Jul 7 2014, 11:19 AM, updated 12y ago
Also, brain acts like muscles, the more you use it the more developed it becomes. Reading fiction allows you to stretch more parts of your brain because of the additional simulations in processing multiple characters and their behaviors, judging the story's believability and predicting the outcome, as oppose to the straight delivery of a fact-based textbook.
Here are a selection of articles I found on Internet I believe to be helpful in convincing you to pick up a novel:
QUOTE(Reading Fiction Improves Brain Connectivity and Function @ http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-at...ty-and-function )
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Neuroscientists have discovered that reading a novel can improve brain function on a variety of levels. The recent study on the brain benefits of reading fiction was conducted at Emory University. The study titled, “Short- and Long-Term Effects of a Novel on Connectivity in the Brain," was recently published in the journal Brain Connectivity.
The researchers found that becoming engrossed in a novel enhances connectivity in the brain and improves brain function. Interestingly, reading fiction was found to improve the reader's ability to put themselves in another person’s shoes and flex the imagination in a way that is similar to the visualization of a muscle memory in sports.
Modern day reading habits continue to evolve in a digital age. Statistics vary on exactly how many people are reading novels this decade compared to decades past. There is a definite trend for general readers to buy more fiction than nonfiction books—and to get facts, news and crystallized knowledge from the internet. In 2012, only four of the top twenty books were nonfiction titles.
"People are interested in escape," says Carol Fitzgerald of the Book Report Network. "In a number of pages, the story will open, evolve and close, and a lot of what's going on in the world today is not like that. You've got this encapsulated escape that you can enjoy."
When Was the Last Time You Read a Good Novel?
Are you someone who likes to read novels? Surprisingly, 42% of college graduates will never read a book again after graduating college. A 2012 “Pew Internet and American Life Project” survey found that people who like to read fiction are driven by personal enrichment and described what they liked about reading saying things like: “I love being exposed to ideas and being able to experience so many times, places, and events.” Another person was quoted as saying, “I look at it as a mind stimulant, and it is relaxing.” Others expressed the pleasure of living vicariously through a character and having another “life of the mind.”
According to the study, reading is a lifestyle choice that is also driven by a desire to unplug from a constant stream of visual information. Readers said things like: “It’s better for me to imagine things in my head than watch them on TV ... It’s an alternate to TV that beats TV every time ... Reading is better than anything electronic.” One respondent captured the general sentiment of avid fiction readers by saying, "I love being able to get outside myself.”
One of the benefits of getting outside yourself by putting yourself in someone else's shoes through a novel is that it improves theory of mind. As the father of a 6-year-old, I realize the imaginative and cognitive benefits of children losing themselves in a good story and learning to empathize with a fictional character. Although lots of people are still reading fiction, this new study confirms that people of all ages should be encouraged to increase reading time while striving to reduce TV time.
The average American home has 2.86 TV sets, which is roughly 18% higher than in the year 2000 (2.43 sets per home), and 43% higher than in 1990 (2.0 sets). In America, there are currently more televisions per home than human beings. On average, children under the age of 8 spend over 90 minutes a day watching television or DVDs.
Nearly 33% of American children live in a household where the television is on all or most of the time. Children between the ages 8-18 years old watch an average of three hours of television a day. On average, 61% of children under two use some type of screen technology and 43% watch television every day. This is disturbing to me.
One of the problems of watching television is that it reduces theory of mind. Theory of mind (often abbreviated "ToM") is the ability to attribute mental states—beliefs, intents, desires, pretending, knowledge, etc.—to oneself and others and to understand that others have beliefs, desires, and intentions that are different from one's own.
Unfortunately, television is the least interactive of any new media and is the one most likely to reduce theory of mind. A paper titled “The Relation Between Television Exposure and Theory of Mind Among Preschoolers” was published in November 2013 in the Journal of Communication. The researchers found that preschoolers who have a TV in their bedroom and are exposed to more background TV have a weaker understanding of other people's beliefs and desires, and reduced cognitive development.
Reading Improves Brain Connectivity
The changes caused by reading a novel were registered in the left temporal cortex, an area of the brain associated with receptivity for language, as well as the the primary sensorimotor region of the brain. Neurons of this region have been associated with tricking the mind into thinking it is doing something it is not, a phenomenon known as grounded, or embodied cognition.
An example of embodied cognition is similar to visualization in sports—just thinking about playing basketball, can activate the neurons associated with the physical act of playing basketball.
“The neural changes that we found associated with physical sensation and movement systems suggest that reading a novel can transport you into the body of the protagonist,” said neuroscientist Professor Gregory S. Berns, lead author of the study. The ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes improves theory of mind.
“Stories shape our lives and in some cases help define a person,” said Dr. Berns, director of Emory University's Center for Neuropolicy in Atlanta. He added, “We want to understand how stories get into your brain, and what they do to it.”
The storytelling aspect of a novel is a multi-faceted form of communication that engages a broad range of brain regions. Although several linguistic and literary theories describe what constitutes a story, neurobiological research has just begun to identify the brain networks that are active when processing stories.
To determine a time frame of which connectivity in the brain lasted the longest, the researchers measured changes in resting-state connectivity before and after reading a novel. The researchers chose a novel over a short story because the length and depth of the novel would allow them to a set of repeated engagements with associated, unique stimuli (sections of the novel) set in a broader, controlled stimulus context that could be consumed between several periods in a brain scan.
The researchers took fMRI scans of the brains of 21 undergraduate students while they rested. Then the students were asked to read sections of the 2003 thriller novel “Pompeii” by Robert Harris over nine nights. The students' brains were scanned each morning following the nightly reading assignment, and then again daily for five days after they had finished the book.
Conclusion: Reading Improves Embodied Cognition and Theory of Mind
The scans revealed heightened connectivity within the students' brains on the mornings following the reading assignments. The areas with enhanced connectivity included the students' left temporal cortex, an area of the brain associated with language comprehension, as well as in the brain's central sulcus, which is associated with sensations and movement.
"The anterior (front) bank of the sulcus contains neurons that control movement of parts of the body," Berns noted. Adding, "The posterior (rear) bank contains neurons that receive sensory input from the parts of the body. Enhanced connectivity here was a surprise finding, but it implies that, perhaps, the act of reading puts the reader in the body of the protagonist."
The ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes through embodied cognition is key to improving theory of mind and also the ability to be compassionate. Although this study does not directly draw these conclusions, it seems like common sense that if we encourage our children to read—as opposed to tuning out through television—theory of mind and the ability to be compassionate to another person's suffering will improve.
Reading a good novel allows your imagination to take flight. Novels allow you to forget about your day-to-day troubles and to transport yourself to a fantasy world that becomes a reality in your mind’s eye. Rarely is the movie adaptation of a book ever quite as good as the original novel. Even the most advanced special effects will always fall short of the visual power of your own imagination.
Berns concluded, "At a minimum, we can say that reading stories—especially those with strong narrative arcs—reconfigures brain networks for at least a few days. It shows how stories can stay with us. This may have profound implications for children and the role of reading in shaping their brains."
Finding a good novel can be tough. I generally only finish about a third of the books I start. Goodreads did a year end ‘Best Fiction of 2013’ reader’s choice awards which has some terrific suggestions for novels that you might enjoy.
The researchers found that becoming engrossed in a novel enhances connectivity in the brain and improves brain function. Interestingly, reading fiction was found to improve the reader's ability to put themselves in another person’s shoes and flex the imagination in a way that is similar to the visualization of a muscle memory in sports.
