or shared with friends.

Reading is good for the mind and body. Research shows that reading can reduce stress, improve sleep quality, promote empathy, and even increase lifespan by as much as two years!

2 – Importance of reading

The first thing to know about reading is that it’s not something that you should force your students to do. Reading should be something you engage them in, not something you force them to do.

Let them enjoy reading for what it is — something enjoyable and entertaining at the same time. Engaging students will help them get more out of reading and will set the stage for future academic success.

As an added bonus, you will both get more out of reading as a teacher and as a student. Empathy Reading opens up your mind to a whole new world. It can be uncomfortable at first, but remember to give them the tools to read the material. Not everyone is great at reading; let them know that you’re willing to help them along the way.

It’s important to read. It’s not some new-fangled, modern idea that everyone is championing, but rather a human instinct that has been with us since the beginning of time. Books are more than just storytellers — they offer understanding and insight into different cultures, languages, ages, genders, classes, ideologies.

Here are some of the many reasons why reading is important:

  • Reading is one of the most valuable skills anyone can have. It’s also one of the best ways to escape from reality and find yourself in a whole new world.
  • Reading is valuable for children’s development because it helps them learn different things quickly.
  • Reading improves your vocabulary which makes it easier for you to understand new words when you see them in your environment.
  • Reading is not only an activity for passing time or entertainment; it can be a way to learn about yourself and the world around you.
  • Reading is not only fun, but it can be educational, therapeutic, and even life-changing. When you get into a book, you get to know the characters on an emotional level, get lost in their stories, and experience what they’re feeling.

3 – The benefits of reading

Reading is the best way to learn new things, broaden your knowledge, and find inspiration. It also stimulates your brain.

Reading can help you keep your mind sharp and be in control of it. Reading in different genres helps you develop different skills in different ways.

People read to develop their vocabulary, expand their imagination, and to broaden their knowledge.

Reading opens up more doors than people may realize, so it should be a priority for everyone– whether you’re a preteen or an adult.

Reading helps people to become better thinkers and is the key to unlocking people’s minds.

4 – How to develop reading habit

Make sure you get some quiet time every day to read. If you have a regular day at work or school, read on your lunch breaks or after work. Make reading part of your daily routine.

Turn off all distractions when you’re reading, and find a comfortable spot to sit. Do you always have the TV on while you eat? Try turning off the TV, but continuing to watch it when you read.

Binge on your favorite authors. Choose a genre that you’re interested in and read everything written by that author. Then find another author and binge on their books as well. Go back to the beginning of that author’s series and read all of the books in that series.

Read also: How to avoid distractions while reading?

5 – Tips for Better Reading

Reading is a time-honored tradition that has been passed down from generation to generation. It’s believed that reading can improve your vocabulary, grammar, and spelling, as well as your comprehension skills.

Here are some tips for better reading:-

  • Know why you want to read. What are you getting out of reading? What are you looking for? If reading isn’t motivating enough for you, make reading something else. It’s okay to do something else.
  • Pick the right genre. Reading is fun, but it can also be a chore. That’s because our minds can be easily distracted. If you pick the wrong genre for you, you could end up reading to the point of exhaustion. But on the other hand, if you pick the right genre for you, you might learn new things, or get to know different characters better. Some genres include thrillers, romance novels, mysteries, science fiction, and even picture books. Choose the genre that works for you and read.
  • Read aloud to yourself. Listening to yourself reading is a great way to improve your skills. You can also do this if you are reading in a public space. You will help yourself realize when you read words wrong or catch on to grammar and sentence structure.
  • Never stop reading. If it’s not interesting for you, you’re going to get bored very fast. Just keep reading. There’s no need to read only what interests you; at the same time, you can’t read everything.
  • If you find yourself stuck in a book, don’t force yourself to finish it. If you don’t care for it, set it aside and come back to it later. You can only read a book or magazine a certain number of times before you might start to lose interest.

6 – How to read more

The first thing you can do is start reading more. Whether you want to read on an e-reader or a traditional book, the basic rules are the same:

  • Find the tpocs that are interesting.
  • Start with your topic of interest.
  • Listening to audiobooks will give you a great opportunity to step away from distractions and enjoy a book that you wouldn’t have the time or patience to read on your own. Audiobooks have been my best friend during the work week. Whether I’m commuting or heading out for a run, I’ve found that listening to a book or an audiobook on my commute helps me to listen and do both of those things at once.

Read also: Reading skills (types and strategies)

7 – Conclusion

Reading is something that everyone should do, so be sure to give it a try. There is no other form of education or experience that will give you more life knowledge than reading.

The benefits of reading are far-reaching. Reading can improve your vocabulary, brain function, and emotional intelligence. In addition, it can provide valuable insight into other cultures and worlds.

Short Essay on Benefits of Reading

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  • Importance Of Reading Essay

Importance of Reading Essay

500+ words essay on reading.

Reading is a key to learning. It’s a skill that everyone should develop in their life. The ability to read enables us to discover new facts and opens the door to a new world of ideas, stories and opportunities. We can gather ample information and use it in the right direction to perform various tasks in our life. The habit of reading also increases our knowledge and makes us more intellectual and sensible. With the help of this essay on the Importance of Reading, we will help you know the benefits of reading and its various advantages in our life. Students must go through this essay in detail, as it will help them to create their own essay based on this topic.

Importance of Reading

Reading is one of the best hobbies that one can have. It’s fun to read different types of books. By reading the books, we get to know the people of different areas around the world, different cultures, traditions and much more. There is so much to explore by reading different books. They are the abundance of knowledge and are best friends of human beings. We get to know about every field and area by reading books related to it. There are various types of books available in the market, such as science and technology books, fictitious books, cultural books, historical events and wars related books etc. Also, there are many magazines and novels which people can read anytime and anywhere while travelling to utilise their time effectively.

Benefits of Reading for Students

Reading plays an important role in academics and has an impactful influence on learning. Researchers have highlighted the value of developing reading skills and the benefits of reading to children at an early age. Children who cannot read well at the end of primary school are less likely to succeed in secondary school and, in adulthood, are likely to earn less than their peers. Therefore, the focus is given to encouraging students to develop reading habits.

Reading is an indispensable skill. It is fundamentally interrelated to the process of education and to students achieving educational success. Reading helps students to learn how to use language to make sense of words. It improves their vocabulary, information-processing skills and comprehension. Discussions generated by reading in the classroom can be used to encourage students to construct meanings and connect ideas and experiences across texts. They can use their knowledge to clear their doubts and understand the topic in a better way. The development of good reading habits and skills improves students’ ability to write.

In today’s world of the modern age and digital era, people can easily access resources online for reading. The online books and availability of ebooks in the form of pdf have made reading much easier. So, everyone should build this habit of reading and devote at least 30 minutes daily. If someone is a beginner, then they can start reading the books based on the area of their interest. By doing so, they will gradually build up a habit of reading and start enjoying it.

Frequently Asked Questions on the Importance of Reading Essay

What is the importance of reading.

1. Improves general knowledge 2. Expands attention span/vocabulary 3. Helps in focusing better 4. Enhances language proficiency

What is the power of reading?

1. Develop inference 2. Improves comprehension skills 3. Cohesive learning 4. Broadens knowledge of various topics

How can reading change a student’s life?

1. Empathy towards others 2. Acquisition of qualities like kindness, courtesy

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Benefits of Reading: Positive Impacts for All Ages Everyday

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  • May 26, 2023

Girl reading book on sofa

From apps to social media to Netflix to video games, there are so many ways to fill your free time that it can be hard to decide what to do. It’s also easy to overlook one of the most fulfilling and beneficial pastimes ever created. Let’s look at the main benefits of reading and how you can highlight them to your child.

What are the main benefits of reading books?

Benefits of reading before bed.

  • Benefits of reading to children

Benefits of reading out loud

Why is reading important.

  • Does listening to audiobooks have the same benefits?

What are the benefits of reading fiction?

What are the benefits of reading poetry, it’s a gym for your brain.

The act of reading is a remarkable mental feat and reading comprehension uses a lot of your brain power. When you’re thumbing through a novel you’re building a whole world of people, places and events in your mind and remembering it all as you follow the story. This gives your imagination and memory a thorough workout and strengthens networks in various other parts of your brain too. 💪

If you’re reading a non-fiction book you’re also getting an in-depth experience of a subject full of facts and details that you need to hold in your mind to follow the arguments of the writer. 

It’s well known that your memory improves with use as new memories are created and connected to older ones, making them stronger and easier to recall. Scientists have even found that the other parts of the brain activated by reading can continue to improve days after you’ve stopped reading, meaning even just a little bit of reading can go a long way. 

It improves your focus

From Insta stories to tweets to TikTok videos, information is being packaged into ever smaller chunks and researchers believe our attention spans are getting shorter. However, being able to concentrate on one thing for long periods and ignore distractions is essential for school and for work. Reading is an excellent way to improve your concentration skills and the more you read, the better you’ll be able to focus. 🔍

It expands your vocabulary

Reading expands your vocabulary more than any other activity. A rich vocabulary allows you to understand the world in a more sophisticated way. Reading is also great for your grammar skills and lets you communicate your thoughts and ideas more accurately in all areas of your life. 

It’s an education

Reading is the key to knowledge. Reading non-fiction books means you can learn about any subject you choose in as much detail as you want. Fiction allows you to learn about how other people all over the world live their lives and to put yourself in their shoes. This is a great way to improve your empathy and learn to approach other people with an open mind. 

It helps your problem-solving skills

Reading fiction is also fantastic preparation to learn how to solve various types of problems you may not yet have encountered in your own life. You get the chance to follow the characters through all kinds of situations and find out how they deal with challenges big and small. 

Maybe they make the right choices or maybe they don’t, either way, the writer has put a lot of thought and consideration into their story and you can always learn something from a character’s experiences. 🧩

It’s good therapy

Reading about difficult situations characters or real people experience can be hugely beneficial as well. It can be useful to read both fiction and non-fiction books about something you’re going through. Books can act as a type of therapy and help you to feel less alone in your situation. 

This bibliotherapy has proven effective in helping people deal with issues such as depression or other mood disorders. The NHS even prescribes books to help people through its Reading Well programme! 

Books offer the best value-for-money entertainment anywhere! There’s no expensive equipment to buy, no tickets to pay for and no monthly subscription fee. All you need is a library card for your local branch and you’re good to go! 

Your nearest library probably has tens of thousands of different books available, so you’re sure to find a title to hook you. If they don’t have something in particular you're looking for, you can even ask the librarian to order it from another library. 

Some libraries even offer ebooks on loan which you can add to your ereader or tablet 🏛️

It’ll inspire your child

If your children regularly see you reading you’ll be setting a good example. Children tend to copy what they see their parents do and they’ll soon be joining you storybook in hand for some quiet time you can enjoy together. 

It’s great for stress

It’s not most people’s first idea of a relaxation technique, but reading does an awesome job of helping you manage stress. According to research, reading can lead to a lower heart rate and blood pressure and a calmer mind and just six minutes of reading can bring your stress levels down by more than 66%. 

It helps you live longer!

If you still need another reason to commit yourself to read more, how about this: reading can actually help you live longer! Researchers discovered that those who read for half an hour a day had a 23% chance of living longer than people who didn’t read very much. In fact, readers lived around two years longer than non-readers! 🌳

teenager-reading-book

So, if we’ve convinced you that you and your family need more reading in your lives, when is the best time to do it? Well, reading at bedtime allows you to kill two birds with one stone. 

It helps you get a good night’s sleep

Despite its importance, many of us don’t follow good sleep hygiene and spend the hours before bedtime staring at screens big and small, leading to difficulty falling asleep and affecting the quality of our slumber. The NHS found that one in three of us experience poor sleep. 

Choose to read an actual book before bedtime instead of checking your social media or watching Netflix and you can look forward to a better night’s rest. Reading fiction is a good way of relaxing the body and calming your mind and preparing for bed and has been shown to be as relaxing as meditation. 💤

It calms your child

If you treat your child to story time and read to them just before they go to bed you’ll discover that it’s perfect for calming them down and getting them in the right mood for sleep. As a bonus, they’ll get used to sitting still and concentrating on one thing for a long time.

  Benefits of reading to children

  Children can eventually enjoy all the benefits of reading mentioned above but whether they are too small to read much themselves or they just enjoy listening to you tell them a story, they can get some extra value out of the experience if you read to them regularly yourself. 

It gives them a love of learning

If you start by reading to your child you can get them hooked on books and start a habit that will last them throughout their lives and repay your investment over and over again. Children who learn to read for pleasure will go on to enjoy greater academic success throughout their education according to research. 👩🏽‍🎓

It gives them a head-start

Even if your little one is a toddler who isn’t ready to start reading storybooks by themselves, you can give their literacy skills an early boost and teach them to read by reading to them yourself. They might not understand everything but they’ll pick up enough to get the idea. Let them see the words on the page as you read and encourage them to turn the page when you get to the last word. 

By reading to them you’ll be helping them follow the natural rhythms of language, practise their listening skills and expose them to vocabulary they might not get to hear in their day-to-day lives.  

It brings you together

Time spent reading to your child is a wonderful chance to create some beautiful, cosy, loving memories together and strengthen your bond. It will become something like a regular adventure you and your child can look forward to doing together and will remember all your lives. 👩‍👦

It also gives you lots to talk about later and you can have enjoyable discussions about the characters, plots, dilemmas and mysteries you discover during your reading time. 

Even when your child starts to read for themselves, you don’t need to stop your shared storytime. You can swap it up, with them taking on the role of the reader as you listen or you can take turns reading to each other. 

  You’ve probably been taught that the best method of reading is in silence. However, research has found that quiet reading isn’t actually always the better option and that there are in fact some benefits of reading out loud. 📢

It helps you understand

It turns out that speaking as you read can help you understand texts better. You probably read aloud more than you realise. If you’ve ever received a slightly convoluted message or email or you’ve tried to read confusing legal jargon, you’ve probably found yourself repeating the words out loud to more clearly understand what was meant. ✅

It helps you remember

Or perhaps you’ve tried to memorise a phone number or the lines of a speech and you automatically started to say the information aloud to help you remember. 

Psychologists call this the “production effect” and have discovered that these tactics do actually help people remember things more easily, especially children. 📚

Research from Australia showed that children who were told to read out loud recognized 17% more words compared to children who were asked to read silently. In another study, adults were able to identify 20% more words they had read aloud. 

The theory is that because reading aloud is an active process it makes words more distinctive, and so easier to remember. 🧠

Why read? 

Reading is the most effective way to get information about almost everything and is the key ingredient in learning for school, work and pleasure. On top of this, reading boosts imagination, communication, memory, concentration, and empathy. It also lowers stress levels and leads to a longer life. 

Does listening to audiobooks have the same benefits as reading books?

It can be hard to concentrate for a long time and the experience of reading. With a real book you can quickly scan your eyes back over the page to reread what you’ve missed, this isn’t so easy with an audiobook. A psychology study showed that students who read material did 28% better on a test than those who heard the same material as a podcast. 

Reading fiction is a useful way to develop your empathy, social skills and emotional intelligence. Fictional stories allow you to put yourself in other people's shoes and see things from various perspectives. In fact, brain scans show that many of the parts of the brain you use to interact with other people are also activated when you’re reading fiction. 

Poetry is the home of the most creative, imaginative and beautiful examples of language and allows you to connect those powerful lines to real emotions all of us feel. Poetry is also efficient and a good poet can reveal deep ideas with a simple phrase. Reading poetry can also inspire your creativity and write some expressive verse of your own! 

Reading is something most of us have been doing all our lives and as a result, we can easily take it for granted, but it’s a great all-around experience for your mind and spirit. So, it's really worth digging out your library card and finding books you and your child can read together. 

If your child is having problems with reading, here at GoStudent we have education experts on standby to give you and them a helping hand in improving their literacy skills or any other learning challenges they need support with. Schedule a free trial lesson with GoStudent today!

1-May-12-2023-09-09-32-6011-AM

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Reading is Good Habit for Students and Children

 500+ words essay on reading is good habit.

Reading is a very good habit that one needs to develop in life. Good books can inform you, enlighten you and lead you in the right direction. There is no better companion than a good book. Reading is important because it is good for your overall well-being. Once you start reading, you experience a whole new world. When you start loving the habit of reading you eventually get addicted to it. Reading develops language skills and vocabulary. Reading books is also a way to relax and reduce stress. It is important to read a good book at least for a few minutes each day to stretch the brain muscles for healthy functioning.

reading is good habit

Benefits of Reading

Books really are your best friends as you can rely on them when you are bored, upset, depressed, lonely or annoyed. They will accompany you anytime you want them and enhance your mood. They share with you information and knowledge any time you need. Good books always guide you to the correct path in life. Following are the benefits of reading –

Self Improvement: Reading helps you develop positive thinking. Reading is important because it develops your mind and gives you excessive knowledge and lessons of life. It helps you understand the world around you better. It keeps your mind active and enhances your creative ability.