Modern day reading habits continue to evolve in a digital age. Statistics vary on exactly how many people are reading novels this decade compared to decades past. There is a definite trend for general readers to buy more fiction than nonfiction books—and to get facts, news and crystallized knowledge from the internet. In 2012, only four of the top twenty books were nonfiction titles.
"People are interested in escape," says Carol Fitzgerald of the Book Report Network. "In a number of pages, the story will open, evolve and close, and a lot of what's going on in the world today is not like that. You've got this encapsulated escape that you can enjoy."
When Was the Last Time You Read a Good Novel?
Are you someone who likes to read novels? Surprisingly, 42% of college graduates will never read a book again after graduating college. A 2012 “Pew Internet and American Life Project” survey found that people who like to read fiction are driven by personal enrichment and described what they liked about reading saying things like: “I love being exposed to ideas and being able to experience so many times, places, and events.” Another person was quoted as saying, “I look at it as a mind stimulant, and it is relaxing.” Others expressed the pleasure of living vicariously through a character and having another “life of the mind.”
According to the study, reading is a lifestyle choice that is also driven by a desire to unplug from a constant stream of visual information. Readers said things like: “It’s better for me to imagine things in my head than watch them on TV ... It’s an alternate to TV that beats TV every time ... Reading is better than anything electronic.” One respondent captured the general sentiment of avid fiction readers by saying, "I love being able to get outside myself.”
One of the benefits of getting outside yourself by putting yourself in someone else's shoes through a novel is that it improves theory of mind. As the father of a 6-year-old, I realize the imaginative and cognitive benefits of children losing themselves in a good story and learning to empathize with a fictional character. Although lots of people are still reading fiction, this new study confirms that people of all ages should be encouraged to increase reading time while striving to reduce TV time.
The average American home has 2.86 TV sets, which is roughly 18% higher than in the year 2000 (2.43 sets per home), and 43% higher than in 1990 (2.0 sets). In America, there are currently more televisions per home than human beings. On average, children under the age of 8 spend over 90 minutes a day watching television or DVDs.
Nearly 33% of American children live in a household where the television is on all or most of the time. Children between the ages 8-18 years old watch an average of three hours of television a day. On average, 61% of children under two use some type of screen technology and 43% watch television every day. This is disturbing to me.
One of the problems of watching television is that it reduces theory of mind. Theory of mind (often abbreviated "ToM") is the ability to attribute mental states—beliefs, intents, desires, pretending, knowledge, etc.—to oneself and others and to understand that others have beliefs, desires, and intentions that are different from one's own.
Unfortunately, television is the least interactive of any new media and is the one most likely to reduce theory of mind. A paper titled “The Relation Between Television Exposure and Theory of Mind Among Preschoolers” was published in November 2013 in the Journal of Communication. The researchers found that preschoolers who have a TV in their bedroom and are exposed to more background TV have a weaker understanding of other people's beliefs and desires, and reduced cognitive development.
Reading Improves Brain Connectivity
The changes caused by reading a novel were registered in the left temporal cortex, an area of the brain associated with receptivity for language, as well as the the primary sensorimotor region of the brain. Neurons of this region have been associated with tricking the mind into thinking it is doing something it is not, a phenomenon known as grounded, or embodied cognition.
An example of embodied cognition is similar to visualization in sports—just thinking about playing basketball, can activate the neurons associated with the physical act of playing basketball.
“The neural changes that we found associated with physical sensation and movement systems suggest that reading a novel can transport you into the body of the protagonist,” said neuroscientist Professor Gregory S. Berns, lead author of the study. The ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes improves theory of mind.
“Stories shape our lives and in some cases help define a person,” said Dr. Berns, director of Emory University's Center for Neuropolicy in Atlanta. He added, “We want to understand how stories get into your brain, and what they do to it.”
The storytelling aspect of a novel is a multi-faceted form of communication that engages a broad range of brain regions. Although several linguistic and literary theories describe what constitutes a story, neurobiological research has just begun to identify the brain networks that are active when processing stories.
To determine a time frame of which connectivity in the brain lasted the longest, the researchers measured changes in resting-state connectivity before and after reading a novel. The researchers chose a novel over a short story because the length and depth of the novel would allow them to a set of repeated engagements with associated, unique stimuli (sections of the novel) set in a broader, controlled stimulus context that could be consumed between several periods in a brain scan.
The researchers took fMRI scans of the brains of 21 undergraduate students while they rested. Then the students were asked to read sections of the 2003 thriller novel “Pompeii” by Robert Harris over nine nights. The students' brains were scanned each morning following the nightly reading assignment, and then again daily for five days after they had finished the book.
Conclusion: Reading Improves Embodied Cognition and Theory of Mind
The scans revealed heightened connectivity within the students' brains on the mornings following the reading assignments. The areas with enhanced connectivity included the students' left temporal cortex, an area of the brain associated with language comprehension, as well as in the brain's central sulcus, which is associated with sensations and movement.
"The anterior (front) bank of the sulcus contains neurons that control movement of parts of the body," Berns noted. Adding, "The posterior (rear) bank contains neurons that receive sensory input from the parts of the body. Enhanced connectivity here was a surprise finding, but it implies that, perhaps, the act of reading puts the reader in the body of the protagonist."
The ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes through embodied cognition is key to improving theory of mind and also the ability to be compassionate. Although this study does not directly draw these conclusions, it seems like common sense that if we encourage our children to read—as opposed to tuning out through television—theory of mind and the ability to be compassionate to another person's suffering will improve.
Reading a good novel allows your imagination to take flight. Novels allow you to forget about your day-to-day troubles and to transport yourself to a fantasy world that becomes a reality in your mind’s eye. Rarely is the movie adaptation of a book ever quite as good as the original novel. Even the most advanced special effects will always fall short of the visual power of your own imagination.
Berns concluded, "At a minimum, we can say that reading stories—especially those with strong narrative arcs—reconfigures brain networks for at least a few days. It shows how stories can stay with us. This may have profound implications for children and the role of reading in shaping their brains."
Finding a good novel can be tough. I generally only finish about a third of the books I start. Goodreads did a year end ‘Best Fiction of 2013’ reader’s choice awards which has some terrific suggestions for novels that you might enjoy.
QUOTE(7 Benefits of Writing Fiction @ http://dreaminghobbit.com/2014/05/7-benefi...riting-fiction/)
» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
I’ve heard it said that stories aren’t important, and that being an author isn’t a worthy aspiration in life. Skeptics have said that storytelling and imagining is a waste of time. Dreams and desires to imagine and create aren’t beneficial to your life, and much less to your future. Fantasy is just a stupid illusion, and in no way practical. I’m guessing I am not the only one to have heard things like this, and if you have, let this post be an encouragement to you.
These statements are not true. I know so many aspiring authors who show beautiful talent. It’s discouraging to be told that your talents and how you choose to use them are “a waste”, or “unworthy.” The idea that using storytelling and using your imagination isn’t beneficial or worth pursuing is a lie. I’m here to share with you some of the many ways that being a writer is in fact a wonderfully brilliant and worthy goal.
1. Stories Make a Difference
“It’s like in the great stories Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end it’s only a passing thing, this shadow, even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines it’ll shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something even if you were too small to understand why. But I think Mr. Frodo, I do understand, I know now folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going because they were holding onto something.” – Samwise Gamgee, The Two Towers (J.R.R Tolkien)
This is a fantastic example of the benefit of fiction. Stories are inspiring. They show us that there are some things in this world that are worth holding onto, and fighting for. They use made-up characters to demonstrate to us the worth of believing in something. Stories make a difference, and so do the people who write them. In the words of another teenage writer:
“I want to be remembered as someone who was known for the good and great things they did with their life, and not forgotten for the OK things I occasionally do.” – Lela
Many young people want to make a difference, but aren’t certain how to do it. As writers, we have a clear shot at this goal, and that alone makes it worth pursuing. To any young writers who are struggling with whether or not your story will make a difference; it can. In the words of Christina: “If you write something, no matter what genre or type of story, it has the chance to impact someone. Even if you just show it to one person. They might not say it, but it could help them immensely. Writing also helps you as a person. Imagination and creativity are parts of who you are. If there’s none of that, how different are you from the next person?”