Communication Skills: Reading improves your vocabulary and develops your communication skills. It helps you learn how to use your language creatively. Not only does it improve your communication but it also makes you a better writer. Good communication is important in every aspect of life.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Increases Knowledge: Books enable you to have a glimpse into cultures, traditions, arts, history, geography, health, psychology and several other subjects and aspects of life. You get an amazing amount of knowledge and information from books.

Reduces Stress: Reading a good book takes you in a new world and helps you relieve your day to day stress. It has several positive effects on your mind, body, and soul. It stimulates your brain muscles and keeps your brain healthy and strong.

Great Pleasure: When I read a book, I read it for pleasure. I just indulge myself in reading and experience a whole new world. Once I start reading a book I get so captivated I never want to leave it until I finish. It always gives a lot of pleasure to read a good book and cherish it for a lifetime.

Boosts your Imagination and Creativity: Reading takes you to the world of imagination and enhances your creativity. Reading helps you explore life from different perspectives. While you read books you are building new and creative thoughts, images and opinions in your mind. It makes you think creatively, fantasize and use your imagination.

Develops your Analytical Skills: By active reading, you explore several aspects of life. It involves questioning what you read. It helps you develop your thoughts and express your opinions. New ideas and thoughts pop up in your mind by active reading. It stimulates and develops your brain and gives you a new perspective.

Reduces Boredom: Journeys for long hours or a long vacation from work can be pretty boring in spite of all the social sites. Books come in handy and release you from boredom.

Read Different Stages of Reading here.

The habit of reading is one of the best qualities that a person can possess. Books are known to be your best friend for a reason. So it is very important to develop a good reading habit. We must all read on a daily basis for at least 30 minutes to enjoy the sweet fruits of reading. It is a great pleasure to sit in a quiet place and enjoy reading. Reading a good book is the most enjoyable experience one can have.

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The Mental Health Benefits of Reading

Research shows that literature can help—from the clinic to the community..

Posted March 16, 2022 | Reviewed by Ekua Hagan

  • Bibliotherapy, the therapeutic use of select reading material, has been used to alleviate many different mental health challenges.
  • Reading fiction has been found to improve one's social cognition and ability to empathize with others.
  • New research finds that reading programs can support youth mental health through conversation and connection.

 Alaine Yu/Unsplash

Despite recent controversies over which books should line the shelves of schools and libraries, there is little debate that literature expands the mind. But can the act of reading also improve our mental health and wellbeing?

Researchers are investigating the impact of reading experiences and reporting evidence of promising mental and social health benefits. Whether reading alone or with others, people are finding connection and meaning between the pages, giving their mental health a boost along the way. Now practitioners are exploring new models using the literary arts to support mental health in clinics, classrooms, and communities worldwide.

The Science-Backed Benefits of Reading

Getting wrapped up in a good book is good for our health.

The experience of being immersed or engaged while reading a story is called narrative absorption and serves as more than an innately pleasurable experience—it can also enhance our sense of wellbeing. Researchers believe that mentally transporting ourselves away from our physical surroundings can provide an escape or opportunity for meaningful contemplation .

Reading not only provides these opportunities, but it also helps us make sense of our worlds. In one neuroimaging study , participants who read more narrative fiction had greater activation of parts of the prefrontal cortex involved in perspective-taking when reading text containing social context. This greater activation may partially explain the correlation between lifetime reading and the ability to understand how people are thinking.

A good story tends to stick with you, too—and so do the benefits: The health impacts of reading last long after we put down the book, with some research showing reductions in depression symptoms persisting months or even years later in adults. And reading can not only help make life more worth living but is associated with living longer: One study found that older adults who regularly read books had a 20 percent reduction in mortality compared to those who did not read.

Bibliotherapy: An Accessible Treatment for Mental Health

Health practitioners use books and bibliotherapy to support the mental health of groups facing various challenges, including anxiety , depression, and grief . Though it can take on different forms, bibliotherapy typically involves the experience of reading, reflection, and discussion of specific literature with an individual therapist or in a group therapy setting, though a therapist is not always involved. Some research suggests that clients may benefit from bibliotherapy used in conjunction with more traditional cognitive behavioral therapy or grief counseling.

Although bibliotherapy’s efficacy requires more research, this intervention has already shown some promising results amongst people with different health concerns. Researchers have reported that shared reading experiences helped alleviate depressive symptoms for surgery patients , decreased cognitive and emotional symptoms in dementia patients , and improved cognitive and psychological functioning in patients with psychosis .

More recent research suggests that bibliotherapy could be a low-cost and accessible intervention to improve the mental health of healthcare workers and the general public living through the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. The systematic review cited the positive effects of bibliotherapy across 13 studies, indicating that the treatment helped to promote autonomy, giving people a sense of agency and control in their lives.

Reading Builds Bridges to Understanding Ourselves and Others

In a time of pronounced isolation and disconnection caused by the pandemic, reading fiction, in particular, may also help to foster greater empathy and social cognition .

One seminal study found that frequent fiction readers were associated with better social ability and that the tendency to get absorbed in a story correlated with higher empathy scores. These results have been replicated, and a meta-analysis found that lifetime exposure to narrative fiction was associated with more perspective-taking and empathy.

Reading and responding to fiction may foster young people’s understanding of human nature and their place in the world, especially if the texts are thematically relevant and coupled with writing activities that reflect on personal experiences related to the reading. Identifying with characters going through similar experiences can comfort readers , knowing that they are not alone in their struggles or pain.

essay on the benefits of reading

A Citywide Reading Program to Support Youth Mental Health

Building upon these lessons, local organizations partnered to develop One Book Baltimore , a citywide reading program to support youth mental wellbeing and connection. A recently published study of the program in the Journal of Community Psychology found that literature can be used to generate productive conversations about complex and sensitive topics, like violence and mental health.

Researchers from the International Arts + Mind Lab (IAM Lab) of Johns Hopkins University evaluated the results of the 2019 program, in which 10,000 seventh- and eighth-grade Baltimore City Public School students read the same award-winning novel, Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds. Reynolds is currently the Library of Congress’s National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.

“Long Way Down” powerfully portrays youth violence and its consequences through its teenage protagonist, Will.

The subject matter is familiar to many enrolled in the One Book Baltimore program: In surveys before and after the program, half of the students reported that they or a close family member had directly experienced violence.

“Literature, like many art forms, helps us talk about difficult or sensitive issues, and it gives us a starting point for new conversations,” said Tasha Golden, Ph.D., director of research at IAM Lab and lead author of the study. “At a time when young people are suffering and seeking support — from their communities and from one another — we have to consider how the arts can help generate connection, creativity and dialogue.”

The pandemic has exacerbated social isolation and rates of mental illness , particularly in youth populations . Program leaders developed the One Book Baltimore intervention to help mitigate the harmful effects of isolation that often accompany anxiety, depression or trauma .

The new research found that reading Long Way Down influenced how the middle-schoolers thought about violence, with a greater effect on those who had personal experiences with violence. The study also reported that students who read the novel in full had more conversations about violence with their friends and family. After the program, almost 60% of students reported that they wanted more opportunities to discuss violence and peace with their peers.

The study also makes recommendations on implementing the program in other places. Dr. Golden explained, "This is a way to explore new mental health supports for young people. The model, which draws upon schools, libraries, and literature, could work in any community."

Written and reported by IAM Lab Communications Specialist Richard Sima . Richard received his Ph.D. in neuroscience from Johns Hopkins and is a science writer living in Baltimore, Maryland.

Bavishi, A., Slade, M. D., & Levy, B. R. (2016). A chapter a day: Association of book reading with longevity. Social Science & Medicine, 164, 44-48.

Golden, T. L., Sima, R., Roebuck, G., Gupta, S., & Magsamen, S. (2022). Generating youth dialogue through the literary arts: A citywide youth health collaboration in the US. Journal of community psychology.

Gualano, M. R., Bert, F., Martorana, M., Voglino, G., Andriolo, V., Thomas, R., ... & Siliquini, R. (2017). The long-term effects of bibliotherapy in depression treatment: Systematic review of randomized clinical trials. Clinical psychology review, 58, 49-58.

Kuijpers, M. M. (2018). Bibliotherapy in the age of digitization. First Monday.

Latchem, J. M., & Greenhalgh, J. (2014). The role of reading on the health and well-being of people with neurological conditions: a systematic review. Aging & Mental Health, 18(6), 731-744.

Mar, R. A., Oatley, K., Hirsh, J., Dela Paz, J., & Peterson, J. B. (2006). Bookworms versus nerds: Exposure to fiction versus non-fiction, divergent associations with social ability, and the simulation of fictional social worlds. Journal of research in personality, 40(5), 694-712.

Monroy-Fraustro, D., Maldonado-Castellanos, I., Aboites-Molina, M., Rodríguez, S., Sueiras, P., Altamirano-Bustamante, N. F., ... & Altamirano-Bustamante, M. M. (2021). Bibliotherapy as a non-pharmaceutical intervention to enhance mental health in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed-methods systematic review and bioethical meta-analysis. Frontiers in public health, 9, 42.

Mumper, M. L., & Gerrig, R. J. (2017). Leisure reading and social cognition: A meta-analysis. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 11(1), 109.

Schrijvers, M., Janssen, T., Fialho, O., & Rijlaarsdam, G. (2019). Gaining insight into human nature: A review of literature classroom intervention studies. Review of Educational Research, 89(1), 3-45.

Tamir, D. I., Bricker, A. B., Dodell-Feder, D., & Mitchell, J. P. (2016). Reading fiction and reading minds: The role of simulation in the default network. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 11(2), 215-224.

Troscianko, E. T. (2018). Fiction-reading for good or ill: eating disorders, interpretation and the case for creative bibliotherapy research. Medical Humanities, 44(3), 201-211.

International Arts + Mind Lab

The International Arts + Mind Lab (IAM Lab) is a multidisciplinary research-to-practice initiative from the Pedersen Brain Science Institute at Johns Hopkins University that is accelerating the field of neuroaesthetics.

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Can Reading Make You Happier?

By Ceridwen Dovey

An abstract illustration of a young woman reading a book with flowers all around her.

Several years ago, I was given as a gift a remote session with a bibliotherapist at the London headquarters of the School of Life, which offers innovative courses to help people deal with the daily emotional challenges of existence. I have to admit that at first I didn’t really like the idea of being given a reading “prescription.” I’ve generally preferred to mimic Virginia Woolf’s passionate commitment to serendipity in my personal reading discoveries, delighting not only in the books themselves but in the randomly meaningful nature of how I came upon them (on the bus after a breakup, in a backpackers’ hostel in Damascus, or in the dark library stacks at graduate school, while browsing instead of studying). I’ve long been wary of the peculiar evangelism of certain readers: You must read this, they say, thrusting a book into your hands with a beatific gleam in their eyes, with no allowance for the fact that books mean different things to people—or different things to the same person—at various points in our lives. I loved John Updike’s stories about the Maples in my twenties, for example, and hate them in my thirties, and I’m not even exactly sure why.

But the session was a gift, and I found myself unexpectedly enjoying the initial questionnaire about my reading habits that the bibliotherapist, Ella Berthoud, sent me. Nobody had ever asked me these questions before, even though reading fiction is and always has been essential to my life. I love to gorge on books over long breaks—I’ll pack more books than clothes, I told Berthoud. I confided my dirty little secret, which is that I don’t like buying or owning books, and always prefer to get them from the library (which, as I am a writer, does not bring me very good book-sales karma). In response to the question “What is preoccupying you at the moment?,” I was surprised by what I wanted to confess: I am worried about having no spiritual resources to shore myself up against the inevitable future grief of losing somebody I love, I wrote. I’m not religious, and I don’t particularly want to be, but I’d like to read more about other people’s reflections on coming to some sort of early, weird form of faith in a “higher being” as an emotional survival tactic. Simply answering the questions made me feel better, lighter.

We had some satisfying back-and-forths over e-mail, with Berthoud digging deeper, asking about my family’s history and my fear of grief, and when she sent the final reading prescription it was filled with gems, none of which I’d previously read. Among the recommendations was “The Guide,” by R. K. Narayan. Berthoud wrote that it was “a lovely story about a man who starts his working life as a tourist guide at a train station in Malgudi, India, but then goes through many other occupations before finding his unexpected destiny as a spiritual guide.” She had picked it because she hoped it might leave me feeling “strangely enlightened.” Another was “The Gospel According to Jesus Christ,” by José Saramago: “Saramago doesn’t reveal his own spiritual stance here but portrays a vivid and compelling version of the story we know so well.” “Henderson the Rain King,” by Saul Bellow, and “Siddhartha,” by Hermann Hesse, were among other prescribed works of fiction, and she included some nonfiction, too, such as “The Case for God,” by Karen Armstrong, and “Sum,” by the neuroscientist David Eagleman, a “short and wonderful book about possible afterlives.”

Our staff and contributors share their cultural enthusiasms.

essay on the benefits of reading

I worked my way through the books on the list over the next couple of years, at my own pace—interspersed with my own “discoveries”—and while I am fortunate enough to have my ability to withstand terrible grief untested, thus far, some of the insights I gleaned from these books helped me through something entirely different, when, over several months, I endured acute physical pain. The insights themselves are still nebulous, as learning gained through reading fiction often is—but therein lies its power. In a secular age, I suspect that reading fiction is one of the few remaining paths to transcendence, that elusive state in which the distance between the self and the universe shrinks. Reading fiction makes me lose all sense of self, but at the same time makes me feel most uniquely myself. As Woolf, the most fervent of readers, wrote, a book “splits us into two parts as we read,” for “the state of reading consists in the complete elimination of the ego,” while promising “perpetual union” with another mind.

Bibliotherapy is a very broad term for the ancient practice of encouraging reading for therapeutic effect. The first use of the term is usually dated to a jaunty 1916 article in The Atlantic Monthly , “A Literary Clinic.” In it, the author describes stumbling upon a “bibliopathic institute” run by an acquaintance, Bagster, in the basement of his church, from where he dispenses reading recommendations with healing value. “Bibliotherapy is…a new science,” Bagster explains. “A book may be a stimulant or a sedative or an irritant or a soporific. The point is that it must do something to you, and you ought to know what it is. A book may be of the nature of a soothing syrup or it may be of the nature of a mustard plaster.” To a middle-aged client with “opinions partially ossified,” Bagster gives the following prescription: “You must read more novels. Not pleasant stories that make you forget yourself. They must be searching, drastic, stinging, relentless novels.” (George Bernard Shaw is at the top of the list.) Bagster is finally called away to deal with a patient who has “taken an overdose of war literature,” leaving the author to think about the books that “put new life into us and then set the life pulse strong but slow.”

Today, bibliotherapy takes many different forms, from literature courses run for prison inmates to reading circles for elderly people suffering from dementia. Sometimes it can simply mean one-on-one or group sessions for “lapsed” readers who want to find their way back to an enjoyment of books. Berthoud and her longtime friend and fellow bibliotherapist Susan Elderkin mostly practice “affective” bibliotherapy, advocating the restorative power of reading fiction. The two met at Cambridge University as undergraduates, more than twenty years ago, and bonded immediately over the shared contents of their bookshelves, in particular Italo Calvino’s novel “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller,” which is itself about the nature of reading. As their friendship developed, they began prescribing novels to cure each other’s ailments, such as a broken heart or career uncertainty. “When Suse was having a crisis about her profession—she wanted to be a writer, but was wondering if she could cope with the inevitable rejection—I gave her Don Marquis’s ‘Archy and Mehitabel’ poems,” Berthoud told me. “If Archy the cockroach could be so dedicated to his art as to jump on the typewriter keys in order to write his free-verse poems every night in the New York offices of the Evening Sun, then surely she should be prepared to suffer for her art, too.” Years later, Elderkin gave Berthoud,who wanted to figure out how to balance being a painter and a mother, Patrick Gale’s novel “Notes from an Exhibition,” about a successful but troubled female artist.

They kept recommending novels to each other, and to friends and family, for many years, and, in 2007, when the philosopher Alain de Botton, a fellow Cambridge classmate, was thinking about starting the School of Life, they pitched to him the idea of running a bibliotherapy clinic. “As far as we knew, nobody was doing it in that form at the time,” Berthoud said. “Bibliotherapy, if it existed at all, tended to be based within a more medical context, with an emphasis on self-help books. But we were dedicated to fiction as the ultimate cure because it gives readers a transformational experience.”

Berthoud and Elderkin trace the method of bibliotherapy all the way back to the Ancient Greeks, “who inscribed above the entrance to a library in Thebes that this was a ‘healing place for the soul.’ ” The practice came into its own at the end of the nineteenth century, when Sigmund Freud began using literature during psychoanalysis sessions. After the First World War, traumatized soldiers returning home from the front were often prescribed a course of reading. “Librarians in the States were given training on how to give books to WWI vets, and there’s a nice story about Jane Austen’s novels being used for bibliotherapeutic purposes at the same time in the U.K.,” Elderkin says. Later in the century, bibliotherapy was used in varying ways in hospitals and libraries, and has more recently been taken up by psychologists, social and aged-care workers, and doctors as a viable mode of therapy.