If you have a dream to write, or to tell stories and use your creativity in any capacity, don’t let go of it. It is worth something.
2. Writing Teaches Valuable Lessons
It is true that storytelling can be one of our best teachers, and not just about the art and craft of writing fiction, but about people; about principles of right and wrong, and about life as a whole. Another of my author friends shares some of the ways this is true for him: “Writing fiction has opened my eyes to how complex God made people. I knew before that people are amazing creations, yet I never dwelt on it much before. … Writing fiction, especially fantasy, has been the single-most useful application of my academic studies. … Plotting out an entire timeline stretching thousands of years gives me a great appreciation for the complexity and importance of history. Same with religion.”
The truth is that the skills learned through writing and using your imagination carry over into many, many aspects of life. My very good friend, Matt, puts it this way: “Writing is more than making up a dreamland, it’s more than creating imaginary friends for yourself and your readers. It is also very applicable to every occupation that requires written communication.”
This is something I can personally attest to. The art of crafting fictitious stories has enabled me to write better essays, articles, speeches, etc. It has taught me a great about writing and communication as a whole; not just writing novels or other forms of fiction.
Another brilliant point that Matt brings up is this: “How much information is shared through books? How much do you learn while researching to write a book? The answer is ‘a lot’ in both cases.” This is so very true. I can personally say that I channeled 90% of my high school education towards my passion for writing. I used my love of history to research for historical fiction, and my knowledge of science for practical use in stories. Even if someone doesn’t enjoy a particular academic study, the chance that their view will change through the pursuit of writing is definitely possible, if not probable.
The idea that writing [fiction] is worthless and doesn’t benefit a person in general is a lie.
3. It Expands Imagination and Inspires Critical Thinking
I know that, since I began taking my writing seriously, I have delved deeper into the consideration of certain subjects than ever before in my life, such as theology, the way people function and relate to each other, how to present beliefs, and general logic.
I’ve heard it said that using one’s imagination is impractical, but that is absurd. God created us with the ability to create. In the words of Lela, “We have a Great Author, so why not write?” A very good point. In fact, it has been my experience that using my imagination to create made-up people and scenarios helps me to consider reality in a different, more practical light.
“[…] Imagination isn’t bad…. We have creative minds for a reason. It’s not like God gave us the capacity to think creatively on accident. He Himself created a world and all of the characters in it. When we write stories, we reflect God.” – Anna R.
As Anna puts it, God enabled us to use our imaginations for a reason. When you channel your imaginings towards creating a believable and logical story, it allows for that thinking to carry over into the practical purposes of life. Imagining can often challenge you to think critically about things, and to consider subjects on a deeper level. In fact, it inspires it. Both writing and reading challenge us to think outside the box of mundane practicality. Pondering [read: imagining] is a very beneficial gift from God.
4. Writing Reveals Truth
Every good story is based on conflict. Conflict happens when two people, or parties, or ideas differ. These differences can be between good and evil, two goods, or two evils. Telling stories demonstrates this truth in a way that many things fail to. It shows it in a way that cannot be otherwise explained.
Writing is simply a creative way to show the reasons that these things are true. One young writer puts it like this: “Stories were a big part of my childhood….I was enamored with them, even if I didn’t realize it at first. The heroes and characters did these awesome things and got to go on these awesome adventures that I never had or could have. Now, they help me understand things and confirm my belief of right and wrong. They remind me that the truth and right are actually quite simple.”
The beauty of this is expressed in the first sentence, when she states that stories were a major part of her childhood. Storytelling is a wonderful way to communicate truths, not only to adults, but to young children as well.
Jesus himself used parables—stories, to communicate truth to His followers. Why? Because there is a level of understanding that can only be grasped through the use of fiction. Storytelling has a way of putting the truth in a new light. It paints a unique picture that calls for readers to use their imagination as well as their intellect, and those two things, when coupled together, become incredibly powerful.
This entire segment can be summed up in one brilliant quote:
“Fairytales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” – G.K. Chesteron
5. Storytelling Adds Perspective
One of the most valuable things that I have obtained from writing fiction is a fresh perspective on life, on people, and on the world in general. Working with made-up characters can give incredible insights into the way that real people work; how they act, what they think, why they do what they do. My ability to understand the complexity of life has been born of my passion for creating stories. And yet at the same time, it makes me appreciate the simple, lesser seen aspects.
One young author I know says, “[… ] I think my characters have helped me learn how to empathize. By getting into their heads, I can understand other people better.” This is something I identify with 100%. Before I began writing, I had far less perspective on how to relate to people who were different than I am. I had a different, more clouded view of how to solve conflicts. Learning how people work in stories of your own creation is one of the most valuable tools to recognizing how they work in everyday life.
Writing has also given me a new perspective on how I work. Just as it has caused me to think more deeply on subjects, it has caused me to realize things about myself that I never knew before. Another quote from a fellow author on this subject is: “It helps me understand myself, because, of course, a bit of myself goes into every fiber of my story and my characters. Sometimes I don’t realize things about me until I see a character do it.” Storytelling calls for the author to delve deeply into themselves to find their stories, because that is what makes them worth telling.
“A reader [or writer] lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” – George R.R. Martin
The perspectives gained through crafting and weaving tapestries of fiction are incredibly valuable.
“It helps me to understand people better, and why they act and do the things they do. It teaches that everyone has a story – all of us have worth. It builds communication skills and helps us to think logically, and broadens vocabulary. It has the same benefits you might attribute to putting together puzzles.” – Cnemi
6. It Provides Freedom
Many young people, particularly teenagers, are often unsure of how to express themselves. The question comes up time and time again, “Does my opinion really matter?” And if it does, who would want to hear it? Writing, and the creating of fictional worlds allows freedom for expression. It’s a place to put feelings, and to sort out beliefs. It’s a place where you can see your mind at work and learn to be who God created you to be. It’s a place where you are free to create.
“Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write.” – John Adams
Writing frees you to delve deep into the life of a fictional character, to experience adventure, heartache, excitement, failure, and hope through someone else’s eyes when you can’t experience them through your own. As authors, we must be daring, as this quote says. We must dare to use this freedom.
“A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they say it. Writers know words are their way towards truth and freedom, and so they use them with care, with thought, with fear, with delight.” – Ursula K. Le Guin
God gave us the gift of words, and the freedom to allow us to use them for His glory. He created, therefore, we create. He gave us the freedom to live a full life that we would never otherwise live.
7. Writing Provides Purpose and Direction
Along with the struggle for expression, comes another struggle in every person’s life; the struggle for purpose. Some would say that writing is not a noble goal, but that is not the case. In fact, it is not true in the least. Writing is one of the greatest purposes known to man. People who have a passion for storytelling should never have to be told that “it is a waste” of their life.
“Writing is an extreme privilege but it’s also a gift. It’s a gift to yourself and it’s a gift of giving a story to someone.” – Amy Tan
Writing is a very noble purpose, and people who say otherwise simple don’t understand it. They lack knowledge of the depths and inner-workings of what makes a story powerful, along with the process of creating it. They speak to what they don’t comprehend. Because writing is a gift, just like Amy Tan states in this quote, and a powerful gift at that.
The purpose of writing can be summed up in all seven of these points, and the need for people to do it can be summed up in the words of Kristin, who says, “God gives us all talents to use for His glory….Would He really invent something if it wasn’t important, and if stories were not valuable, would He have written the greatest love story of all time? …. If writing wasn’t valuable, how would we have the Bible?”
She makes an excellent point by saying that God Himself created the purpose for writing. He is the one who made it valuable by providing us with the most incredible story ever told. And if God loves creating, who can say that such a thing is not a noble purpose or goal to strive for?
God created us in His image and to desire to craft stories is natural for many of us. I want this post to encourage writers, both young and old that your passions are not in vain. They are not worthless. They are not wasteful. If this is who God created you to be, your gifts and dreams and desires are precious, and no one can tell you that they mean nothing.
“Books can truly change our lives: the lives of those who read them, the lives of those who write them.” – Lloyd Alexander
These statements are not true. I know so many aspiring authors who show beautiful talent. It’s discouraging to be told that your talents and how you choose to use them are “a waste”, or “unworthy.” The idea that using storytelling and using your imagination isn’t beneficial or worth pursuing is a lie. I’m here to share with you some of the many ways that being a writer is in fact a wonderfully brilliant and worthy goal.
1. Stories Make a Difference
“It’s like in the great stories Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end it’s only a passing thing, this shadow, even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines it’ll shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something even if you were too small to understand why. But I think Mr. Frodo, I do understand, I know now folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going because they were holding onto something.” – Samwise Gamgee, The Two Towers (J.R.R Tolkien)
This is a fantastic example of the benefit of fiction. Stories are inspiring. They show us that there are some things in this world that are worth holding onto, and fighting for. They use made-up characters to demonstrate to us the worth of believing in something. Stories make a difference, and so do the people who write them. In the words of another teenage writer:
“I want to be remembered as someone who was known for the good and great things they did with their life, and not forgotten for the OK things I occasionally do.” – Lela
Many young people want to make a difference, but aren’t certain how to do it. As writers, we have a clear shot at this goal, and that alone makes it worth pursuing. To any young writers who are struggling with whether or not your story will make a difference; it can. In the words of Christina: “If you write something, no matter what genre or type of story, it has the chance to impact someone. Even if you just show it to one person. They might not say it, but it could help them immensely. Writing also helps you as a person. Imagination and creativity are parts of who you are. If there’s none of that, how different are you from the next person?”
If you have a dream to write, or to tell stories and use your creativity in any capacity, don’t let go of it. It is worth something.
2. Writing Teaches Valuable Lessons
It is true that storytelling can be one of our best teachers, and not just about the art and craft of writing fiction, but about people; about principles of right and wrong, and about life as a whole. Another of my author friends shares some of the ways this is true for him: “Writing fiction has opened my eyes to how complex God made people. I knew before that people are amazing creations, yet I never dwelt on it much before. … Writing fiction, especially fantasy, has been the single-most useful application of my academic studies. … Plotting out an entire timeline stretching thousands of years gives me a great appreciation for the complexity and importance of history. Same with religion.”
The truth is that the skills learned through writing and using your imagination carry over into many, many aspects of life. My very good friend, Matt, puts it this way: “Writing is more than making up a dreamland, it’s more than creating imaginary friends for yourself and your readers. It is also very applicable to every occupation that requires written communication.”
This is something I can personally attest to. The art of crafting fictitious stories has enabled me to write better essays, articles, speeches, etc. It has taught me a great about writing and communication as a whole; not just writing novels or other forms of fiction.
Another brilliant point that Matt brings up is this: “How much information is shared through books? How much do you learn while researching to write a book? The answer is ‘a lot’ in both cases.” This is so very true. I can personally say that I channeled 90% of my high school education towards my passion for writing. I used my love of history to research for historical fiction, and my knowledge of science for practical use in stories. Even if someone doesn’t enjoy a particular academic study, the chance that their view will change through the pursuit of writing is definitely possible, if not probable.
The idea that writing [fiction] is worthless and doesn’t benefit a person in general is a lie.
3. It Expands Imagination and Inspires Critical Thinking
I know that, since I began taking my writing seriously, I have delved deeper into the consideration of certain subjects than ever before in my life, such as theology, the way people function and relate to each other, how to present beliefs, and general logic.
I’ve heard it said that using one’s imagination is impractical, but that is absurd. God created us with the ability to create. In the words of Lela, “We have a Great Author, so why not write?” A very good point. In fact, it has been my experience that using my imagination to create made-up people and scenarios helps me to consider reality in a different, more practical light.
“[…] Imagination isn’t bad…. We have creative minds for a reason. It’s not like God gave us the capacity to think creatively on accident. He Himself created a world and all of the characters in it. When we write stories, we reflect God.” – Anna R.
As Anna puts it, God enabled us to use our imaginations for a reason. When you channel your imaginings towards creating a believable and logical story, it allows for that thinking to carry over into the practical purposes of life. Imagining can often challenge you to think critically about things, and to consider subjects on a deeper level. In fact, it inspires it. Both writing and reading challenge us to think outside the box of mundane practicality. Pondering [read: imagining] is a very beneficial gift from God.
4. Writing Reveals Truth
Every good story is based on conflict. Conflict happens when two people, or parties, or ideas differ. These differences can be between good and evil, two goods, or two evils. Telling stories demonstrates this truth in a way that many things fail to. It shows it in a way that cannot be otherwise explained.
Writing is simply a creative way to show the reasons that these things are true. One young writer puts it like this: “Stories were a big part of my childhood….I was enamored with them, even if I didn’t realize it at first. The heroes and characters did these awesome things and got to go on these awesome adventures that I never had or could have. Now, they help me understand things and confirm my belief of right and wrong. They remind me that the truth and right are actually quite simple.”
The beauty of this is expressed in the first sentence, when she states that stories were a major part of her childhood. Storytelling is a wonderful way to communicate truths, not only to adults, but to young children as well.
Jesus himself used parables—stories, to communicate truth to His followers. Why? Because there is a level of understanding that can only be grasped through the use of fiction. Storytelling has a way of putting the truth in a new light. It paints a unique picture that calls for readers to use their imagination as well as their intellect, and those two things, when coupled together, become incredibly powerful.
This entire segment can be summed up in one brilliant quote:
“Fairytales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” – G.K. Chesteron
5. Storytelling Adds Perspective
One of the most valuable things that I have obtained from writing fiction is a fresh perspective on life, on people, and on the world in general. Working with made-up characters can give incredible insights into the way that real people work; how they act, what they think, why they do what they do. My ability to understand the complexity of life has been born of my passion for creating stories. And yet at the same time, it makes me appreciate the simple, lesser seen aspects.
One young author I know says, “[… ] I think my characters have helped me learn how to empathize. By getting into their heads, I can understand other people better.” This is something I identify with 100%. Before I began writing, I had far less perspective on how to relate to people who were different than I am. I had a different, more clouded view of how to solve conflicts. Learning how people work in stories of your own creation is one of the most valuable tools to recognizing how they work in everyday life.
Writing has also given me a new perspective on how I work. Just as it has caused me to think more deeply on subjects, it has caused me to realize things about myself that I never knew before. Another quote from a fellow author on this subject is: “It helps me understand myself, because, of course, a bit of myself goes into every fiber of my story and my characters. Sometimes I don’t realize things about me until I see a character do it.” Storytelling calls for the author to delve deeply into themselves to find their stories, because that is what makes them worth telling.