There is now a network of bibliotherapists selected and trained by Berthoud and Elderkin, and affiliated with the School of Life, working around the world, from New York to Melbourne. The most common ailments people tend to bring to them are the life-juncture transitions, Berthoud says: being stuck in a rut in your career, feeling depressed in your relationship, or suffering bereavement. The bibliotherapists see a lot of retirees, too, who know that they have twenty years of reading ahead of them but perhaps have only previously read crime thrillers, and want to find something new to sustain them. Many seek help adjusting to becoming a parent. “I had a client in New York, a man who was having his first child, and was worried about being responsible for another tiny being,” Berthoud says. “I recommended ‘Room Temperature,’ by Nicholson Baker, which is about a man feeding his baby a bottle and having these meditative thoughts about being a father. And of course 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' because Atticus Finch is the ideal father in literature.”

Berthoud and Elderkin are also the authors of “The Novel Cure: An A-Z of Literary Remedies,” which is written in the style of a medical dictionary and matches ailments (“failure, feeling like a”) with suggested reading cures (“The History of Mr. Polly,” by H. G. Wells). First released in the U.K. in 2013, it is now being published in eighteen countries, and, in an interesting twist, the contract allows for a local editor and reading specialist to adapt up to twenty-five per cent of the ailments and reading recommendations to fit each particular country’s readership and include more native writers. The new, adapted ailments are culturally revealing. In the Dutch edition, one of the adapted ailments is “having too high an opinion of your own child”; in the Indian edition, “public urination” and “cricket, obsession with” are included; the Italians introduced “impotence,” “fear of motorways,” and “desire to embalm”; and the Germans added “hating the world” and “hating parties.” Berthoud and Elderkin are now working on a children’s-literature version, “A Spoonful of Stories,” due out in 2016.

For all avid readers who have been self-medicating with great books their entire lives, it comes as no surprise that reading books can be good for your mental health and your relationships with others, but exactly why and how is now becoming clearer, thanks to new research on reading’s effects on the brain. Since the discovery, in the mid-nineties, of “mirror neurons”—neurons that fire in our brains both when we perform an action ourselves and when we see an action performed by someone else—the neuroscience of empathy has become clearer. A 2011 study published in the Annual Review of Psychology , based on analysis of fMRI brain scans of participants, showed that, when people read about an experience, they display stimulation within the same neurological regions as when they go through that experience themselves. We draw on the same brain networks when we’re reading stories and when we’re trying to guess at another person’s feelings.

Other studies published in 2006 and 2009 showed something similar—that people who read a lot of fiction tend to be better at empathizing with others (even after the researchers had accounted for the potential bias that people with greater empathetic tendencies may prefer to read novels). And, in 2013, an influential study published in Science found that reading literary fiction (rather than popular fiction or literary nonfiction) improved participants’ results on tests that measured social perception and empathy, which are crucial to “theory of mind”: the ability to guess with accuracy what another human being might be thinking or feeling, a skill humans only start to develop around the age of four.

Keith Oatley, a novelist and emeritus professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto, has for many years run a research group interested in the psychology of fiction. “We have started to show how identification with fictional characters occurs, how literary art can improve social abilities, how it can move us emotionally, and can prompt changes of selfhood,” he wrote in his 2011 book, “Such Stuff as Dreams: The Psychology of Fiction.” “Fiction is a kind of simulation, one that runs not on computers but on minds: a simulation of selves in their interactions with others in the social world…based in experience, and involving being able to think of possible futures.” This idea echoes a long-held belief among both writers and readers that books are the best kinds of friends; they give us a chance to rehearse for interactions with others in the world, without doing any lasting damage. In his 1905 essay “On Reading,” Marcel Proust puts it nicely: “With books there is no forced sociability. If we pass the evening with those friends—books—it’s because we really want to. When we leave them, we do so with regret and, when we have left them, there are none of those thoughts that spoil friendship: ‘What did they think of us?’—‘Did we make a mistake and say something tactless?’—‘Did they like us?’—nor is there the anxiety of being forgotten because of displacement by someone else.”

George Eliot, who is rumored to have overcome her grief at losing her life partner through a program of guided reading with a young man who went on to become her husband, believed that “art is the nearest thing to life; it is a mode of amplifying experience and extending our contact with our fellow-men beyond the bounds of our personal lot.” But not everybody agrees with this characterization of fiction reading as having the ability to make us behave better in real life. In her 2007 book, “Empathy and the Novel,” Suzanne Keen takes issue with this “empathy-altruism hypothesis,” and is skeptical about whether empathetic connections made while reading fiction really translate into altruistic, prosocial behavior in the world. She also points out how hard it is to really prove such a hypothesis. “Books can’t make change by themselves—and not everyone feels certain that they ought to,” Keen writes. “As any bookworm knows, readers can also seem antisocial and indolent. Novel reading is not a team sport.” Instead, she urges, we should enjoy what fiction does give us, which is a release from the moral obligation to feel something for invented characters—as you would for a real, live human being in pain or suffering—which paradoxically means readers sometimes “respond with greater empathy to an unreal situation and characters because of the protective fictionality.” And she wholeheartedly supports the personal health benefits of an immersive experience like reading, which “allows a refreshing escape from ordinary, everyday pressures.”

So even if you don’t agree that reading fiction makes us treat others better, it is a way of treating ourselves better. Reading has been shown to put our brains into a pleasurable trance-like state, similar to meditation, and it brings the same health benefits of deep relaxation and inner calm. Regular readers sleep better, have lower stress levels, higher self-esteem, and lower rates of depression than non-readers. “Fiction and poetry are doses, medicines,” the author Jeanette Winterson has written. “What they heal is the rupture reality makes on the imagination.”

One of Berthoud’s clients described to me how the group and individual sessions she has had with Berthoud have helped her cope with the fallout from a series of calamities, including losing her husband, the end of a five-year engagement, and a heart attack. “I felt my life was without purpose,” she says. “I felt a failure as a woman.” Among the books Berthoud initially prescribed was John Irving’s novel “The Hotel New Hampshire.” “He was a favorite writer of my husband, [whom] I had felt unable to attempt for sentimental reasons.” She was “astounded and very moved” to see it on the list, and though she had avoided reading her husband’s books up until then, she found reading it to be “a very rewarding emotional experience, both in the literature itself and ridding myself of demons.” She also greatly appreciated Berthoud guiding her to Tom Robbins’s novel “Jitterbug Perfume,” which was “a real learning curve for me about prejudice and experimentation.”

One of the ailments listed in “The Novel Cure” is “overwhelmed by the number of books in the world,” and it’s one I suffer from frequently. Elderkin says this is one of the most common woes of modern readers, and that it remains a major motivation for her and Berthoud’s work as bibliotherapists. “We feel that though more books are being published than ever before, people are in fact selecting from a smaller and smaller pool. Look at the reading lists of most book clubs, and you’ll see all the same books, the ones that have been shouted about in the press. If you actually calculate how many books you read in a year—and how many that means you’re likely to read before you die—you’ll start to realize that you need to be highly selective in order to make the most of your reading time.” And the best way to do that? See a bibliotherapist, as soon as you can, and take them up on their invitation, to borrow some lines from Shakespeare’s “Titus Andronicus”: "Come, and take choice of all my library/And so beguile thy sorrow…"

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What are the benefits of reading books? A lot, actually

Love to curl up on the couch with a good book ? You aren’t alone.

According to a Gallup poll published in 2022, in 2021 Americans read roughly 12 books a year, amounting to around one a month. That number is the lowest it's been since Gallup began tracking Americans' reading habits back in 1990.

Whether the decline in reading books is the result of busy lifestyles or the lure of binge-watching the latest series on TV, the time has come to get back on the book bandwagon.

If the latest bestseller is collecting dust on your nightstand, knowing the benefits of reading might be just the motivation you need to pick it back up.

Of course, you can also join TODAY's own book club band leader, Jenna Bush Hager, in the new initiative " Streaking With Jenna " to get back on track because as readers already know, there's nothing quite like settling in a with a great book. Designed to build or bolster a reading habit, Streaking With Jenna encourages people to keep track of their reading streak in 2023.

Download a printable Streaking With Jenna calendar here .

"It's like a sanctuary," Maryanne Wolf, professor-in-residence at UCLA and director, Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice, tells TODAY.com.

"I have 20 minutes in the morning, 20 minutes in the evening after Netflix or whatever I've done in between a thousand emails," Wolf explains of her reading habit.

"And that helps center me, it helps remind me of the priorities of the day before, of the next day, and of that very moment."

From increasing your vocabulary and conversation skills to sleeping better and living longer, here are 10 scientific and psychological benefits of reading to inspire you to get back into the habit.

1) Reading might lengthen your lifespan

Good news, bookworms: Reading books might be part of the key to a long life.

A 2016 study published in the journal Social Science & Medicine found reading books can reduce mortality by up to 20%.

According to the researchers, "any level of book reading gave a significantly stronger survival advantage," particularly for adults 65 and older who "redirect leisure time" from watching TV into reading books.

The study also found that reading alone isn't enough — it's reading books that makes the difference. Books contributed to a "survival advantage that was significantly greater than that observed for reading newspapers or magazines," the authors noted.

2) Encourages empathy

Reading books can help us become more compassionate, empathetic people.

"We have more opportunity to deepen our insights, our epiphanies, our sense of our own best thoughts," explains Wolf. "It gives us more empathy, perspective — taking into other people's viewpoints, thoughts and feelings."

And there's science to back it up.

In a 2013 study published in "Science," researchers found that literary fiction, in particular, led to readers being better at understanding what other people were thinking and feeling, along with increasing their capacity for empathy.

Keep calm and read on!

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3) Helps lessen cognitive decline

Like the rest of your body, your brain needs exercise to help keep it working at its best. Reading books is one way to help keep your mind sharp.

"Various activities, including reading, that are seen as cognitively engaging are definitely associated with better brain health," Jonathan King, Ph.D., senior scientific advisor in the division of behavioral and social research at National Institute on Aging, tells TODAY.com.

While the jury is still out on if reading can prevent dementia, research suggests that older people who read more than those who don't appear to have a reduced risk of cognitive decline.

At the very least, King says that older adults who read more often generally have "larger vocabularies than younger adults because of all the reading experiences that they've done," which helps in obtaining "crystalized knowledge,"or things people have read about that they can put to use in their day-to-day lives.

4) Reduces stress

The American Psychological Association found in its 2022 annual survey on stress in America that a quarter of American adults feel that they're "too stressed to function."

High levels of stress are associated with a variety of physical and mental problems, making stress management essential to personal wellness.

Engaging in stress-relieving activities, like reading books, is an easy way to help keep cortisol levels down.

"Reading has been connected to meditation in terms of the way our brain processes our environment and our physiological state," Zoe Shaw , Psy.D., licensed psychotherapist and author of “A Year of Self-Care: Daily Practices and Inspiration for Caring for Yourself," tells TODAY.com.

"If you're sitting in a chair or laying in your bed and you're focusing on reading, your body can actually go into a type of meditative state," Shaw says. "So, you can get some of the benefits of meditating by reading."

Research backs this up, including a study that found 30 minutes of reading had the same ability to decrease stress as 30 minutes of yoga.

5) Improves critical thinking

Can reading make you smarter? In short, yes. Of course, it’s complicated and any number of things contribute to a person's overall knowledge and intelligence.

That said, a 1998 study concluded that reading "yields significant dividends for everyone."

In the study, those who were more "avid" readers, regardless of their overall abilities, were better able to answer various practical knowledge questions, like who their U.S. senators were and how many teaspoons equal one tablespoon, even if they weren't necessarily versed in those topics.

Reading can also improve critical thinking skills, Wolf tells TODAY.com.

"One of the great benefits is not just to the individual's insights; it's to the individual's ability to participate in democracy with a critical, empathic mind," she says.

6) Promotes self-care

If you've ever gotten lost in a book, then you can attest to this: Reading a book simply makes you feel good. Entertainment is as much of a perk of reading as all those positive psychological and scientific benefits.

Shaw says that, while they're engrossing in their own ways, TV, movies and scrolling through social media don't offer the same degree of escape and calm that reading a book provides.

"It's not as relaxing to our body to read on computers or devices," Shaw says, explaining that when you read a book, your brain comes up with images to accompany what you're reading about, engaging your creative mind while helping you relax at the same time.

"We're gaining knowledge and, to a certain extent, caring for ourselves because we are expanding our understanding of the world, of ourselves – and that is self-care," she continues.

7) Enhances conversation skills

According to a 2015 study , above-average readers had a much higher rate of vocabulary growth than average readers did.

"We know that the best way to help children learn to write, to help children with their vocabulary and increase their general academic performance is to read to them," Shaw says.

"It also works for us as adults. Our vocabulary is increased, our conversation skills are increased," she says. "More than that, we write better when we read more."

8) Improves sleep

Does your bedtime routine include a few minutes (or hours) of screen time?

If it does, chances are good that scrolling through Instagram or checking your email is negatively impacting your ability to sleep.

A 2020 study published in Nature and Science of Sleep found that using a mobile device for at least 30 minutes after turning off the lights resulted in poor sleep quality, daytime sleepiness and other sleep disturbances.

Reading a book before bed, however, has exactly the opposite effect.

"Reading can improve sleep," Shaw says. "It activates the frontal lobe, the limbic system, and it creates a relaxing cascade in our body."

In 2021, researchers studied reading and sleep patterns and found that, overall, reading a book in bed before sleeping led participants to feel their quality of sleep improved.

"It can help calm you and get you into that place much better than other types of activities," says Shaw.

9) Fosters connection

Divisiveness has been on the rise in recent years, leading to what many consider to be a disconnect between people and decline of community.

While every issue can't obviously be solved by reading a book, picking one up can be beneficial in helping close the gap.

"In this minute of our society in this tiny, strained, moment in human history, we need to have people have communication with each other," Wolf tells TODAY.com.

"Not just connects with friends and social media, but deeper forms of communication, so that we understand each other, even when we are by ourselves," she says.

"There is this amazing miracle that we can understand another if we give it time, without ever leaving our chair."

10) Provides time to recharge your batteries

Time with a book is also time for you .

"Reading forces you to spend time with yourself. It forces you to kind of isolate in a healthy way," she tells TODAY.com.

"There’s also this sense of self-comforting in the process of reading, which is different than on our devices," Shaw says and explains that when you use your phone or device as an escape, it's easy to be interrupted by notifications and other distractions.

"But usually when we choose to read a book, we’re taking specific space and time where we’re going to get more comfortable and just kind of hunker down with the book."

essay on the benefits of reading

Sarah is a lifestyle and entertainment reporter for TODAY who covers holidays, celebrities and everything in between.

essay on the benefits of reading

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10 Benefits of Reading: Why You Should Read Every Day

The following article with the title above is from Lana Winter-Hébert, writing for lifehack.org:

When was the last time you read a book, or a substantial magazine article? Do your daily reading habits center around tweets, Facebook updates, or the directions on your instant oatmeal packet? If you’re one of countless people who don’t make a habit of reading regularly, you might be missing out: reading has a significant number of benefits, and just a few benefits of reading are listed below.

2. Stress Reduction : No matter how much stress you have at work, in your personal relationships, or countless other issues faced in daily life, it all just slips away when you lose yourself in a great story. A well-written novel can transport you to other realms, while an engaging article will distract you and keep you in the present moment, letting tensions drain away and allowing you to relax.

3. Knowledge: Everything you read fills your head with new bits of information, and you never know when it might come in handy. The more knowledge you have, the better-equipped you are to tackle any challenge you’ll ever face. Additionally, here’s a bit of food for thought: should you ever find yourself in dire circumstances, remember that although you might lose everything else—your job, your possessions, your money, even your health—knowledge can never be taken from you.

4. Vocabulary Expansion: This goes with the above topic: the more you read, the more words you gain exposure to, and they’ll inevitably make their way into your everyday vocabulary. Being articulate and well-spoken is of great help in any profession, and knowing that you can speak to higher-ups with self-confidence can be an enormous boost to your self-esteem. It could even aid in your career, as those who are well-read, well-spoken, and knowledgeable on a variety of topics tend to get promotions more quickly (and more often) than those with smaller vocabularies and lack of awareness of literature, scientific breakthroughs, and global events. Reading books is also vital for learning new languages, as non-native speakers gain exposure to words used in context, which will ameliorate their own speaking and writing fluency.

5. Memory Improvement: When you read a book, you have to remember an assortment of characters, their backgrounds, ambitions, history, and nuances, as well as the various arcs and sub-plots that weave their way through every story. That’s a fair bit to remember, but brains are marvellous things and can remember these things with relative ease. Amazingly enough, every new memory you create forges new synapses (brain pathways)and strengthens existing ones, which assists in short-term memory recall as well as stabilizing moods. How cool is that?

6. Stronger Analytical Thinking Skills: Have you ever read an amazing mystery novel, and solved the mystery yourself before finishing the book? If so, you were able to put critical and analytical thinking to work by taking note of all the details provided and sorting them out to determine “whodunnit”. That same ability to analyze details also comes in handy when it comes to critiquing the plot; determining whether it was a well-written piece, if the characters were properly developed, if the storyline ran smoothly, etc. Should you ever have an opportunity to discuss the book with others, you’ll be able to state your opinions clearly, as you’ve taken the time to really consider all the aspects involved.