“A reader [or writer] lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” – George R.R. Martin
The perspectives gained through crafting and weaving tapestries of fiction are incredibly valuable.
“It helps me to understand people better, and why they act and do the things they do. It teaches that everyone has a story – all of us have worth. It builds communication skills and helps us to think logically, and broadens vocabulary. It has the same benefits you might attribute to putting together puzzles.” – Cnemi
6. It Provides Freedom
Many young people, particularly teenagers, are often unsure of how to express themselves. The question comes up time and time again, “Does my opinion really matter?” And if it does, who would want to hear it? Writing, and the creating of fictional worlds allows freedom for expression. It’s a place to put feelings, and to sort out beliefs. It’s a place where you can see your mind at work and learn to be who God created you to be. It’s a place where you are free to create.
“Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write.” – John Adams
Writing frees you to delve deep into the life of a fictional character, to experience adventure, heartache, excitement, failure, and hope through someone else’s eyes when you can’t experience them through your own. As authors, we must be daring, as this quote says. We must dare to use this freedom.
“A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they say it. Writers know words are their way towards truth and freedom, and so they use them with care, with thought, with fear, with delight.” – Ursula K. Le Guin
God gave us the gift of words, and the freedom to allow us to use them for His glory. He created, therefore, we create. He gave us the freedom to live a full life that we would never otherwise live.
7. Writing Provides Purpose and Direction
Along with the struggle for expression, comes another struggle in every person’s life; the struggle for purpose. Some would say that writing is not a noble goal, but that is not the case. In fact, it is not true in the least. Writing is one of the greatest purposes known to man. People who have a passion for storytelling should never have to be told that “it is a waste” of their life.
“Writing is an extreme privilege but it’s also a gift. It’s a gift to yourself and it’s a gift of giving a story to someone.” – Amy Tan
Writing is a very noble purpose, and people who say otherwise simple don’t understand it. They lack knowledge of the depths and inner-workings of what makes a story powerful, along with the process of creating it. They speak to what they don’t comprehend. Because writing is a gift, just like Amy Tan states in this quote, and a powerful gift at that.
The purpose of writing can be summed up in all seven of these points, and the need for people to do it can be summed up in the words of Kristin, who says, “God gives us all talents to use for His glory….Would He really invent something if it wasn’t important, and if stories were not valuable, would He have written the greatest love story of all time? …. If writing wasn’t valuable, how would we have the Bible?”
She makes an excellent point by saying that God Himself created the purpose for writing. He is the one who made it valuable by providing us with the most incredible story ever told. And if God loves creating, who can say that such a thing is not a noble purpose or goal to strive for?
God created us in His image and to desire to craft stories is natural for many of us. I want this post to encourage writers, both young and old that your passions are not in vain. They are not worthless. They are not wasteful. If this is who God created you to be, your gifts and dreams and desires are precious, and no one can tell you that they mean nothing.
“Books can truly change our lives: the lives of those who read them, the lives of those who write them.” – Lloyd Alexander
QUOTE(Should You Read More Fiction? @ http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2007/12/31...d-more-fiction/ )
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Over the last several months my reading habits have shifted. While I used to read almost entirely non-fiction, I’ve since made a switch to mix fiction and non-fiction. This was a strategic decision, and I believe it has been paying off. I’d like to share some of the benefits I’ve found of reading good fiction.
What’s Good Fiction?
I’ll admit that “good” is a purely subjective label. Movie critics and box-office numbers don’t always agree on that definition, and the same is true with books. My definition of good fiction is stories that force you to think.
Thinking is a lot harder than reading for sheer entertainment value. While I’d prefer to read a good book that is also entertaining, I’d rather not spend a week reading a book that doesn’t have any substance. I can watch a 2-hour movie with more concentrated entertainment.
Why Read in the First Place?
Several years ago I read about 4-5 books each year. The last few years I’ve read over 70. My reasons for turbo-charging by book consumption were simple. Books have ideas. Ideas give fodder for self-improvement. I don’t find reading to be incredibly entertaining (compared with films or games) but it is more thought provoking.
Are You Reading Non-Fiction for the Stories?
When I started reading books my goal was mostly non-fiction. I didn’t see much value in reading someone’s imagination when I could get the truth. It was only a few months ago that I realized that most of the ideas I read in non-fiction books couldn’t be acted upon. When you read 70+ books a year, only a handful have ideas that directly translate into daily life.
As a result, I ended up reading a lot of non-fiction books only for thought value. I couldn’t implement all the ideas I’d uncover, so I read mostly to broaden my understanding. Learning for the sake of learning, with no immediate benefit.
Should You Read More Fiction?
If I was reading a majority of my books for no purpose other than learning itself, I began to worry I was narrowing myself down. While I read books outside of business and self-help sections, most of my books had similar themes. The ideas and stories might change, but the philosophy of the people writing the books did not. If you’ve read a few self-help books you might notice they tend to follow a similar pattern.
Good fiction, on the other hand, has a far broader range of guiding philosophies. The Fountainhead centers around the virtue of human selfishness and ego. The Bhagavad-Gita centers around duty to your fellow man and dissolving the ego. The stories that guide these books center around completely different ways of viewing the world.
If you tend to read the same books, it’s likely that you tend to think the same thoughts. Reading the thirtieth book on creativity will probably make you less creative, not more. Seeking out good literature from different time periods, cultures and philosophies forces you to think new thoughts, instead of just churning old ones in your head.
Thought Diversification
With investments, diversification protects you against risk. Putting all of your money in one company or industry could be risky if a disaster hits that industry. By diversifying your investments, a single negative event can’t hurt you as much.
I like to view thought diversification in the same way. Every philosophy, idea and strategy has strengths and weaknesses. Literature can give you a broader spread of ideas, so a single flaw is less likely to damage you. When you can view a problem in six different ways, one inaccurate viewpoint is less damaging.
The Challenge in Thinking
The confirmation bias is a human tendency to look for information that supports our current beliefs. Thought diversification is hard because your natural urge will be to avoid books that contradict your view of life. I’ve worked hard to try avoiding this urge by deliberately picking books that challenge me to think from a different perspective.
After reading many books on Eastern philosophy that preach the value of selflessness and the evil of greed, I found it difficult to read through Ayn Rand’s books which preach the opposite. But getting past my initial reaction forced me to think harder about beliefs I had taken for granted.
What’s Good Fiction?
I’ll admit that “good” is a purely subjective label. Movie critics and box-office numbers don’t always agree on that definition, and the same is true with books. My definition of good fiction is stories that force you to think.
Thinking is a lot harder than reading for sheer entertainment value. While I’d prefer to read a good book that is also entertaining, I’d rather not spend a week reading a book that doesn’t have any substance. I can watch a 2-hour movie with more concentrated entertainment.
Why Read in the First Place?
Several years ago I read about 4-5 books each year. The last few years I’ve read over 70. My reasons for turbo-charging by book consumption were simple. Books have ideas. Ideas give fodder for self-improvement. I don’t find reading to be incredibly entertaining (compared with films or games) but it is more thought provoking.
Are You Reading Non-Fiction for the Stories?
When I started reading books my goal was mostly non-fiction. I didn’t see much value in reading someone’s imagination when I could get the truth. It was only a few months ago that I realized that most of the ideas I read in non-fiction books couldn’t be acted upon. When you read 70+ books a year, only a handful have ideas that directly translate into daily life.
As a result, I ended up reading a lot of non-fiction books only for thought value. I couldn’t implement all the ideas I’d uncover, so I read mostly to broaden my understanding. Learning for the sake of learning, with no immediate benefit.
Should You Read More Fiction?