8. Better Writing Skills : This goes hand-in-hand with the expansion of your vocabulary: exposure to published, well-written work has a noted effect on one’s own writing, as observing the cadence, fluidity, and writing styles of other authors will invariably influence your own work. In the same way that musicians influence one another, and painters use techniques established by previous masters, so do writers learn how to craft prose by reading the works of others.

9. Tranquility: In addition to the relaxation that accompanies reading a good book, it’s possible that the subject you read about can bring about immense inner peace and tranquility. Reading spiritual texts can lower blood pressure and bring about an immense sense of calm, while reading self-help books has been shown to help people suffering from certain mood disorders and mild mental illnesses.

10. Free Entertainment: Though many of us like to buy books so we can annotate them and dog-ear pages for future reference, they can be quite pricey. For low-budget entertainment, you can visit your local library and bask in the glory of the countless tomes available there for free. Libraries have books on every subject imaginable, and since they rotate their stock and constantly get new books, you’ll never run out of reading materials. If you happen to live in an area that doesn’t have a local library, or if you’re mobility-impaired and can’t get to one easily, most libraries have their books available in PDF or ePub format so you can read them on your e-reader, iPad, or your computer screen. There are also many sources online where you can download free e-books, so go hunting for something new to read! There’s a reading genre for every literate person on the planet, and whether your tastes lie in classical literature, poetry, fashion magazines, biographies, religious texts, young adult books, self-help guides, street lit, or romance novels, there’s something out there to capture your curiosity and imagination. Step away from your computer for a little while, crack open a book, and replenish your soul for a little while.

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Importance of Reading Books Essay - 100, 200, 500 Words

One of the nicest pastimes one may engage in is reading. It's enjoyable to read a variety of novels. We learn a lot about individuals from different parts of the world, their cultures, traditions, and much more by reading books. By reading various novels, one can discover so much. They are people's closest friends and offer a wealth of knowledge. We learn about every subject and topic by reading books about it. There are many different kinds of books available on the market, including publications about science and technology, fiction, culture, historical events, and warfare.

Importance of Reading Books Essay - 100, 200, 500 Words

100 Words Essay On Importance Of Reading Books

Books have a vital recreational function in addition to being a source of knowledge. The statement that books provide a window into another world is seldom understated. They are effective stress relievers because they allow us to forget about the pressures and worries of daily life. There is a book for everyone, which is an added bonus and makes this the ideal stress reliever. It aids in brain and memory stimulation through improved cognitive performance. Additionally, it keeps the creative energies flowing. Your mind will remain active and healthy as a result. Every time we read a book, we are learning something new.

200 Words Essay On Importance Of Reading Books

Excellent scholars and thinkers expressed their knowledge and understanding of life in the form of books. Many things can be understood and learned by reading. Because of this, reading is advised as a daily brain booster and a way to learn new information. Reading inspires creativity, growth, and original thought. It is a prudent investment in one's personality with countless long-lasting benefits. You have to remember the place, the characters, their backstories, their attitudes, the subplots, and a tonne of other things every time you read a book. As your brain becomes more adept at remembering everything, your memory gets better.

Reading is a fundamental skill that has numerous benefits and impacts almost every aspect of a person's life. It not only improves vocabulary, comprehension and language skills, but also expands one's knowledge, perspective and understanding of the world. Reading can also stimulate creativity and imagination, relieve stress, and provide a source of entertainment and relaxation. Additionally, reading helps to develop critical thinking and analytical skills, making individuals better equipped to solve problems and make informed decisions. In today's digital age, reading is more accessible than ever, and it can be done in a variety of formats, including books, magazines, newspapers, and e-books . The importance of reading cannot be overstated and it is a habit that should be cultivated from a young age.

500 Words Essay on Reading Books

The ability to read allows us to learn new information and gives us access to a wide range of opportunities, ideas, and tales. We can gather a lot of information and apply it correctly to carry out a variety of duties in our lives. Reading regularly broadens our knowledge and improves our intelligence and sense of judgment. Early reading encouragement aids children's understanding of their surroundings.

One of the reading's key benefits is its ability to enhance critical thinking skills. For instance, reading a mystery novel can help you think more effectively. What elements of a story enable one to draw a conclusion? If the novel is based on actual events, you could periodically wonder if the author is correct. Making significant decisions frequently requires the use of critical thinking abilities. Comparing reading to watching television requires distinct types of thought and information processing. As you read more, you become more aware of what you're reading and its significance.

Because we live in a culture where competition dominates every part of life, we need to nurture a child's personality so that they have a lot of self-confidence. Books have a significant role in our educational process . Books are extensive knowledge archives. Publications can be found all around us in a variety of formats, including magazines, novels, self-help, and scholarly books. They were able to develop a genre that perfectly suited everyone's requirements. Whether it was for bedtime reading or study material, everyone has had some sort of connection to books. This wasn't always the case, though.

In the past, books were not as readily available as they are today. The advancement of printing technology has reduced the cost of books and increased accessibility for everyone. Books encourage our imagination and inventiveness while assisting us in visualising the material.

The growth of a person is significantly impacted by reading. Language development is the primary and most significant advantage of reading. It expands our comprehension of words beyond their meaning to include the context of their use, which aids in vocabulary development. The second is the growth of cognitive capacities, particularly in young children. It aids in the development of viewpoints on numerous topics, from the self to society.

Reading allows us to take in information, making it a passive learning method, according to the study. This makes it possible for us to comprehend challenges in society and personal difficulties in a more thorough and holistic way. The advantages that books provide us still holds true even in a world where everything can be found online.

Reading books can uplift you when you're feeling sad or uninspired and even provide you with company while everyone else is busy. One benefit of reading is that it helps to calm the body and mind. You can refuel much more quickly by reading. Reading is the best way to unwind after a long day. Due to the concentration required to read literature or fiction, readers can tune out distractions from their daily lives, fostering inner serenity and enhancing general health.

Explore Career Options (By Industry)

  • Construction
  • Entertainment
  • Manufacturing
  • Information Technology

Data Administrator

Database professionals use software to store and organise data such as financial information, and customer shipping records. Individuals who opt for a career as data administrators ensure that data is available for users and secured from unauthorised sales. DB administrators may work in various types of industries. It may involve computer systems design, service firms, insurance companies, banks and hospitals.

Bio Medical Engineer

The field of biomedical engineering opens up a universe of expert chances. An Individual in the biomedical engineering career path work in the field of engineering as well as medicine, in order to find out solutions to common problems of the two fields. The biomedical engineering job opportunities are to collaborate with doctors and researchers to develop medical systems, equipment, or devices that can solve clinical problems. Here we will be discussing jobs after biomedical engineering, how to get a job in biomedical engineering, biomedical engineering scope, and salary. 

Ethical Hacker

A career as ethical hacker involves various challenges and provides lucrative opportunities in the digital era where every giant business and startup owns its cyberspace on the world wide web. Individuals in the ethical hacker career path try to find the vulnerabilities in the cyber system to get its authority. If he or she succeeds in it then he or she gets its illegal authority. Individuals in the ethical hacker career path then steal information or delete the file that could affect the business, functioning, or services of the organization.

GIS officer work on various GIS software to conduct a study and gather spatial and non-spatial information. GIS experts update the GIS data and maintain it. The databases include aerial or satellite imagery, latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates, and manually digitized images of maps. In a career as GIS expert, one is responsible for creating online and mobile maps.

Data Analyst

The invention of the database has given fresh breath to the people involved in the data analytics career path. Analysis refers to splitting up a whole into its individual components for individual analysis. Data analysis is a method through which raw data are processed and transformed into information that would be beneficial for user strategic thinking.

Data are collected and examined to respond to questions, evaluate hypotheses or contradict theories. It is a tool for analyzing, transforming, modeling, and arranging data with useful knowledge, to assist in decision-making and methods, encompassing various strategies, and is used in different fields of business, research, and social science.

Geothermal Engineer

Individuals who opt for a career as geothermal engineers are the professionals involved in the processing of geothermal energy. The responsibilities of geothermal engineers may vary depending on the workplace location. Those who work in fields design facilities to process and distribute geothermal energy. They oversee the functioning of machinery used in the field.

Database Architect

If you are intrigued by the programming world and are interested in developing communications networks then a career as database architect may be a good option for you. Data architect roles and responsibilities include building design models for data communication networks. Wide Area Networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), and intranets are included in the database networks. It is expected that database architects will have in-depth knowledge of a company's business to develop a network to fulfil the requirements of the organisation. Stay tuned as we look at the larger picture and give you more information on what is db architecture, why you should pursue database architecture, what to expect from such a degree and what your job opportunities will be after graduation. Here, we will be discussing how to become a data architect. Students can visit NIT Trichy , IIT Kharagpur , JMI New Delhi . 

Remote Sensing Technician

Individuals who opt for a career as a remote sensing technician possess unique personalities. Remote sensing analysts seem to be rational human beings, they are strong, independent, persistent, sincere, realistic and resourceful. Some of them are analytical as well, which means they are intelligent, introspective and inquisitive. 

Remote sensing scientists use remote sensing technology to support scientists in fields such as community planning, flight planning or the management of natural resources. Analysing data collected from aircraft, satellites or ground-based platforms using statistical analysis software, image analysis software or Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a significant part of their work. Do you want to learn how to become remote sensing technician? There's no need to be concerned; we've devised a simple remote sensing technician career path for you. Scroll through the pages and read.

Budget Analyst

Budget analysis, in a nutshell, entails thoroughly analyzing the details of a financial budget. The budget analysis aims to better understand and manage revenue. Budget analysts assist in the achievement of financial targets, the preservation of profitability, and the pursuit of long-term growth for a business. Budget analysts generally have a bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, economics, or a closely related field. Knowledge of Financial Management is of prime importance in this career.

Underwriter

An underwriter is a person who assesses and evaluates the risk of insurance in his or her field like mortgage, loan, health policy, investment, and so on and so forth. The underwriter career path does involve risks as analysing the risks means finding out if there is a way for the insurance underwriter jobs to recover the money from its clients. If the risk turns out to be too much for the company then in the future it is an underwriter who will be held accountable for it. Therefore, one must carry out his or her job with a lot of attention and diligence.

Finance Executive

Product manager.

A Product Manager is a professional responsible for product planning and marketing. He or she manages the product throughout the Product Life Cycle, gathering and prioritising the product. A product manager job description includes defining the product vision and working closely with team members of other departments to deliver winning products.  

Operations Manager

Individuals in the operations manager jobs are responsible for ensuring the efficiency of each department to acquire its optimal goal. They plan the use of resources and distribution of materials. The operations manager's job description includes managing budgets, negotiating contracts, and performing administrative tasks.

Stock Analyst

Individuals who opt for a career as a stock analyst examine the company's investments makes decisions and keep track of financial securities. The nature of such investments will differ from one business to the next. Individuals in the stock analyst career use data mining to forecast a company's profits and revenues, advise clients on whether to buy or sell, participate in seminars, and discussing financial matters with executives and evaluate annual reports.

A Researcher is a professional who is responsible for collecting data and information by reviewing the literature and conducting experiments and surveys. He or she uses various methodological processes to provide accurate data and information that is utilised by academicians and other industry professionals. Here, we will discuss what is a researcher, the researcher's salary, types of researchers.

Welding Engineer

Welding Engineer Job Description: A Welding Engineer work involves managing welding projects and supervising welding teams. He or she is responsible for reviewing welding procedures, processes and documentation. A career as Welding Engineer involves conducting failure analyses and causes on welding issues. 

Transportation Planner

A career as Transportation Planner requires technical application of science and technology in engineering, particularly the concepts, equipment and technologies involved in the production of products and services. In fields like land use, infrastructure review, ecological standards and street design, he or she considers issues of health, environment and performance. A Transportation Planner assigns resources for implementing and designing programmes. He or she is responsible for assessing needs, preparing plans and forecasts and compliance with regulations.

Environmental Engineer

Individuals who opt for a career as an environmental engineer are construction professionals who utilise the skills and knowledge of biology, soil science, chemistry and the concept of engineering to design and develop projects that serve as solutions to various environmental problems. 

Safety Manager

A Safety Manager is a professional responsible for employee’s safety at work. He or she plans, implements and oversees the company’s employee safety. A Safety Manager ensures compliance and adherence to Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) guidelines.

Conservation Architect

A Conservation Architect is a professional responsible for conserving and restoring buildings or monuments having a historic value. He or she applies techniques to document and stabilise the object’s state without any further damage. A Conservation Architect restores the monuments and heritage buildings to bring them back to their original state.

Structural Engineer

A Structural Engineer designs buildings, bridges, and other related structures. He or she analyzes the structures and makes sure the structures are strong enough to be used by the people. A career as a Structural Engineer requires working in the construction process. It comes under the civil engineering discipline. A Structure Engineer creates structural models with the help of computer-aided design software. 

Highway Engineer

Highway Engineer Job Description:  A Highway Engineer is a civil engineer who specialises in planning and building thousands of miles of roads that support connectivity and allow transportation across the country. He or she ensures that traffic management schemes are effectively planned concerning economic sustainability and successful implementation.

Field Surveyor

Are you searching for a Field Surveyor Job Description? A Field Surveyor is a professional responsible for conducting field surveys for various places or geographical conditions. He or she collects the required data and information as per the instructions given by senior officials. 

Orthotist and Prosthetist

Orthotists and Prosthetists are professionals who provide aid to patients with disabilities. They fix them to artificial limbs (prosthetics) and help them to regain stability. There are times when people lose their limbs in an accident. In some other occasions, they are born without a limb or orthopaedic impairment. Orthotists and prosthetists play a crucial role in their lives with fixing them to assistive devices and provide mobility.

Pathologist

A career in pathology in India is filled with several responsibilities as it is a medical branch and affects human lives. The demand for pathologists has been increasing over the past few years as people are getting more aware of different diseases. Not only that, but an increase in population and lifestyle changes have also contributed to the increase in a pathologist’s demand. The pathology careers provide an extremely huge number of opportunities and if you want to be a part of the medical field you can consider being a pathologist. If you want to know more about a career in pathology in India then continue reading this article.

Veterinary Doctor

Speech therapist, gynaecologist.

Gynaecology can be defined as the study of the female body. The job outlook for gynaecology is excellent since there is evergreen demand for one because of their responsibility of dealing with not only women’s health but also fertility and pregnancy issues. Although most women prefer to have a women obstetrician gynaecologist as their doctor, men also explore a career as a gynaecologist and there are ample amounts of male doctors in the field who are gynaecologists and aid women during delivery and childbirth. 

Audiologist

The audiologist career involves audiology professionals who are responsible to treat hearing loss and proactively preventing the relevant damage. Individuals who opt for a career as an audiologist use various testing strategies with the aim to determine if someone has a normal sensitivity to sounds or not. After the identification of hearing loss, a hearing doctor is required to determine which sections of the hearing are affected, to what extent they are affected, and where the wound causing the hearing loss is found. As soon as the hearing loss is identified, the patients are provided with recommendations for interventions and rehabilitation such as hearing aids, cochlear implants, and appropriate medical referrals. While audiology is a branch of science that studies and researches hearing, balance, and related disorders.

An oncologist is a specialised doctor responsible for providing medical care to patients diagnosed with cancer. He or she uses several therapies to control the cancer and its effect on the human body such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy and biopsy. An oncologist designs a treatment plan based on a pathology report after diagnosing the type of cancer and where it is spreading inside the body.

Are you searching for an ‘Anatomist job description’? An Anatomist is a research professional who applies the laws of biological science to determine the ability of bodies of various living organisms including animals and humans to regenerate the damaged or destroyed organs. If you want to know what does an anatomist do, then read the entire article, where we will answer all your questions.

For an individual who opts for a career as an actor, the primary responsibility is to completely speak to the character he or she is playing and to persuade the crowd that the character is genuine by connecting with them and bringing them into the story. This applies to significant roles and littler parts, as all roles join to make an effective creation. Here in this article, we will discuss how to become an actor in India, actor exams, actor salary in India, and actor jobs. 

Individuals who opt for a career as acrobats create and direct original routines for themselves, in addition to developing interpretations of existing routines. The work of circus acrobats can be seen in a variety of performance settings, including circus, reality shows, sports events like the Olympics, movies and commercials. Individuals who opt for a career as acrobats must be prepared to face rejections and intermittent periods of work. The creativity of acrobats may extend to other aspects of the performance. For example, acrobats in the circus may work with gym trainers, celebrities or collaborate with other professionals to enhance such performance elements as costume and or maybe at the teaching end of the career.

Video Game Designer

Career as a video game designer is filled with excitement as well as responsibilities. A video game designer is someone who is involved in the process of creating a game from day one. He or she is responsible for fulfilling duties like designing the character of the game, the several levels involved, plot, art and similar other elements. Individuals who opt for a career as a video game designer may also write the codes for the game using different programming languages.

Depending on the video game designer job description and experience they may also have to lead a team and do the early testing of the game in order to suggest changes and find loopholes.

Radio Jockey

Radio Jockey is an exciting, promising career and a great challenge for music lovers. If you are really interested in a career as radio jockey, then it is very important for an RJ to have an automatic, fun, and friendly personality. If you want to get a job done in this field, a strong command of the language and a good voice are always good things. Apart from this, in order to be a good radio jockey, you will also listen to good radio jockeys so that you can understand their style and later make your own by practicing.

A career as radio jockey has a lot to offer to deserving candidates. If you want to know more about a career as radio jockey, and how to become a radio jockey then continue reading the article.

Choreographer

The word “choreography" actually comes from Greek words that mean “dance writing." Individuals who opt for a career as a choreographer create and direct original dances, in addition to developing interpretations of existing dances. A Choreographer dances and utilises his or her creativity in other aspects of dance performance. For example, he or she may work with the music director to select music or collaborate with other famous choreographers to enhance such performance elements as lighting, costume and set design.

Social Media Manager

A career as social media manager involves implementing the company’s or brand’s marketing plan across all social media channels. Social media managers help in building or improving a brand’s or a company’s website traffic, build brand awareness, create and implement marketing and brand strategy. Social media managers are key to important social communication as well.

Photographer

Photography is considered both a science and an art, an artistic means of expression in which the camera replaces the pen. In a career as a photographer, an individual is hired to capture the moments of public and private events, such as press conferences or weddings, or may also work inside a studio, where people go to get their picture clicked. Photography is divided into many streams each generating numerous career opportunities in photography. With the boom in advertising, media, and the fashion industry, photography has emerged as a lucrative and thrilling career option for many Indian youths.

An individual who is pursuing a career as a producer is responsible for managing the business aspects of production. They are involved in each aspect of production from its inception to deception. Famous movie producers review the script, recommend changes and visualise the story. 

They are responsible for overseeing the finance involved in the project and distributing the film for broadcasting on various platforms. A career as a producer is quite fulfilling as well as exhaustive in terms of playing different roles in order for a production to be successful. Famous movie producers are responsible for hiring creative and technical personnel on contract basis.

Copy Writer

In a career as a copywriter, one has to consult with the client and understand the brief well. A career as a copywriter has a lot to offer to deserving candidates. Several new mediums of advertising are opening therefore making it a lucrative career choice. Students can pursue various copywriter courses such as Journalism , Advertising , Marketing Management . Here, we have discussed how to become a freelance copywriter, copywriter career path, how to become a copywriter in India, and copywriting career outlook. 

In a career as a vlogger, one generally works for himself or herself. However, once an individual has gained viewership there are several brands and companies that approach them for paid collaboration. It is one of those fields where an individual can earn well while following his or her passion. 

Ever since internet costs got reduced the viewership for these types of content has increased on a large scale. Therefore, a career as a vlogger has a lot to offer. If you want to know more about the Vlogger eligibility, roles and responsibilities then continue reading the article. 

For publishing books, newspapers, magazines and digital material, editorial and commercial strategies are set by publishers. Individuals in publishing career paths make choices about the markets their businesses will reach and the type of content that their audience will be served. Individuals in book publisher careers collaborate with editorial staff, designers, authors, and freelance contributors who develop and manage the creation of content.

Careers in journalism are filled with excitement as well as responsibilities. One cannot afford to miss out on the details. As it is the small details that provide insights into a story. Depending on those insights a journalist goes about writing a news article. A journalism career can be stressful at times but if you are someone who is passionate about it then it is the right choice for you. If you want to know more about the media field and journalist career then continue reading this article.

Individuals in the editor career path is an unsung hero of the news industry who polishes the language of the news stories provided by stringers, reporters, copywriters and content writers and also news agencies. Individuals who opt for a career as an editor make it more persuasive, concise and clear for readers. In this article, we will discuss the details of the editor's career path such as how to become an editor in India, editor salary in India and editor skills and qualities.

Individuals who opt for a career as a reporter may often be at work on national holidays and festivities. He or she pitches various story ideas and covers news stories in risky situations. Students can pursue a BMC (Bachelor of Mass Communication) , B.M.M. (Bachelor of Mass Media) , or  MAJMC (MA in Journalism and Mass Communication) to become a reporter. While we sit at home reporters travel to locations to collect information that carries a news value.  

Corporate Executive

Are you searching for a Corporate Executive job description? A Corporate Executive role comes with administrative duties. He or she provides support to the leadership of the organisation. A Corporate Executive fulfils the business purpose and ensures its financial stability. In this article, we are going to discuss how to become corporate executive.

Multimedia Specialist

A multimedia specialist is a media professional who creates, audio, videos, graphic image files, computer animations for multimedia applications. He or she is responsible for planning, producing, and maintaining websites and applications. 

Quality Controller

A quality controller plays a crucial role in an organisation. He or she is responsible for performing quality checks on manufactured products. He or she identifies the defects in a product and rejects the product. 

A quality controller records detailed information about products with defects and sends it to the supervisor or plant manager to take necessary actions to improve the production process.

Production Manager

A QA Lead is in charge of the QA Team. The role of QA Lead comes with the responsibility of assessing services and products in order to determine that he or she meets the quality standards. He or she develops, implements and manages test plans. 

Process Development Engineer

The Process Development Engineers design, implement, manufacture, mine, and other production systems using technical knowledge and expertise in the industry. They use computer modeling software to test technologies and machinery. An individual who is opting career as Process Development Engineer is responsible for developing cost-effective and efficient processes. They also monitor the production process and ensure it functions smoothly and efficiently.

AWS Solution Architect

An AWS Solution Architect is someone who specializes in developing and implementing cloud computing systems. He or she has a good understanding of the various aspects of cloud computing and can confidently deploy and manage their systems. He or she troubleshoots the issues and evaluates the risk from the third party. 

Azure Administrator

An Azure Administrator is a professional responsible for implementing, monitoring, and maintaining Azure Solutions. He or she manages cloud infrastructure service instances and various cloud servers as well as sets up public and private cloud systems. 

Computer Programmer

Careers in computer programming primarily refer to the systematic act of writing code and moreover include wider computer science areas. The word 'programmer' or 'coder' has entered into practice with the growing number of newly self-taught tech enthusiasts. Computer programming careers involve the use of designs created by software developers and engineers and transforming them into commands that can be implemented by computers. These commands result in regular usage of social media sites, word-processing applications and browsers.

Information Security Manager

Individuals in the information security manager career path involves in overseeing and controlling all aspects of computer security. The IT security manager job description includes planning and carrying out security measures to protect the business data and information from corruption, theft, unauthorised access, and deliberate attack 

ITSM Manager

Automation test engineer.

An Automation Test Engineer job involves executing automated test scripts. He or she identifies the project’s problems and troubleshoots them. The role involves documenting the defect using management tools. He or she works with the application team in order to resolve any issues arising during the testing process. 

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Advantages of Reading Books IELTS Essay: How to Write?

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Mrinal Mandal

Mrinal Mandal

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Mrinal Mandal

Have you come across the topic-  Advantages of reading books for the IELTS essay? This is not a difficult topic, provided you have a clear blueprint on what to write. Structure your essay logically, beginning with an introduction to reading and your perception of the same. Then mention the advantages of reading books before concluding with a crisp and succinct conclusion. This is how you should write your IELTS essay. Here are a couple of samples to help you practice the same.

Table of Contents

Sample essay 1:.

  • Sample Essay 2:

Explore More Resources Related to IELTS Essays:

Advantages of reading books ielts essay: samples for reference .

Reading is one of the greatest pleasures of life. It not only refreshes the mind but enriches one’s social consciousness. As Garrison Keillor aptly said, “A book is a gift you can open again and again.” There are numerous benefits of reading books for individuals of almost all ages and life stages. Parents should inculcate the reading habit in their children from an early age. This helps in enhancing their powers of communication and confidence as a result. 

Books provide an outlet for gathering knowledge and insights on the world, history, society, and various topics. They are indispensable for broadening one’s horizons and getting exposure to various characters, events, circumstances, philosophies, and more. This automatically enhances social skills while opening the mind to newer creative and imaginative possibilities. Most importantly, a regular reading habit enhances vocabulary and grammatical skills along with overall mastery over any language. It helps in developing suitable writing, analytical, and reading skills at the same time. 

Reading is also a stress-buster, an escape from the humdrum of daily life. It enables supreme mental relaxation for most individuals. Reading books is the biggest foundation for becoming an erudite, knowledgeable, informed, creative, empathetic, and open-minded individual. At the same time, readers get exposure to varied cultural tastes and literary works. They get an opportunity to understand and appreciate the finest literary works of their age. To conclude, books are the biggest gifts of life; nowhere else can you find recreation and mental development taking place simultaneously. 

Tentative Band Score: 6

Word Count: 249

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Sample Essay 2: 

Vera Nazarian stated, “Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world, a door opens to allow in more light.” Indeed, reading books is a practice and habit that is laden with advantages. This is one addiction that is strongly encouraged at all ages and in every possible scenario. Reading books is the window to the world for most people, especially from an early age. Books are the gateway towards imbibing vital knowledge and insights on life, along with building up one’s literary appreciation skills. 

Books also open up our vistas to diverse subjects, aspects, and events of life. They serve to enrich our intellect in multifarious and unfathomable ways. Reading books is also helpful for sharpening our reading, writing, and language skills. You can expect to build a strong vocabulary and word bank while enhancing your creativity and imagination. As they say, the more we read, the more we attune ourselves to being open to newer possibilities, experiences, and circumstances. In a way, reading books is one of the pillars of a liberal, tolerant, open-minded and knowledgeable society that learns how to ask questions and gather knowledge while respecting divergent beliefs simultaneously. 

Books are food for the soul; just as rest relaxes and refreshes our bodies, books perform the same role for our minds. They keep us sharp, mentally agile, and curious at all ages. This has a direct impact on the quality of life and wellbeing. To conclude, it can be said that reading books comes with a truckload of benefits for every individual. 

Tentative IELTS Score: 5.5

Word Count: 257

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essay on the benefits of reading

The Benefits of Reading

Persuasive Essay on The Importance of Reading

Reading is a big part of everyone's lives. It may seem boring sometimes but it is actually very important to read everyday. As you read this essay you will have a better understanding of why reading is important, how it can help with stress, anxiety and depression, and why it is a good way to pass time. 

Reading is important for health and learning. One thing reading can help with is sleep. Sleep is important for a person to get through the day. If they are getting 2-4 hours of sleep they might be lazy and tired throughout the day and they may not be able to do the things they need to do. “Reading exercises the mind without leaving you feeling antsy and energetic.” (Ecosa 2021). When reading you're not energetic and might feel more calm and tired so it will make you sleepy. Reading can also help academically. “Researchers have found that students who read books regularly, beginning at a young age, gradually develop large vocabularies.” (2021 Healthline media). This tells me that students that read books when they are young everyday develop a large vocabulary. 

In addition, reading is important because it can help with mental health(stress, anxiety and depression.) “The study found that 30 minutes of reading lowered blood pressure, heart rate, and feelings of psychological distress just as effectively as yoga and humor did.” (2021 Healthline media). As well as yoga and humor, reading for 30 minutes lowers blood pressure, heart rate, and helps with psychological distress(stress,anxiety,depression). A study from 2009 by the University of Sussex shows that reading can reduce up to 68% of stress. It works faster than doing activities like listening to music. In a study by the University of Liverpool, they surveyed around 4,000 adults and found that people who read regularly are less stressed, depressed and have more self-esteem. 

Reading is not only good for health and learning, it is also a good way to pass time. Reading is a good hobby not only because it helps with everything listed above, but it can be fun at the same time. Looking at devices all the time can be very harmful to an individual. It can increase the risk of having brain issues and the blue light from the screens can be very harmful for the eyes. “The more television you watch in your 40s, 50s, and 60s, the greater your risk of brain health issues in later years.” (2021 Healthline Media). The more TV a person watches from age 40-60 can increase the risk of having brain issues as they get older. “Reading helps us practice imagination by letting the words describe a certain image while the reader manipulates the picture in the mind.” (2021 World Literacy Foundation). Reading can help us use our imagination by letting us create a picture in our minds of what we are reading.

Reading can help an individual in many ways. From learning to being a good way to pass time it is better than watching a device all the time. People should be reading almost everyday even if it’s just for 20-30 minutes because it has so many benefits that are important for our lives. Like expanding vocabulary, helping with mental health and being a good way to spend your free time. These aren’t the only benefits of reading. There are so many more but these are some of the more important ones.

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Essay on Benefits of Reading For Students

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Reading is considered a very important part of our daily routine. It helps us develop our imaginations, improve our understanding of the world around us, and expand our knowledge. Reading also helps improve our writing skills.

List of Topics

Reading is defined as the action or process of reading. It can also be referred to as a person’s ability to read and understand written language. Reading is a complex cognitive process that involves the acquisition, interpretation, and use of information.

Reading has great importance. It develops our thinking ability and makes us more knowledgeable. It helps us develop our language skills and improve our vocabulary. Reading also helps improve our writing skills.

Main Benefits of Reading Good Books

1. Reading helps broaden our vision: It is the reading that broadens our vision. The more we read, the better we understand the world around us. It helps us see things from different perspectives and develop a better understanding of different cultures.

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2. Reading helps improve our writing skills: The more we read, the better our writing skills become. Reading exposes us to different styles of writing and helps us develop our own unique style.

3. Reading helps increase our knowledge: The more we read, the more information we can acquire. Reading helps us learn about new things and improve our understanding of complex concepts.

4. Reading helps improve our cognitive skills: Reading requires us to engage in higher-level thinking processes such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. These cognitive skills help improve our memory and problem-solving abilities.

5. Reading helps reduce stress: Reading can be a great way to relax and de-stress. It is a form of escapism that can help us forget our worries and troubles.

6. Reading helps improve our concentration and focus: The act of reading requires us to focus our attention on the text. This helps improve our concentration and focus.

7. Reading helps develop our imagination: Reading stimulates our imagination and allows us to picture the events taking place in the story. It also helps us better understand the characters and their motivations.

8. Reading can be a form of entertainment: A good book can provide us with hours of enjoyment. It can take us to new and exciting places and introduce us to interesting people.

9. Reading is a great way to bond with others: Shared reading experiences can be a great way to bond with family and friends. It can also be a way to make new friends who share your love of reading.

10. Reading is good for our mental and physical health: Numerous studies have shown that reading has a number of benefits for our mental and physical health. It can help reduce stress, improve brain function, and even lower blood pressure.

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Therefore, we should make reading a habit as it offers us a plethora of benefits. It helps us develop our cognitive skills, improve our writing skills, and increase our knowledge. Reading also helps reduce stress, bond with others, and improve our mental and physical health. So, pick up a book today and start reaping the many benefits of reading!

Short Essay on Benefits of Reading:

Reading is one of the most beneficial activities that a person can engage in. It not only helps in expanding knowledge and vocabulary, but also improves critical thinking skills and enhances imagination. In this essay, we will explore the various benefits of reading.

Firstly, reading stimulates the mind and keeps it active. When we read, our brain processes the information and creates connections between different parts of our brain. This helps in improving memory and concentration, which are essential skills for academic and professional success.

Secondly, reading can also improve our language skills. As we read, we come across new words and phrases, leading to an increase in vocabulary. This not only helps in communication but also enhances writing skills. Reading different genres such as fiction, non-fiction, and poetry also exposes us to different writing styles, helping us develop our own unique writing style.

Moreover, reading can also be a form of relaxation and stress relief. In today’s fast-paced world, where we are constantly bombarded with information and technology, reading can be a peaceful escape. It allows us to disconnect from the outside world and immerse ourselves in a different reality, promoting mindfulness and reducing stress levels.

Furthermore, reading can also expand our knowledge and understanding of the world. By reading books on different topics such as history, science, and philosophy, we gain a better understanding of diverse perspectives and cultures. This not only broadens our knowledge but also helps in developing empathy and tolerance towards others.

In conclusion, reading has numerous benefits that go beyond just gaining knowledge. It helps in developing essential skills, improving language and communication, promoting relaxation, and expanding our understanding of the world. Therefore, it is important to cultivate a habit of reading from a young age and continue throughout our lives. As the saying goes, “Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” So let’s pick up a book and reap the many benefits of reading.

Short Essay on Benefits of Reading Newspaper:

Reading newspaper is an integral part of our daily lives. It not only keeps us informed about the current events and happenings around the world, but also has numerous other benefits. In this short essay, we will discuss some of the major benefits of reading newspaper.

Firstly, reading newspaper improves our knowledge and awareness about various topics. It covers a wide range of subjects such as politics, economy, sports, entertainment, science and technology etc. Therefore, it helps us to expand our knowledge base and keep us updated with the latest developments.

Secondly, reading newspaper also enhances our critical thinking skills. It presents different perspectives on various issues which enables us to think critically and form our own opinions. This is very important in today’s world where there are multiple sources of information and opinions.

Thirdly, reading newspaper also stimulates our brain and improves our cognitive abilities. It helps us to think more creatively and develops our analytical skills. Moreover, it improves our vocabulary and reading comprehension which are essential for effective communication.

Furthermore, reading newspaper also has a positive impact on our mental health. It is a great way to relax and de-stress after a long day. It also helps us to focus and improves our memory.