If I was reading a majority of my books for no purpose other than learning itself, I began to worry I was narrowing myself down. While I read books outside of business and self-help sections, most of my books had similar themes. The ideas and stories might change, but the philosophy of the people writing the books did not. If you’ve read a few self-help books you might notice they tend to follow a similar pattern.
Good fiction, on the other hand, has a far broader range of guiding philosophies. The Fountainhead centers around the virtue of human selfishness and ego. The Bhagavad-Gita centers around duty to your fellow man and dissolving the ego. The stories that guide these books center around completely different ways of viewing the world.
If you tend to read the same books, it’s likely that you tend to think the same thoughts. Reading the thirtieth book on creativity will probably make you less creative, not more. Seeking out good literature from different time periods, cultures and philosophies forces you to think new thoughts, instead of just churning old ones in your head.
Thought Diversification
With investments, diversification protects you against risk. Putting all of your money in one company or industry could be risky if a disaster hits that industry. By diversifying your investments, a single negative event can’t hurt you as much.
I like to view thought diversification in the same way. Every philosophy, idea and strategy has strengths and weaknesses. Literature can give you a broader spread of ideas, so a single flaw is less likely to damage you. When you can view a problem in six different ways, one inaccurate viewpoint is less damaging.
The Challenge in Thinking
The confirmation bias is a human tendency to look for information that supports our current beliefs. Thought diversification is hard because your natural urge will be to avoid books that contradict your view of life. I’ve worked hard to try avoiding this urge by deliberately picking books that challenge me to think from a different perspective.
After reading many books on Eastern philosophy that preach the value of selflessness and the evil of greed, I found it difficult to read through Ayn Rand’s books which preach the opposite. But getting past my initial reaction forced me to think harder about beliefs I had taken for granted.
QUOTE(The Value of Science Fiction @ http://www.madisonhorror.com/sci-fi7.html )
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Definition:
One rough and ready way to define the term "science fiction" is: "That branch of literature which deals with the response of human beings to changes in science and technology." (Isaac Asimov)
SF as an art form:
As a type of literature, and thus as an art form, I do not believe science fiction needs any other justification for its existence. Similarly, I do not think Raphael's "School of Athens" painting requires any other justification than that it exists. It is beautiful, it is true, it is one of the triumphs of humanity. Some of science fiction is not very artistic, but I think the best of it is.
Other benefits of SF:
Even aside from artistic values, science fiction has many salutary effects upon society. Some of these include:
1) Science fiction promotes interest in science. In a world that is increasingly oriented to science and technology, this is very important. The general public's knowledge of science is abysmal: test scores show that American students' scientific knowledge is far below that of students in several other industrial countries; the percentage of American students majoring in science and technology in colleges is far below that of Germany and Japan. When scientists are asked what led them into their profession, many cite science fiction as a key inspiration in their youth and beyond.
2) Science fiction promotes learning. Many teachers use science fiction to spark students' interest in the world around them. And because SF is based on science, the stories often enhance students' understanding of scientific ideas.
3) Science fiction enhances understanding of the processes of sociology and history. Since science fiction deals with the responses of society to changes in science, many of the stories contain much sociological content. It is an ideal way to examine our culture by contrasting it with alternatives. For example, Brad Linaweaver's Moon of Ice is an alternate history wherein Hitler won World War II. In it the reader is forced to consider how this change might have affected our world, and thus it becomes clearer to the reader how complex are the processes of cause and effect in history. It is "history in reverse."
4) Science fiction reduces biases in our thinking. By opening our minds to all possible changes, we are forced to examine the validity of our own beliefs. By reading Ursula K. LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness, about a society where a person's sex constantly shifts from neuter to male to female and back, it becomes apparent to the reader how our own sexual mores are largely determined by our particular circumstances, and are not necessarily the absolutes we often take them to be. It is no accident that the TV series "Star Trek," which portrayed a future society wherein all races of humanity cooperate peacefully, came during the civil rights era of the 1960s. It promoted the radical idea of racial equality. And if you could accept the alien on board the ship, how could you not accept another human being of any skin color or sex?
5) Science fiction is a reflection of our culture. This is true of all art forms, and is an ongoing process that helps us to reflect upon the world we live in. Any society without art is a dead one.
6) Science fiction creates a sense of wonder with the universe. A science fiction fan can never be bored with the world.
7) Science fiction forces us to think about the future. This, in my opinion, is its most important function. In a nutshell, sci-fi readers are thinking about the future. Whatcould be more important? Some of those futures we'd like to avoid. Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, describing a future America where knowledge is so feared that all books are burned, is an eternal warning against tyranny and ignorance. The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard infuses in the reader a determination not to let the world's environment be destroyed. Stanislaw Lem's The Futurological Congress examines the frightening probability that science will evolve to the point where governments can control people's perceptions of reality.
Science fiction takes the lessons of history and creatively projects them into the future (usually) to allow us to examine the consequences of our actions today. As an art form, it does so by combining ideas with human(or alien) psychology to show us the very real consequences of a changed society. We can feel it, and we respond to it. It is no accident that science fiction readers are also usually environmentalists, for example. They want a better future, and they want to start creating it today.
One rough and ready way to define the term "science fiction" is: "That branch of literature which deals with the response of human beings to changes in science and technology." (Isaac Asimov)
SF as an art form:
As a type of literature, and thus as an art form, I do not believe science fiction needs any other justification for its existence. Similarly, I do not think Raphael's "School of Athens" painting requires any other justification than that it exists. It is beautiful, it is true, it is one of the triumphs of humanity. Some of science fiction is not very artistic, but I think the best of it is.
Other benefits of SF:
Even aside from artistic values, science fiction has many salutary effects upon society. Some of these include:
1) Science fiction promotes interest in science. In a world that is increasingly oriented to science and technology, this is very important. The general public's knowledge of science is abysmal: test scores show that American students' scientific knowledge is far below that of students in several other industrial countries; the percentage of American students majoring in science and technology in colleges is far below that of Germany and Japan. When scientists are asked what led them into their profession, many cite science fiction as a key inspiration in their youth and beyond.
2) Science fiction promotes learning. Many teachers use science fiction to spark students' interest in the world around them. And because SF is based on science, the stories often enhance students' understanding of scientific ideas.
3) Science fiction enhances understanding of the processes of sociology and history. Since science fiction deals with the responses of society to changes in science, many of the stories contain much sociological content. It is an ideal way to examine our culture by contrasting it with alternatives. For example, Brad Linaweaver's Moon of Ice is an alternate history wherein Hitler won World War II. In it the reader is forced to consider how this change might have affected our world, and thus it becomes clearer to the reader how complex are the processes of cause and effect in history. It is "history in reverse."
4) Science fiction reduces biases in our thinking. By opening our minds to all possible changes, we are forced to examine the validity of our own beliefs. By reading Ursula K. LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness, about a society where a person's sex constantly shifts from neuter to male to female and back, it becomes apparent to the reader how our own sexual mores are largely determined by our particular circumstances, and are not necessarily the absolutes we often take them to be. It is no accident that the TV series "Star Trek," which portrayed a future society wherein all races of humanity cooperate peacefully, came during the civil rights era of the 1960s. It promoted the radical idea of racial equality. And if you could accept the alien on board the ship, how could you not accept another human being of any skin color or sex?
5) Science fiction is a reflection of our culture. This is true of all art forms, and is an ongoing process that helps us to reflect upon the world we live in. Any society without art is a dead one.
6) Science fiction creates a sense of wonder with the universe. A science fiction fan can never be bored with the world.