In conclusion, reading newspaper has numerous benefits that go beyond just staying informed. It broadens our knowledge, enhances our critical thinking skills, stimulates our brain and promotes good mental health. Therefore, it is important to make reading newspaper a daily habit for everyone. So, let’s start today and reap the benefits. Just pick up a newspaper and start reading!

So, let’s make it a habit to read newspaper daily and stay informed about the world around us. Keep reading! It is truly said that knowledge is power, and reading newspaper is one of the best ways to gain knowledge. So, let’s start today and reap the benefits of reading newspaper. Happy reading!

Essay on Importance of Reading in 150 Words:

Reading is the process of receiving information through written or printed words. It plays a significant role in enhancing an individual’s knowledge and ability to think critically. Reading has always been considered a fundamental skill that lays the foundation for learning other subjects. It enables individuals to access vast amounts of information, whether it be fictional or factual.

One of the primary benefits of reading is that it expands one’s vocabulary. When a person reads, they come across new words, phrases, and expressions which they may not have encountered before. This exposure to different styles of writing also helps in developing good writing skills. A broad vocabulary is essential for effective communication and can help individuals excel in academic or professional settings.

In addition to improving language skills, reading also enhances an individual’s imagination and creativity. Through reading, one can experience different worlds, cultures, and perspectives without leaving their surroundings. It opens up the mind to new ideas, encourages critical thinking and helps individuals develop empathy by understanding diverse points of view.

Short Essay on Benefits of Reading Culture in Schools:

Reading is an essential aspect of education, and it plays a crucial role in shaping the minds and perspectives of students. In today’s fast-paced world, where technology dominates almost every aspect of our lives, there has been a decline in reading culture among young people. This decline is concerning as reading brings numerous benefits to individuals and society as a whole.

One place where the importance of reading culture needs to be emphasized is in schools. Schools are not just institutions for academic learning; they also play a vital role in shaping the overall development of students. Incorporating a strong reading culture in schools can have a profound impact on students and their academic success.

Firstly, reading helps develop critical thinking skills and enhances creativity. When students read, they are exposed to different perspectives and ideas, which allows them to think outside the box. Reading also encourages students to use their imagination and creativity, as they visualize the story in their minds. These skills are essential for success in all aspects of life, including academic and professional endeavors.

Furthermore, reading helps improve language and communication skills. Students who read regularly have a larger vocabulary and better understanding of grammar, which translates into improved writing and speaking skills. In today’s globalized world, communication is a crucial skill in both personal and professional contexts. A strong reading culture in schools can help students develop these skills from an early age.

100 Benefits of Reading:

  • Improves vocabulary
  • Enhances communication skills
  • Boosts creativity
  • Broadens perspective
  • Stimulates imagination
  • Relieves stress
  • Improves memory and concentration
  • Increases empathy and understanding of others
  • Develops critical thinking skills
  • Expands knowledge
  • Provides a form of escapism
  • Helps with problem-solving
  • Builds self-confidence
  • Improves writing skills
  • Enhances analytical thinking
  • Promotes personal growth and development
  • Encourages continuous learning
  • Fosters a love for learning
  • Introduces new ideas and concepts
  • Provides insight into different cultures and customs
  • Serves as a source of entertainment
  • Improves overall cognitive function
  • Strengthens analytical and reasoning abilities
  • Sparks curiosity and thirst for knowledge
  • Increases cultural awareness and sensitivity
  • Encourages self-reflection
  • Enhances the ability to empathize with others’ emotions and experiences
  • Promotes emotional intelligence
  • Helps with time management and organization skills
  • Improves focus and attention span
  • Provides a sense of accomplishment after finishing a book
  • Builds resilience and perseverance
  • Enhances memory retention
  • Boosts self-esteem
  • Introduces new vocabulary and phrases in different languages
  • Serves as a form of mental exercise
  • Provides a sense of community through book clubs and discussions
  • Expands cultural knowledge and understanding
  • Improves decision-making skills
  • Encourages exploration of different genres and writing styles
  • Helps with understanding complex ideas and concepts
  • Promotes active listening skills
  • Enhances introspection and self-awareness
  • Sparks creativity and new ideas
  • Instills a habit of lifelong learning
  • Improves verbal and written communication
  • Provides an avenue for self-expression
  • Enhances problem-solving skills
  • Develops emotional intelligence and empathy for others
  • Promotes mental well-being and reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety
  • Increases vocabulary retention and usage
  • Improves ability to express thoughts and ideas clearly
  • Serves as a form of therapy
  • Boosts brain power and slows cognitive decline
  • Helps with better understanding of historical events
  • Provides an escape from daily routine and stressors
  • Encourages critical thinking and questioning of societal norms
  • Expands knowledge and understanding of different professions and industries
  • Stimulates creativity and innovation
  • Provides a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction
  • Encourages empathy for diverse perspectives
  • Improves communication skills in professional settings
  • Serves as a source of inspiration and motivation
  • Helps with developing self-discipline
  • Promotes cultural sensitivity and understanding
  • Enhances problem-solving skills in real-life situations
  • Offers a safe space for exploring different emotions and experiences
  • Builds understanding of complex social issues
  • Encourages questioning of one’s own beliefs and values
  • Strengthens reading comprehension abilities
  • Expands vocabulary in specialized fields
  • Enhances memory and retention of information
  • Helps with understanding and managing emotions
  • Promotes open-mindedness and acceptance of diverse perspectives
  • Encourages self-care and mental health awareness
  • Provides a sense of belonging in a community of readers
  • Builds resilience during challenging times
  • Improves overall academic performance
  • Inspires personal growth and development
  • Encourages cultural exchange and understanding
  • Fosters empathy for characters in literature
  • Serves as a form of self-therapy and reflection
  • Improves focus and concentration during daily tasks
  • Offers an outlet for relaxation and stress relief
  • Presents different viewpoints on societal issues
  • Develops analytical thinking skills through literary analysis
  • Encourages critical evaluation of information and sources
  • Promotes understanding of different cultures and lifestyles
  • Inspires travel and exploration through descriptions of different places in books
  • Offers a deeper understanding of human nature
  • Provides an opportunity for self-discovery and self-reflection
  • Enhances problem-solving skills by presenting various solutions in literature
  • Sparks curiosity and fosters a love for learning
  • Improves time management skills through setting aside dedicated reading time
  • Encourages empathy towards marginalized groups and individuals
  • Builds understanding of complex emotions and experiences
  • Promotes relaxation before sleep through reading as a bedtime ritual
  • Offers a way to bond with others over shared readings and discussions
  • Increases cultural competency in a globalized society
  • Provides an escapism from daily stressors and responsibilities

What are the 5 benefits of reading?

  • Knowledge Acquisition: Reading expands your knowledge and understanding of the world.
  • Improved Vocabulary: Regular reading enhances your language skills and vocabulary.
  • Stress Reduction: It can be a great way to relax and reduce stress.
  • Enhanced Focus and Concentration: Reading requires sustained attention, which can improve focus.
  • Empathy and Understanding: Reading exposes you to different perspectives and helps build empathy.

Why is reading 150 words important?

Reading 150 words is important because it allows you to gather sufficient information and context on a topic, idea, or story, enabling a deeper understanding and retention of the material. It strikes a balance between brevity and comprehensiveness, making it an effective way to convey information and engage readers.

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essay on the benefits of reading

11 Benefits of Reading That Will Convince You to Pick Up a Book Today

W hile the avid readers among us may be working their way through the best books of all time or devouring each of our most anticipated books of the year , most Americans don't have their noses stuck in a novel. And that's a shame, because there are so many benefits of reading.

Why is reading important? Studies have shown that a regular reading habit not only sharpens vocabulary but also reduces the brain's rate of decline in old age and expands "EQ" (aka emotional intelligence) and well-being.

The good news is that it's never too late to adopt a reading habit that'll enrich your life and teach you how to be smarter. With regular reading, you can increase your IQ—and then level up by learning how to read faster.

Get  Reader’s Digest ’s  Read Up newsletter for more books, humor, cleaning, travel, tech and fun facts all week long.

The benefits of reading

We read for fun, and we read to learn, but while entertainment and education are the most obvious benefits of opening a book, they're just the tip of the iceberg. "Reading has countless benefits, starting from birth [and lasting] through adulthood," says Judy Newman, chief impact officer at Scholastic.

Below, she and psychotherapist Diana Anson, LCSW, director of the Insight Therapy Solutions internal staff wellness program, discuss the many perks of making reading your newest hobby .

1. It gives your brain a workout

Want to challenge your mind? Crack open a book. A study published in the August 2023 issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports linked reading with better thinking skills in kids.

"The more you read, the better your brain works," explains Anson. "Even problem-solving becomes easier as you develop the ability to see problems from different angles. ... Reading is to the mind what the gym is to the body—only without the sweaty gym clothes."

Ultimately, reading challenges your brain more than watching TV or playing video games. That's because reading connects "parts of the brain that have evolved for other functions—such as vision, language and associative learning," Ken Pugh, PhD, president and director of research of Yale's Haskins Laboratories, said in an interview with Oprah magazine.

2. It might help keep your brain young

Digging into a good book can literally take years off your mind, according to a 2013 study published in Neurology . Researchers found that regular "cognitive activity" such as reading can help slow mental decline associated with aging.

A 2018 study also found a clear relationship between reading books and mental prowess in adulthood. Published in Frontiers in Psychology , the 15-year study suggested that reading books (but not magazines!) improved memory and verbal fluency regardless of age.

So if you're worried about your ability to remember things, this is your cue to sign up for a library card—and use it. This is one of the reading benefits you don't want to miss out on.

3. It melts away stress

If you've ever been swept up in a story, you're probably aware of the stress-reducing effect, one of the most immediate benefits of reading books.

"Reading is like escaping to a calmer dimension without leaving your couch," says Anson. "It can reduce stress and give you the same health benefits as deep relaxation and meditation ."

She points to a 2009 study at the University of Sussex, which found that even six minutes of daily reading can reduce stress levels by 68%. "Other studies have shown that regular readers report better sleep, less stress, higher self-esteem and lower rates of depression than non-readers," she adds.

4. It boosts your vocabulary

Even if it's been decades since you had to worry about the SATs, you can still use both novels and nonfiction books to expand your mental dictionary. Case in point: A study published in the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research found that students with above-average reading levels also had above-average vocabulary knowledge. In fact, researchers estimate that we learn 5% to 15% of all the words we know through reading, according to a Scholastic report.

Continuously learning new words is a great skill for game shows and trivia competitions, but it's also a surefire way to improve your communication skills and boost your reading speed.

5. It boosts mental wellness

Reading supports mental wellness, says Newman, and it's not hard to understand why. Who hasn't finished a feel-good book and, well, felt better ? Great stories can transport us to a happier place on tough days. But even less-rosy tales have a place: Well-rounded characters with relatable struggles help us feel less alone.

Teens who report reading often also report having better mental health, according to Scholastic's Kids & Family Reading Report. Other results that show the benefits of reading: 30% of infrequent readers reported feeling lonely compared with just 19% of frequent readers.

"A love of reading can be a powerful tool in supporting mental health, including boosting self-esteem, increasing empathy and mitigating anxiety and depression," says Newman.

6. It develops empathy

"Numerous studies have shown that readers of fiction books tend to empathize better with others," says Anson. "Reading about an experience allows a person to feel the same feelings as someone actually going through that experience."

Stepping into someone else's perspective can be life-changing. Immersive reading builds an understanding of how people around you might think or feel, which can change how you react to others. Guessing—with accuracy!—what other humans might be thinking or feeling is kind of like a secret superpower, says Anson. It can certainly help you become a better friend and leader.

7. It's a great motivator

Have you ever finished a great book and felt inspired by what you read? Maybe it's a YA book that follows a main character's growth from a shy wallflower to a confident heroine. It could be that a protagonist's romantic mishaps shine a light on fixes for your own relationship miscommunications. Or that a self-help book 's story of a brave request for a promotion motivates you to schedule a meeting with your boss.

Compelling books may motivate readers of all ages, but Newman says there's proof that reading actually leads to higher achievement at school. "According to the Scholastic Home Libraries white paper, just 21 minutes a day of reading outside of school results in higher scores on reading achievement tests," she reports.

8. It helps you sleep better

Sure, sometimes nail-biting true-crime books keep you up at night. And many a book lover has succumbed to the allure of "just one more chapter," only to continue straight through to the end. But one of the surprising benefits of reading is that books can help you sleep better.

"Turning off electronic screens and settling into a book before bedtime can improve sleep quality," says Anson. "The soft glow of the bedside lamp replaces the harsh blue light of devices, signaling your brain that it's time to wind down."

Of course, this benefit applies only to physical books. Research published in the journal Sleep Medicine shows that the light from e-readers and tablets can cut into your hours of quality shut-eye.

9. It could give your workout more staying power

Like the latest single from Taylor Swift or a binge-worthy Netflix show , books make great company during a workout. But have you ever considered that one of the benefits of reading a page-turner is that it keeps your mind occupied for longer while your body sweats it out?

Next time you hit the treadmill or elliptical, take a great thriller or mystery with you. Fast-paced fiction can occupy your mind and drive you to finish just another chapter before ending your workout for the day.

10. It builds community

"Reading is a solitary act that can build community ," says Anson. Think about it: Even if you read a book alone, you can share the experience and your opinions of the story with anyone else who has read the same book. Reading leads to book clubs and bedtime stories, fan fiction and forums. Join a group like, say, the Reader's Digest book club , and you don't just get book chats and recommendations; you get a community of like-minded individuals.

Plus, reading can be a great way to bond with the little ones in your life. Newman says Scholastic's research found that 92% of parents and their children think reading aloud is a special way to spend time together.

11. It helps you learn new things

Want to learn something new every day? Open a book—any book. "Reading helps kids understand the world around them," says Newman. "The majority of parents ... believe reading fiction and nonfiction is important for their child."

It's true: Almost any book can teach you new things. Great travel books can teach you about new languages and cultures. Even beach reads can teach you a thing or two about communication and relationships. Anson calls "how-to" books the original Google and says reading nonfiction is "like having a conversation with the world's experts without them interrupting you to check their phones."

How often do you have to read to reap the benefits?

Unfortunately, there's no magic answer to exactly how often you need to pick up a book to experience the benefits of reading. It's more about reading regularly than clocking a certain number of minutes per day.

"Try to plan three to four times a week when you can read with minimal disruptions," suggests Anson.

It sounds obvious, but Newman suggests that one of the keys to reading more often is enjoying the activity. So if you're struggling to find time to read three or four times a week, try getting pickier about your reading material. Is the biography on your nightstand boring you? It may not be a matter of learning how to focus properly. Just try a different book—maybe historical fiction or an easy, breezy rom-com .

"Each reading moment, when it creates a sense of 'book joy,' leads to the next, and together they build a frequent reader," says Newman.

About the experts

  • Diana Anson , LCSW, is an experienced psychotherapist and director of the Insight Therapy Solutions internal staff wellness program. She was a professor of psychology at the College of Southern Nevada for 30 years.
  • Judy Newman is a literacy advocate and the chief impact officer at Scholastic. She previously served as the President of Scholastic Book Clubs, the company's school-based book distribution channel.
  • Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports : "Effects of 2-year dietary and physical activity intervention on cognition in children—a nonrandomized controlled trial"
  • Oprah : "Watch This. No. Read It!"
  • Neurology : "Life-span cognitive activity, neuropathologic burden, and cognitive aging"
  • Frontiers in Psychology : "Reading Habits Among Older Adults in Relation to Level and 15-Year Changes in Verbal Fluency and Episodic Recall"
  • Scholastic : "10 Research-Tested Ways to Build Children's Vocabulary"
  • Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research : "The Influence of Reading on Vocabulary Growth: A Case for a Matthew Effect"
  • Scholastic : "Kids & Family Reading Report"
  • Scholastic : "Home Libraries"
  • Sleep Medicine : "Associations between screen time and sleep duration are primarily driven by portable electronic devices: evidence from a population-based study of U.S. children ages 0–17"

The post 11 Benefits of Reading That Will Convince You to Pick Up a Book Today appeared first on Reader's Digest .

11 Benefits of Reading That Will Convince You to Pick Up a Book Today

The Importance of Reading Essay in 100, 150, 200 & 500 Words

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By Vijay Gupta

Updated on: April 28, 2023

The importance of reading essay

Today, I’m going to write the importance of reading essay in 100, 150, 200 & 500 words. That means if you’re looking for an essay on the importance of reading, you have come to the right place.

Firstly, I’ll write the essay with headings so that you can write it comprehensively. After that, you will get to see the essay in 100, 150, and 200 words.

Hence without wasting your valuable time, let’s start writing the importance of reading essay.

See the short essay on my ambition of life .

Table of Contents

The Importance of Reading Essay with Headings in 500 Words

1. introduction.

Reading is the best practice whether it’s about reading a book or anything else. You get benefits in both situations.

Reading not only improves your thoughts but also develops your perspectives.

By reading, people’s mind moves towards positivity and serious thoughts. It actually changes the way you see the world. Reading keeps your mind more active than others. It also gives you knowledge about many things.

Reading anything is helpful. When you start taking interest in reading, your creative ability starts developing.

It prompts you to focus on the right path instead of choosing the wrong path. Overall, you can’t get such pleasure as you get in reading.

That’s why reading is very important in people’s life.

See also the essay on newspaper .

2. The Importance of reading

The importance of reading is as much as eating for living, that’s why its importance cannot be neglected.

When a child goes to school, he starts learning things related to his life. There, he tries to learn all the things that can enhance his understanding. At the same time, he tries to be creative. That is, the mind of the child starts developing by reading.

Overall, reading not only instills self-confidence in a person but also benefits him in many ways such as increasing knowledge, developing communication skills, reducing stress, etc.

Whenever a person gets into the habit of reading, he brings concentration to his studies. Reading more about a particular subject makes you more considerate and wiser than others. As a result, you’re able to explain right and wrong to anyone.

3. Changes after you start reading

When you start reading more, it starts changing your behavior, body language, perspectives, etc. You try to go deeper into what you read and start questioning. Overall, your perspective begins to change compared to others.

Reading makes you very strong not only creatively but also imaginatively. Also, it makes you mentally strong.

The more active you are in reading, the quicker you will be able to think things.

By reading more, you are able to do even the most difficult tasks very easily and patiently. It gives you such strength and confidence that you cannot get from anywhere else.

Reading initiates a vertical change in you that you cannot imagine.

4. Conclusion

If you have the habit of reading, surely you will have better knowledge than others, so if you don’t have the habit of reading, you should include it in your daily routine whether it is about reading books or anything else.

Reading for 30 and 35 minutes a day can take you to a higher level. So, I suggest you read whatever you love to read on a daily basis. It will always give you the advantage whether it is a matter of success or a bright future.

Reading books or other things will make you more relaxed than spending your free time.

Also, read the essay on Swachh Bharat Abhiyan .

The Importance of Reading Essay 200 Words

Reading is such a habit that can make anyone socially and mentally strong. It not only gives knowledge but also inspires us to uncover good thoughts.

Not all but there are still some people who like to read. When you get used to reading, your mind becomes sharper and more active than others.

Good reading always benefits you. Whatever you read gets set in your mind and when you remember it, you get many more new ideas.

Reading is also a kind of brain exercise that strengthens your mind.

While studying, you forget your past and future and always remain in the present. Also, it makes your memory better than others.

When someone gets inclined towards reading, he starts thinking in a new direction with a new beginning. At the same time, self-confidence starts growing inside and creativity starts improving.

Reading books or anything else is such an investment the benefit of which you get to see in the future. That’s why you all should include the habit of reading in you so that you can build a good society by spreading positive thoughts.

Read also, essay on social media addiction .

The Importance of Reading Essay 150 Words

Reading is so important in one’s life that without it one cannot gain knowledge. It increases stability, intelligence, and positivity in people’s minds.

Reading has been considered a good practice not from today but from the olden times. Today’s educated and employed people are good examples of this.

All of them have reached this point by reading books and proved how important reading is in our life. By reading books, people can easily utilize their time, avoid negative thoughts, achieve the goals set by them, etc.

Additionally, reading can easily raise the status of living. Actually, it brings changes in your language, style, attitude, vocabulary, etc. So, whenever you feel stressed or bored, you can read whatever you like.

As reading good books enhances knowledge, similarly reading newspapers and novels open your mind. Additionally, you get a vivid view of the surroundings.

By reading, your mind becomes calm and in one direction, due to which your concentration increases and you become smarter than others.

The Importance of Reading Short Essay 100 Words

A few people have the habit of reading. Those who have, understand its importance very well. The habit of reading is considered one of the good habits because by reading well you not only get knowledge but also get new vocabulary.

There can be many reasons for reading, but the main reason is to fill yourself with knowledge. You cannot get deep knowledge from anywhere except books.

It’s believed that the people who are fond of reading, their working style, intellectual ability, and creative ability are completely different from common people.

That’s why reading is very important. It’s really a very good way to de-stress yourself.

Final words

Eventually, I hope that the article must have proved to be very helpful for you. Now, you will have no problem writing the importance of reading essay.

If you really liked this article, please share it with those who need it.

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Vijay Gupta

Hello everyone, My name is Vijay Gupta and I belong to a very small town that is situated in district Hardoi, which is in Uttar Pradesh. 1. Education – I’ve completed my primary education from a private school that is situated in my hometown and upper primary, matric and higher secondary education have been completed from a government college. Well, I was an average student till class 5th, but I accelerated my preference towards studies from class six. Consequently, I passed out many classes with good positions. Even I passed out 12th with good marks ( 405/500 ) and topped my college. Due to getting good marks, I got a cheque of 500 rupees and was rewarded by the Principal of my college. After completing my 12th, I prepared twice for IIT ( Indian Institute of Technology ) from Aakash institute, but unfortunately, I failed to get selected into the best IIT colleges. But during the preparation, I was being graduated from CSJMU Kanpur. I completed my graduation in 2016 and now I’m pursuing an educational degree ( B.Ed. ). 2. Profession – Although I love teaching, but I also do blogging. Both are my favorite jobs.

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Essay on Benefits of Reading Newspaper

Students are often asked to write an essay on Benefits of Reading Newspaper in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Benefits of Reading Newspaper

Introduction.

Newspapers, a source of daily information, carry significant benefits. They not only enhance our knowledge but also keep us connected with the world.

Knowledge Enhancement

Newspapers are rich in information, improving our general knowledge and vocabulary. They cover diverse topics, helping us learn about various subjects.

Connection with the World

They provide news about global happenings, keeping us informed and connected. This helps in developing a global perspective.

Improves Reading Skills

Regular reading of newspapers can improve reading skills and comprehension. It’s a great tool for students to enhance their language skills.

In a nutshell, reading newspapers offers numerous benefits, making it a worthwhile habit.

250 Words Essay on Benefits of Reading Newspaper

Reading newspapers is an age-old practice that has been a part of our daily lives. Despite the advent of digital media, the significance of newspapers in providing reliable and comprehensive information remains unparalleled.

Cultural and Linguistic Enhancement

Newspapers are a treasure trove of knowledge, enhancing one’s linguistic skills and cultural awareness. They offer a diverse range of information, from local happenings to global events, which broadens a reader’s perspective. Reading newspapers not only improves vocabulary but also enhances understanding of language nuances.

Boosting Cognitive Abilities

Newspapers stimulate cognitive abilities. The habit of reading newspapers enhances memory and analytical skills. It helps in developing critical thinking, as newspapers present different viewpoints on a single issue, enabling readers to analyze and form their own opinions.

Keeping Abreast with Current Affairs

Newspapers keep us updated with current affairs, which is essential for students aspiring for competitive examinations. They provide in-depth coverage of political, economic, and social events, helping readers stay informed and participate in intellectual discussions.

In conclusion, the benefits of reading newspapers go beyond just gaining information. They contribute to personal growth, cognitive development, and social awareness. Despite the digital revolution, the importance of newspapers in shaping informed and responsible citizens cannot be underestimated. Therefore, incorporating the habit of reading newspapers in our daily routine is a step towards becoming a well-informed individual.

500 Words Essay on Benefits of Reading Newspaper

Newspapers, despite the surge of digital media, continue to hold a significant place in our daily lives. They serve as a crucial platform for a democratic society, providing us with news, opinions, and diverse perspectives. Reading newspapers offers numerous benefits, from enhancing knowledge to developing critical thinking skills.

Expanding Knowledge

Newspapers are a treasure trove of information. They cover a wide range of subjects including politics, economics, science, sports, culture, and more. Reading newspapers regularly can thus broaden one’s knowledge and understanding of various topics. This is not just beneficial for general knowledge, but it can also aid in academic progress, as it keeps students updated about the latest developments in their field of study.

Improved Language Skills

Newspapers are written by professional journalists who have a strong command over the language. Regular reading can thus significantly improve one’s language skills. It can enhance vocabulary, grammar, and comprehension skills, which are essential for effective communication. For college students, this can be particularly beneficial in improving their academic writing and presentation skills.

Developing Critical Thinking

Newspapers do not just report facts; they also present different viewpoints and analyses on various issues. Reading these can help develop critical thinking skills. It encourages readers to analyze the information presented, discern fact from opinion, and form their own views. This is a vital skill for college students, as it enhances their ability to understand complex concepts, solve problems, and make informed decisions.

Understanding Socio-political Dynamics

Newspapers provide an insight into the socio-political dynamics of the world. They cover news from different parts of the world, providing a global perspective on various issues. This can help students understand the interconnectedness of the world, the impact of policies and decisions, and the dynamics of power and change. This understanding can be particularly useful for students studying subjects like political science, international relations, sociology, and economics.

Enhancing Emotional Intelligence

Newspapers often cover human interest stories and social issues that can help enhance one’s emotional intelligence. Reading about different people, their struggles and achievements, their perspectives and experiences, can help develop empathy and understanding. This can be particularly beneficial for students in developing their interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence.

In conclusion, reading newspapers offers numerous benefits. It is a simple and effective way to enhance knowledge, improve language skills, develop critical thinking, understand socio-political dynamics, and enhance emotional intelligence. For college students, these benefits can significantly contribute to their academic and personal development. Despite the digital media surge, the importance and benefits of reading newspapers cannot be overlooked.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

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April 2, 2024

Eclipse Psychology: When the Sun and Moon Align, So Do We

How a total solar eclipse creates connection, unity and caring among the people watching

By Katie Weeman

Three women wearing eye protective glasses looking up at the sun.

Students observing a partial solar eclipse on June 21, 2020, in Lhokseumawe, Aceh Province, Indonesia.

NurPhoto/Getty Images

This article is part of a special report on the total solar eclipse that will be visible from parts of the U.S., Mexico and Canada on April 8, 2024.

It was 11:45 A.M. on August 21, 2017. I was in a grassy field in Glendo, Wyo., where I was surrounded by strangers turned friends, more than I could count—and far more people than had ever flocked to this town, population 210 or so. Golden sunlight blanketed thousands of cars parked in haphazard rows all over the rolling hills. The shadows were quickly growing longer, the air was still, and all of our faces pointed to the sky. As the moon progressively covered the sun, the light melted away, the sky blackened, and the temperature dropped. At the moment of totality, when the moon completely covered the sun , some people around me suddenly gasped. Some cheered; some cried; others laughed in disbelief.

Exactly 53 minutes later, in a downtown park in Greenville, S.C., the person who edited this story and the many individuals around him reacted in exactly the same ways.

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When a total solar eclipse descends—as one will across Mexico, the U.S. and Canada on April 8—everyone and everything in the path of totality are engulfed by deep shadow. Unlike the New Year’s Eve countdown that lurches across the globe one blocky time zone after another, the shadow of totality is a dark spot on Earth that measures about 100 miles wide and cruises steadily along a path, covering several thousand miles in four to five hours. The human experiences along that path are not isolated events any more than individual dominoes are isolated pillars in a formation. Once that first domino is tipped, we are all linked into something bigger—and unstoppable. We all experience the momentum and the awe together.

When this phenomenon progresses from Mexico through Texas, the Great Lakes and Canada on April 8, many observers will describe the event as life-changing, well beyond expectations. “You feel a sense of wrongness in those moments before totality , when your surroundings change so rapidly,” says Kate Russo, an author, psychologist and eclipse chaser. “Our initial response is to ask ourselves, ‘Is this an opportunity or a threat?’ When the light changes and the temperature drops, that triggers primal fear. When we have that threat response, our whole body is tuned in to taking in as much information as possible.”

Russo, who has witnessed 13 total eclipses and counting, has interviewed eclipse viewers from around the world. She continues to notice the same emotions felt by all. They begin with that sense of wrongness and primal fear as totality approaches. When totality starts, we feel powerful awe and connection to the world around us. A sense of euphoria develops as we continue watching, and when it’s over, we have a strong desire to seek out the next eclipse.

“The awe we feel during a total eclipse makes us think outside our sense of self. It makes you more attuned to things outside of you,” says Sean Goldy, a postdoctoral fellow at the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University.

Goldy and his team analyzed Twitter data from nearly 2.9 million people during the 2017 total solar eclipse. They found that people within the path of totality were more likely to use not only language that expressed awe but also language that conveyed being unified and affiliated with others. That meant using more “we” words (“us” instead of “me”) and more humble words (“maybe” instead of “always”).

“During an eclipse, people have a broader, more collective focus,” Goldy says. “We also found that the more people expressed awe, the more likely they were to use those ‘we’ words, indicating that people who experience this emotion feel more connected with others.”

This connectivity ties into a sociological concept known as “collective effervescence,” Russo and Goldy say. When groups of humans come together over a shared experience, the energy is greater than the sum of its parts. If you’ve ever been to a large concert or sporting event, you’ve felt the electricity generated by a hive of humans. It magnifies our emotions.

I felt exactly that unified feeling in the open field in Glendo, as if thousands of us were breathing as one. But that’s not the only way people can experience a total eclipse.

During the 2008 total eclipse in Mongolia “I was up on a peak,” Russo recounts. “I was with only my husband and a close friend. We had left the rest of our 25-person tour group at the bottom of the hill. From that vantage point, when the shadow came sweeping in, there was not one man-made thing I could see: no power lines, no buildings or structures. Nothing tethered me to time: It could have been thousands of years ago or long into the future. In that moment, it was as if time didn’t exist.”

Giving us the ability to unhitch ourselves from time—to stop dwelling on time is a unique superpower of a total eclipse. In Russo’s work as a clinical psychologist, she notices patterns in our modern-day mentality. “People with anxiety tend to spend a lot of time in the future. And people with depression spend a lot of time in the past,” she says. An eclipse, time and time again, has the ability to snap us back into the present, at least for a few minutes. “And when you’re less anxious and worried, it opens you up to be more attuned to other people, feel more connected, care for others and be more compassionate,” Goldy says.

Russo, who founded Being in the Shadow , an organization that provides information about total solar eclipses and organizes eclipse events around the world, has experienced this firsthand. Venue managers regularly tell her that eclipse crowds are among the most polite and humble: they follow the rules; they pick up their garbage—they care.

Eclipses remind us that we are part of something bigger, that we are connected with something vast. In the hours before and after totality you have to wear protective glasses to look at the sun, to prevent damage to your eyes. But during the brief time when the moon blocks the last of the sun’s rays, you can finally lower your glasses and look directly at the eclipse. It’s like making eye contact with the universe.

“In my practice, usually if someone says, ‘I feel insignificant,’ that’s a negative thing. But the meaning shifts during an eclipse,” Russo says. To feel insignificant in the moon’s shadow instead means that your sense of self shrinks, that your ego shrinks, she says.

The scale of our “big picture” often changes after witnessing the awe of totality, too. “When you zoom out—really zoom out—it blows away our differences,” Goldy says. When you sit in the shadow of a celestial rock blocking the light of a star 400 times its size that burns at 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit on its surface, suddenly that argument with your partner, that bill sitting on your counter or even the differences among people’s beliefs, origins or politics feel insignificant. When we shift our perspective, connection becomes boundless.

You don’t need to wait for the next eclipse to feel this way. As we travel through life, we lose our relationship with everyday awe. Remember what that feels like? It’s the way a dog looks at a treat or the way my toddler points to the “blue sky!” outside his car window in the middle of rush hour traffic. To find awe, we have to surrender our full attention to the beauty around us. During an eclipse, that comes easily. In everyday life, we may need to be more intentional.

“Totality kick-starts our ability to experience wonder,” Russo says. And with that kick start, maybe we can all use our wonderment faculties more—whether that means pausing for a moment during a morning walk, a hug or a random sunset on a Tuesday. In the continental U.S., we won’t experience another total eclipse until 2044. Let’s not wait until then to seek awe and connection.

  • Solar Eclipse 2024

What the World Has Learned From Past Eclipses

C louds scudded over the small volcanic island of Principe, off the western coast of Africa, on the afternoon of May 29, 1919. Arthur Eddington, director of the Cambridge Observatory in the U.K., waited for the Sun to emerge. The remains of a morning thunderstorm could ruin everything.

The island was about to experience the rare and overwhelming sight of a total solar eclipse. For six minutes, the longest eclipse since 1416, the Moon would completely block the face of the Sun, pulling a curtain of darkness over a thin stripe of Earth. Eddington traveled into the eclipse path to try and prove one of the most consequential ideas of his age: Albert Einstein’s new theory of general relativity.

Eddington, a physicist, was one of the few people at the time who understood the theory, which Einstein proposed in 1915. But many other scientists were stymied by the bizarre idea that gravity is not a mutual attraction, but a warping of spacetime. Light itself would be subject to this warping, too. So an eclipse would be the best way to prove whether the theory was true, because with the Sun’s light blocked by the Moon, astronomers would be able to see whether the Sun’s gravity bent the light of distant stars behind it.

Two teams of astronomers boarded ships steaming from Liverpool, England, in March 1919 to watch the eclipse and take the measure of the stars. Eddington and his team went to Principe, and another team led by Frank Dyson of the Greenwich Observatory went to Sobral, Brazil.