7) Science fiction forces us to think about the future. This, in my opinion, is its most important function. In a nutshell, sci-fi readers are thinking about the future. Whatcould be more important? Some of those futures we'd like to avoid. Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, describing a future America where knowledge is so feared that all books are burned, is an eternal warning against tyranny and ignorance. The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard infuses in the reader a determination not to let the world's environment be destroyed. Stanislaw Lem's The Futurological Congress examines the frightening probability that science will evolve to the point where governments can control people's perceptions of reality.
Science fiction takes the lessons of history and creatively projects them into the future (usually) to allow us to examine the consequences of our actions today. As an art form, it does so by combining ideas with human(or alien) psychology to show us the very real consequences of a changed society. We can feel it, and we respond to it. It is no accident that science fiction readers are also usually environmentalists, for example. They want a better future, and they want to start creating it today.
QUOTE(10 Novels to a Better You @ http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culture...ter_person.html )
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Does reading fiction make you a better, less self-absorbed person? You read because you are interested in the broad sweep of human experience, and because you want to gain access into the narrow sanctum of specific otherness—to feel Anna Karenina’s recklessness and desperation, or know the shape and weight of Ahab’s obsession, and thereby something of humanity itself. But in order to make any headway with a novel, you need to grant yourself a leave of absence from human affairs, to sequester yourself in a place where you are sheltered from the demanding presence of other people. Opening a novel might be a kind of exposure to the world beyond the self, but it’s one that necessarily involves a foreclosure against it too. A life spent reading is, among other things, a life spent alone.
The idea that reading is an ethically salutary pursuit gets more appealing the more time you spend doing it. There’s something basically reassuring about the notion that you might be a better person—not just intellectually, but morally—for having read a lot of literature. I’ve just recently moved house, a large part of which undertaking involved the handling and sorting and packing and schlepping of books. As I took the books off the shelves and put them into cardboard boxes—and again as I took them out of those boxes and put them back on shelves in a different house—I found myself thinking about what all the time spent reading them added up to. A lot of these books I’ve forgotten almost everything about; all that is left to me of Oblomov, say, is a chubby Russian aristocrat in a dressing gown (was he even actually chubby?), and basically all I remember of Don DeLillo’s Libra is that it was about Lee Harvey Oswald and that it was brilliant. I found myself trying to quantify the residue of all this reading; what was it that it left behind, and how had it changed me, if at all? There was, surely, some cumulative effect, some way in which I could be said to be a better or wiser person for it. But all I could think, really, was: Christ, if all this reading has made me a better or wiser person, I’d hate to think what kind of monster I’d be without it.
Earlier this month, a research paper was published in the journal Science which put forward evidence that social skills are improved by the reading of fiction—and specifically the high-end stuff: the 19th-century Russians, the European modernists, the contemporary prestige names. The experiment, conducted by psychologists Emanuele Castano and David Comer Kidd, found that the subjects who read extracts from literary novels, and then immediately afterward took tests measuring empathy, social perception, and emotional intelligence (looking at photos of people’s eyes and guessing what emotions they might be going through), performed significantly better on the tests than other subjects who read serious nonfiction or genre fiction. Their basic finding was that reading literary fiction, and literary fiction alone, temporarily enhances what’s known as Theory of Mind—the ability to imagine and understand the mental states of others.
The reaction to this was widespread and, as you’d expect, overwhelmingly pleased. Louise Erdrich, whose novel The Round House was used as an example of literary fiction in the experiment, was quoted in the New York Times’ report on the research. “This is why I love science,” she said; the psychologists had “found a way to prove true the intangible benefits of literary fiction.” Finally, science has given its approval to one of the literary world’s most cherished ideas about the value of literature. Even though the study only measured extremely short-term benefits of exposure to small amounts of literary fiction, it was largely taken to stand for a wider truth about the morally improving effects of the stuff, the notion that it makes you a better, more empathic person.
And this, obviously, is nothing new. Although the novel has, throughout its history, often been subject to a kind of self-reflexively ironic anxiety about the dangers of excessive investment in fiction (see Don Quixote, Northanger Abbey, and poor old Emma Bovary for further details), the consensus among writers has generally been that imagining ourselves into fictional minds and lives is something that increases our moral faculties—a practice that grows our capacity for empathic engagement with the minds and lives of actually existing other humans. Our modern concept of empathy comes from the German term einfühlung, which means “feeling into,” and it makes sense that we would associate this quality with the literary capacities of affective projection.
Novelists have historically tended to be invested in the notion that narrative art can jolt us out of our selfish complacency and into a deeper sense of the experiences and sufferings of other people. George Eliot, in her essay on German realism, wrote that “the greatest benefit we owe to the artist, whether painter, poet, or novelist, is the extension of our sympathies. Appeals founded on generalisations and statistics require a sympathy ready-made, a moral sentiment already in activity; but a picture of human life such as a great artist can give, surprises even the trivial and the selfish into that attention to what is apart from themselves, which may be called the raw material of moral sentiment.” And here’s David Foster Wallace saying something quite similar, if more pessimistic about the degree to which genuine connection is possible: “We all suffer alone in the real world. True empathy's impossible. But if a piece of fiction can allow us imaginatively to identify with a character's pain, we might then also more easily conceive of others identifying with their own. This is nourishing, redemptive; we become less alone inside. It might just be that simple.”
So this research is, in one sense, a pretty trivial reiteration of something that has long been taken as a basic article of faith by many people for whom literature is more than mere escapism. The important difference here, obviously, is that it is science that is telling us this about literature, and not literature itself—and so the idea seems, rightly or wrongly, more like something you can take to the bank. But although I believe that literature is a huge and indispensable aspect of our humanity—that books are, as Susan Sontag put it, nothing less than “a way of being fully human”—I felt that there was something oddly diminishing, and perhaps even absurd, in the notion of bringing literature to account in this way. Of sitting people down and giving them a chunk of Chekhov to work their way through, and then measuring the short-term uptick in their ability to read people’s facial expressions. (And does the ability to correctly read emotions from pictures of faces really translate into anything like real empathy? I can recognize that you are suffering, but not really feel that recognition act with any force upon myself, let alone lead me into doing anything about it.)
I’m equally ambivalent about the question of whether reading literary fiction really does make you a better person—not just about what the answer might be, but whether the question itself is really a meaningful one to be asking at all. It implies a fairly narrow and reductive legitimation of reading. There’s a risk of thinking about literature in a sort of morally instrumentalist way, whereby its value can be measured in terms of its capacity to improve us. There was a weirdly revealing quality, for instance, in the language that the Atlantic Wire used in reporting on similar research conducted in the Netherlands earlier this year. “Readers who emotionally immerse themselves with written fiction for weeklong periods,” David Wagner wrote, “can help boost their empathetic skills [...] Gauging the participants' empathetic abilities and self-reported emotions before and after such reading sessions, they found that the fiction readers got more of an emotional workout than the nonfiction readers.” It’s possibly unfair to put too much pressure on one writer’s choice of words in framing the discussion (particularly in a roundup blurb), but it hints at a certain view of literature that is implicit in this way of thinking about it—literature as PX90 workout for the soul, as a cardio circuit for the bleeding heart.
We have, I think, an anxiety about the place of literature in our world, about the usefulness of reading fiction. If we can answer the question of why we read with the empirically verifiable assertion that it makes us more socially attuned, then that seems to give literature an identifiable job to do, a useful function in our lives. Perhaps this is the case; perhaps reading Kafka or Woolf or Naipaul does make you a better, more empathic person. (Though what about your hardline literary misanthropes, by the way—your Bernhards, your Houellebecqs, your Célines? Do we gain anything in moral aptitude by reading these dreadful old bastards, and, if we don’t, is doing so somehow less worthy of our time?) But even if it didn’t, even if reading made you a worse person—if you found yourself too engrossed in Karl Ove Knausgaard to take your bored children to the park—reading would be no less vital an activity. I don’t know whether all those boxes full of books have made me any kind of better person; I don’t know whether they’ve made me kinder and more perceptive, or whether they’ve made me more introspective and detached and self-absorbed. Most likely it’s some combination of all these characteristic, perhaps canceling each other out. But I do know that I wouldn’t want to be without those books or my having read them, and that their importance to me is mostly unrelated to any power they might have to make me a more considerate person. This, at least, is what I plan to tell my wife next time she complains about my keeping her awake by reading too late.
The idea that reading is an ethically salutary pursuit gets more appealing the more time you spend doing it. There’s something basically reassuring about the notion that you might be a better person—not just intellectually, but morally—for having read a lot of literature. I’ve just recently moved house, a large part of which undertaking involved the handling and sorting and packing and schlepping of books. As I took the books off the shelves and put them into cardboard boxes—and again as I took them out of those boxes and put them back on shelves in a different house—I found myself thinking about what all the time spent reading them added up to. A lot of these books I’ve forgotten almost everything about; all that is left to me of Oblomov, say, is a chubby Russian aristocrat in a dressing gown (was he even actually chubby?), and basically all I remember of Don DeLillo’s Libra is that it was about Lee Harvey Oswald and that it was brilliant. I found myself trying to quantify the residue of all this reading; what was it that it left behind, and how had it changed me, if at all? There was, surely, some cumulative effect, some way in which I could be said to be a better or wiser person for it. But all I could think, really, was: Christ, if all this reading has made me a better or wiser person, I’d hate to think what kind of monster I’d be without it.
Earlier this month, a research paper was published in the journal Science which put forward evidence that social skills are improved by the reading of fiction—and specifically the high-end stuff: the 19th-century Russians, the European modernists, the contemporary prestige names. The experiment, conducted by psychologists Emanuele Castano and David Comer Kidd, found that the subjects who read extracts from literary novels, and then immediately afterward took tests measuring empathy, social perception, and emotional intelligence (looking at photos of people’s eyes and guessing what emotions they might be going through), performed significantly better on the tests than other subjects who read serious nonfiction or genre fiction. Their basic finding was that reading literary fiction, and literary fiction alone, temporarily enhances what’s known as Theory of Mind—the ability to imagine and understand the mental states of others.
The reaction to this was widespread and, as you’d expect, overwhelmingly pleased. Louise Erdrich, whose novel The Round House was used as an example of literary fiction in the experiment, was quoted in the New York Times’ report on the research. “This is why I love science,” she said; the psychologists had “found a way to prove true the intangible benefits of literary fiction.” Finally, science has given its approval to one of the literary world’s most cherished ideas about the value of literature. Even though the study only measured extremely short-term benefits of exposure to small amounts of literary fiction, it was largely taken to stand for a wider truth about the morally improving effects of the stuff, the notion that it makes you a better, more empathic person.
And this, obviously, is nothing new. Although the novel has, throughout its history, often been subject to a kind of self-reflexively ironic anxiety about the dangers of excessive investment in fiction (see Don Quixote, Northanger Abbey, and poor old Emma Bovary for further details), the consensus among writers has generally been that imagining ourselves into fictional minds and lives is something that increases our moral faculties—a practice that grows our capacity for empathic engagement with the minds and lives of actually existing other humans. Our modern concept of empathy comes from the German term einfühlung, which means “feeling into,” and it makes sense that we would associate this quality with the literary capacities of affective projection.
Novelists have historically tended to be invested in the notion that narrative art can jolt us out of our selfish complacency and into a deeper sense of the experiences and sufferings of other people. George Eliot, in her essay on German realism, wrote that “the greatest benefit we owe to the artist, whether painter, poet, or novelist, is the extension of our sympathies. Appeals founded on generalisations and statistics require a sympathy ready-made, a moral sentiment already in activity; but a picture of human life such as a great artist can give, surprises even the trivial and the selfish into that attention to what is apart from themselves, which may be called the raw material of moral sentiment.” And here’s David Foster Wallace saying something quite similar, if more pessimistic about the degree to which genuine connection is possible: “We all suffer alone in the real world. True empathy's impossible. But if a piece of fiction can allow us imaginatively to identify with a character's pain, we might then also more easily conceive of others identifying with their own. This is nourishing, redemptive; we become less alone inside. It might just be that simple.”
So this research is, in one sense, a pretty trivial reiteration of something that has long been taken as a basic article of faith by many people for whom literature is more than mere escapism. The important difference here, obviously, is that it is science that is telling us this about literature, and not literature itself—and so the idea seems, rightly or wrongly, more like something you can take to the bank. But although I believe that literature is a huge and indispensable aspect of our humanity—that books are, as Susan Sontag put it, nothing less than “a way of being fully human”—I felt that there was something oddly diminishing, and perhaps even absurd, in the notion of bringing literature to account in this way. Of sitting people down and giving them a chunk of Chekhov to work their way through, and then measuring the short-term uptick in their ability to read people’s facial expressions. (And does the ability to correctly read emotions from pictures of faces really translate into anything like real empathy? I can recognize that you are suffering, but not really feel that recognition act with any force upon myself, let alone lead me into doing anything about it.)
I’m equally ambivalent about the question of whether reading literary fiction really does make you a better person—not just about what the answer might be, but whether the question itself is really a meaningful one to be asking at all. It implies a fairly narrow and reductive legitimation of reading. There’s a risk of thinking about literature in a sort of morally instrumentalist way, whereby its value can be measured in terms of its capacity to improve us. There was a weirdly revealing quality, for instance, in the language that the Atlantic Wire used in reporting on similar research conducted in the Netherlands earlier this year. “Readers who emotionally immerse themselves with written fiction for weeklong periods,” David Wagner wrote, “can help boost their empathetic skills [...] Gauging the participants' empathetic abilities and self-reported emotions before and after such reading sessions, they found that the fiction readers got more of an emotional workout than the nonfiction readers.” It’s possibly unfair to put too much pressure on one writer’s choice of words in framing the discussion (particularly in a roundup blurb), but it hints at a certain view of literature that is implicit in this way of thinking about it—literature as PX90 workout for the soul, as a cardio circuit for the bleeding heart.
We have, I think, an anxiety about the place of literature in our world, about the usefulness of reading fiction. If we can answer the question of why we read with the empirically verifiable assertion that it makes us more socially attuned, then that seems to give literature an identifiable job to do, a useful function in our lives. Perhaps this is the case; perhaps reading Kafka or Woolf or Naipaul does make you a better, more empathic person. (Though what about your hardline literary misanthropes, by the way—your Bernhards, your Houellebecqs, your Célines? Do we gain anything in moral aptitude by reading these dreadful old bastards, and, if we don’t, is doing so somehow less worthy of our time?) But even if it didn’t, even if reading made you a worse person—if you found yourself too engrossed in Karl Ove Knausgaard to take your bored children to the park—reading would be no less vital an activity. I don’t know whether all those boxes full of books have made me any kind of better person; I don’t know whether they’ve made me kinder and more perceptive, or whether they’ve made me more introspective and detached and self-absorbed. Most likely it’s some combination of all these characteristic, perhaps canceling each other out. But I do know that I wouldn’t want to be without those books or my having read them, and that their importance to me is mostly unrelated to any power they might have to make me a more considerate person. This, at least, is what I plan to tell my wife next time she complains about my keeping her awake by reading too late.
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