Totality, the complete obscuration of the Sun, would be at 2:13 local time in Principe. Moments before the Moon slid in front of the Sun, the clouds finally began breaking up. For a moment, it was totally clear. Eddington and his group hastily captured images of a star cluster found near the Sun that day, called the Hyades, found in the constellation of Taurus. The astronomers were using the best astronomical technology of the time, photographic plates, which are large exposures taken on glass instead of film. Stars appeared on seven of the plates, and solar “prominences,” filaments of gas streaming from the Sun, appeared on others.

Eddington wanted to stay in Principe to measure the Hyades when there was no eclipse, but a ship workers’ strike made him leave early. Later, Eddington and Dyson both compared the glass plates taken during the eclipse to other glass plates captured of the Hyades in a different part of the sky, when there was no eclipse. On the images from Eddington’s and Dyson’s expeditions, the stars were not aligned. The 40-year-old Einstein was right.

“Lights All Askew In the Heavens,” the New York Times proclaimed when the scientific papers were published. The eclipse was the key to the discovery—as so many solar eclipses before and since have illuminated new findings about our universe.

Telescope used to observe a total solar eclipse, Sobral, Brazil, 1919.

To understand why Eddington and Dyson traveled such distances to watch the eclipse, we need to talk about gravity.

Since at least the days of Isaac Newton, who wrote in 1687, scientists thought gravity was a simple force of mutual attraction. Newton proposed that every object in the universe attracts every other object in the universe, and that the strength of this attraction is related to the size of the objects and the distances among them. This is mostly true, actually, but it’s a little more nuanced than that.

On much larger scales, like among black holes or galaxy clusters, Newtonian gravity falls short. It also can’t accurately account for the movement of large objects that are close together, such as how the orbit of Mercury is affected by its proximity the Sun.

Albert Einstein’s most consequential breakthrough solved these problems. General relativity holds that gravity is not really an invisible force of mutual attraction, but a distortion. Rather than some kind of mutual tug-of-war, large objects like the Sun and other stars respond relative to each other because the space they are in has been altered. Their mass is so great that they bend the fabric of space and time around themselves.

Read More: 10 Surprising Facts About the 2024 Solar Eclipse

This was a weird concept, and many scientists thought Einstein’s ideas and equations were ridiculous. But others thought it sounded reasonable. Einstein and others knew that if the theory was correct, and the fabric of reality is bending around large objects, then light itself would have to follow that bend. The light of a star in the great distance, for instance, would seem to curve around a large object in front of it, nearer to us—like our Sun. But normally, it’s impossible to study stars behind the Sun to measure this effect. Enter an eclipse.

Einstein’s theory gives an equation for how much the Sun’s gravity would displace the images of background stars. Newton’s theory predicts only half that amount of displacement.

Eddington and Dyson measured the Hyades cluster because it contains many stars; the more stars to distort, the better the comparison. Both teams of scientists encountered strange political and natural obstacles in making the discovery, which are chronicled beautifully in the book No Shadow of a Doubt: The 1919 Eclipse That Confirmed Einstein's Theory of Relativity , by the physicist Daniel Kennefick. But the confirmation of Einstein’s ideas was worth it. Eddington said as much in a letter to his mother: “The one good plate that I measured gave a result agreeing with Einstein,” he wrote , “and I think I have got a little confirmation from a second plate.”

The Eddington-Dyson experiments were hardly the first time scientists used eclipses to make profound new discoveries. The idea dates to the beginnings of human civilization.

Careful records of lunar and solar eclipses are one of the greatest legacies of ancient Babylon. Astronomers—or astrologers, really, but the goal was the same—were able to predict both lunar and solar eclipses with impressive accuracy. They worked out what we now call the Saros Cycle, a repeating period of 18 years, 11 days, and 8 hours in which eclipses appear to repeat. One Saros cycle is equal to 223 synodic months, which is the time it takes the Moon to return to the same phase as seen from Earth. They also figured out, though may not have understood it completely, the geometry that enables eclipses to happen.

The path we trace around the Sun is called the ecliptic. Our planet’s axis is tilted with respect to the ecliptic plane, which is why we have seasons, and why the other celestial bodies seem to cross the same general path in our sky.

As the Moon goes around Earth, it, too, crosses the plane of the ecliptic twice in a year. The ascending node is where the Moon moves into the northern ecliptic. The descending node is where the Moon enters the southern ecliptic. When the Moon crosses a node, a total solar eclipse can happen. Ancient astronomers were aware of these points in the sky, and by the apex of Babylonian civilization, they were very good at predicting when eclipses would occur.

Two and a half millennia later, in 2016, astronomers used these same ancient records to measure the change in the rate at which Earth’s rotation is slowing—which is to say, the amount by which are days are lengthening, over thousands of years.

By the middle of the 19 th century, scientific discoveries came at a frenetic pace, and eclipses powered many of them. In October 1868, two astronomers, Pierre Jules César Janssen and Joseph Norman Lockyer, separately measured the colors of sunlight during a total eclipse. Each found evidence of an unknown element, indicating a new discovery: Helium, named for the Greek god of the Sun. In another eclipse in 1869, astronomers found convincing evidence of another new element, which they nicknamed coronium—before learning a few decades later that it was not a new element, but highly ionized iron, indicating that the Sun’s atmosphere is exceptionally, bizarrely hot. This oddity led to the prediction, in the 1950s, of a continual outflow that we now call the solar wind.

And during solar eclipses between 1878 and 1908, astronomers searched in vain for a proposed extra planet within the orbit of Mercury. Provisionally named Vulcan, this planet was thought to exist because Newtonian gravity could not fully describe Mercury’s strange orbit. The matter of the innermost planet’s path was settled, finally, in 1915, when Einstein used general relativity equations to explain it.

Many eclipse expeditions were intended to learn something new, or to prove an idea right—or wrong. But many of these discoveries have major practical effects on us. Understanding the Sun, and why its atmosphere gets so hot, can help us predict solar outbursts that could disrupt the power grid and communications satellites. Understanding gravity, at all scales, allows us to know and to navigate the cosmos.

GPS satellites, for instance, provide accurate measurements down to inches on Earth. Relativity equations account for the effects of the Earth’s gravity and the distances between the satellites and their receivers on the ground. Special relativity holds that the clocks on satellites, which experience weaker gravity, seem to run slower than clocks under the stronger force of gravity on Earth. From the point of view of the satellite, Earth clocks seem to run faster. We can use different satellites in different positions, and different ground stations, to accurately triangulate our positions on Earth down to inches. Without those calculations, GPS satellites would be far less precise.

This year, scientists fanned out across North America and in the skies above it will continue the legacy of eclipse science. Scientists from NASA and several universities and other research institutions will study Earth’s atmosphere; the Sun’s atmosphere; the Sun’s magnetic fields; and the Sun’s atmospheric outbursts, called coronal mass ejections.

When you look up at the Sun and Moon on the eclipse , the Moon’s day — or just observe its shadow darkening the ground beneath the clouds, which seems more likely — think about all the discoveries still yet waiting to happen, just behind the shadow of the Moon.

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Guest Essay

You Don’t Just See a Total Solar Eclipse. You Feel It Completely.

Illustration of a person in a desert sitting next to a truck, with the total solar eclipse in the sky reflected in the windshield.

By Ryan Milligan

Dr. Milligan is a senior lecturer in astrophysics at Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Almost one year ago, in the middle of the night, I drove from my hometown, Belfast, Northern Ireland, to Dublin to catch an early morning flight to Munich. From there I caught another plane to Bangkok, another to Singapore and yet another to Perth in Western Australia. There, I rented a camper van and began a drive of more than 750 miles north to the town of Exmouth on a remote peninsula on the northwest coast of the continent.

This was the only reasonably accessible location on the planet with decent weather prospects from which to view the total solar eclipse on April 20, 2023. The entire event lasted 62 seconds. It was the 10th total solar eclipse I’d traveled to witness.

Even as a professional solar physicist, I find it difficult to convey why eclipse chasers like me go to such extraordinary lengths to witness such a fleeting phenomenon, again and again. I was extra determined to make the pilgrimage last year after I was thwarted by clouds in Chile in December 2020, and I couldn’t afford the eye-watering cost of traveling to Antarctica in 2021. I needed to whet my appetite before embarking on another expedition to see the totality of the April 8 eclipse in Mazatlán, Mexico.

It may sound absurd, but there is no other celestial event that anyone I know would devote so much time and effort to seeing. If you wish to see the northern lights, you can hop on a plane to Iceland or Norway and have a fairly decent chance of seeing them in the winter months. If you are on the nightside of the planet during a lunar eclipse and the skies are clear, you just need to go outside and look up to see it happening. But unless you are fortunate enough to live within or close to the path of totality, witnessing a total solar eclipse will probably require meticulous planning and marshaling time and money to get you to an optimal location and a bit of luck to make sure the weather forecasts you’ve pored over hold true.

Believe me, it is worth the effort.

A total solar eclipse is not something that you see — it’s something that you experience. You can feel the temperature around you begin to drop by as much as 15 degrees over the five to 10 minutes that lead up to the eclipse. The birds and other animals go silent. The light becomes eerie and morphs into a dusky, muted twilight, and you begin to see stark, misplaced shadows abound. A column of darkness in the sky hurtles toward you at over 1,000 miles per hour as the moon’s shadow falls neatly over the sun, turning day into temporary night — nothing like the calming sunset we take for granted every day. Sometimes, a few stars or planets begin to appear faintly in the sky as your eyes get used to the new darkness.

The hairs stand up on the back of your neck and the adrenaline kicks in as your brain tries to make sense of what is going on. But it cannot. It has no other point of reference to compare these sensations to. A total eclipse elicits a unique, visceral, primeval feeling that cannot be evoked by a photograph or a video or a newspaper article, and that can be experienced only within the path of totality when the moon completely obscures the disk of the sun.

And then of course there is the crowning glory: the sun’s corona, the pearly white outer atmosphere of our nearest star that we can otherwise see only using a fleet of dedicated solar-observing spacecraft. It has an ethereal beauty that is challenging to articulate.

For those brief few moments when the corona appears bright in the sky, all the effort made to experience the totality becomes worth it. You want to soak up every second of it and process every feeling, because it is over all too soon. Once the moon’s shadow has passed you feel both exhilarated and deflated because the next opportunity to experience this sensation again could be years away and on the other side of the world. And it is something that you will crave.

There is also, of course, the professional motivation for me to gaze upon the subject of my research with my own eyes. Most other astrophysicists only get to look at exploding stars or distant comets through gargantuan telescopes, where they appear as mere pixels on a computer screen or a squiggle on a graph. It’s easy to get detached from the beauty of astronomy when your job becomes more focused on securing grant funding, teaching, administrative duties and bureaucracy. Eclipse chasing reminds me why I chose this field of work in the first place and reignites my passion — and I want to inspire my students with that same passion.

Each eclipse is different. The shape and structure of the solar corona varies over the course of each solar cycle. The longer the duration of the eclipse, the darker one’s surroundings are likely to seem. And sandwiched between the sun’s “surface” and the corona is the crimson red chromosphere, the layer of the sun’s atmosphere that I have been researching for almost 20 years to understand its relationship to solar flares. In Australia the briefness of totality meant that this region was exceptionally bright and distinguished, and one could even spot some solar prominences (clouds of hydrogen gas suspended above the chromosphere) with the naked eye. That may also be the case on Monday.

People mistakenly think that a partial eclipse is good enough. It is not. When outside the path of totality, the visibility of even 1 percent of the sun’s disk is enough to outshine the entire corona. The buzz around this year’s eclipse through North America has reached a fever pitch not seen since the “Great American Eclipse” of 2017. The duration of totality will be almost twice as long — almost four and a half minutes. (Whether the weather will cooperate is still an open question .)

This is far from the first time I’ve tried to cajole people into experiencing the totality in full. In 2017, I persuaded several of my friends in the United States to join me in Nebraska to enjoy the spectacle without forcing them to traipse halfway across the globe. They later told me that they at first thought I may have been somewhat exaggerating the experience because of my professional bias, but when the eclipse was over, I knew that they finally got it. Their faces were overcome with emotion and they struggled to articulate how they were feeling. Because it wasn’t just about what they had seen — it was about what they had experienced.

Ryan Milligan is a solar physicist at Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He has held research fellowships at NASA and the Science and Technology Facilities Council in Britain and was affiliated with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center for over a decade.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

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Fortune’s Best Companies to Work For credit trust and culture—not pay and benefits—for high employee satisfaction

Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta (ranked on Fortune's Best Places to Work list) says trust is "at the core of culture."

Good morning.  As the U.S. election heats up, many corporate leaders are backing down from their commitments to so-called “ESG” topics—climate, diversity, speaking out on social issues. They want to avoid being branded a “woke” CEO or getting caught in political crossfire.

But for the best companies, this discussion has never been about politics or adhering to some alphabet mandate. It’s about how you lead a great company in an economy where people are your most important asset and where engaging and inspiring people is the route to business success.

I spent an hour earlier this week with three of the best of this breed, in a webinar Fortune held in partnership with UKG , timed to the release of Fortune ’s 27th annual 100 Best Companies to Work For list. (You can find the list here .) Three CEOs ran companies on the list— Hilton (No. 1), Edward Jones (No. 31) and Delta (No. 94). But what I found interesting was that none of them focused on a splashy pay and benefit package, and indeed two of them achieved their success while recovering from the devastating effects of the pandemic.

How did they do it? Some excerpts from the conversation:

“ We used to write a lot about the perks. But what we know is that a great workplace is defined by trust— the trust that we have for the people that we work with. We want to be respected. We want to be communicated with in an honest way. We want to be treated in a fair and equitable way. We want to work with people that we enjoy working with and we expect leaders to add people to teams that are going to add to that enjoyment. And we want our work to have special meaning, which means, when we go to work, our personal purpose is somehow fulfilled by the work that we do. ”

—Michael Bush, CEO, Great Place to Work ( Fortune ‘s partner on the Best Companies list)

“ We’re in a service industry, and our job is delivering exceptional experiences to our customers all the time … If I want to do that, and I want to do it better than our competitors and deliver that  alpha . My team has to be inspired. They have to feel part of something bigger than them. They have to understand what the purpose is and understand how they fit into it and trust it. They have to feel good about it. And when they do feel good about it, they feel empowered. They give more effort, which translates into  alpha  and delivering better experiences for customers. ”

—Chris Nassetta, CEO, Hilton

“ Why are we here? Why do we get up every morning? Why do we continue to be resilient in the face of so many things that are changing for our clients and for us as professionals. Well, it’s because it really matters. It really matters in the lives of millions and millions of people that we are entrusted with their assets, with their hopes and dreams, with their financial plans. And so that trust, that human connection is very purposeful.  “

—Penny Pennington, Managing Partner, Edward Jones

“ Trust is foundational, as both Chris and Penny  expressed well. It sits at the core of culture. It sits at the core of our business. Our customers trust us with respect to their lives, you know. Every day we put 500,000 people on our planes, and we take the very best care of them to get them safely and comfortably to their destination, and we do it 5,000 flights a day, with over 100,000 employees scattered around the world. Our employees have to know we have their back .”

—Ed Bastian, CEO, Delta.

More news below.

essay on the benefits of reading

Alan Murray @alansmurray [email protected]

South Korea’s elections

South Korea voters rejected President Yoon Suk Yeol’s conservative party in legislative elections on Wednesday. Korea’s opposition Democratic Party is on track to win over 170 seats in the legislature, just short of a super majority that can override presidential vetoes. Yoon has tried to deepen Korea’s security relationships with partners like the U.S. and Japan, but has stumbled in implementing domestic policy changes, like tax cuts and eased business regulations. Reuters

Simon & Schuster turns 100

Simon & Schuster celebrated its 100th anniversary on Tuesday, as the publisher's new owner KKR invests in new imprints and hires more editors. Fears that KKR would gut the publisher haven’t been born out: “That’s not how you deliver a return on investment in the current world,” says Richard Sarnoff, KKR’s chairman of media and chair of Simon & Schuster’s board. The New York Times

McKinsey layoffs

McKinsey will cut around 360 jobs globally, primarily in departments like design, data engineering, and software. Traditional consultants aren’t affected by the layoffs. Consulting firms are warning that their usual corporate clients are starting to pull back on long-term spending. Bloomberg

AROUND THE WATERCOOLER

Exclusive: Wiz acquires Gem Security by Allie Garfinkel 

SEC moves to sue Uniswap in bid to hobble fast-growing DeFi sector by Jeff John Roberts

A German Rust Belt? As Chinese EVs like BYD swarm Europe’s key markets, historic examples of deindustrialization pose a warning to the continent’s carmakers by Ryan Hogg

Engineers at Baltimore’s fallen port are working so diligently, they expect to restore service months earlier than expected by Dylan Sloan

French IT firm Atos was once a crown jewel valued at $15 billion. Now, it’s drowning in debt, and the government is helping it stay afloat by Prarthana Prakash

How a ‘rebel’ hire at Autodesk ascended to the company’s top job by Fortune Editors

T his edition of CEO Daily was curated by Nicholas Gordon. 

This is the web version of CEO Daily, a newsletter of must-read insights from Fortune CEO Alan Murray. Sign up to get it delivered free to your inbox.

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