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Thank you to Alexis of The Purple Shelf Club for this fantastic guest post. You can find her at The Purple Shelf Club, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest
Everyone reads, some more than others. But no matter who you are or what age you are (yes, this applies to babies too!), books are important. You can find them everywhere too which means there is no reason you shouldn’t pick up a book provided you have the time.
Reading is so important that according to Statista in 2019, 72% of adults in the United States have read at least one book in the last year. There are several reasons for this, but I’ll stick to what I see as the five most important reasons that books are important. In short, they are as follows:
They educate
They are stimulating
They help with self-improvement
They are enlightening
They provide health benefits
Okay, so you’ve been given the list through the method of short and sweet. Now it’s time to get into the nitty-gritty details. Time to find out why books are important in detail!
Books Educate
Reason number one as to why books are important is because they educate us. Anything you could possibly ever want to know can be found in books. And this continues to improve every single day! We can find out about any point in time, any species, any part of the world, any solution to problems both trivial and significant, and so much more.
Think about it, if you didn’t have books, how would you learn about what happened in 1829 (i.e. Geronimo was born 06/16/1829), what rare animals live in Australia (i.e. the northern hairy-nosed wombat), the names of the Hawaiian islands (one is named Molokai), or how to make your relationship better for example.
You can learn as slow or as fast as you want, and you can learn as little or as much as you want. You can be exposed to new worlds, new authors, and new ideas. Now, we have the internet to help us learn but I think books are still extremely helpful as they can do so much more than educate us.
Books Stimulate
Beyond increasing our knowledge, books can also stimulate us. Books make us think even if we are reading Harry Potter or Where the Wild Things Are. They make us get creative and envision what we are reading. Christopher Bergland from Psychology Today even wrote an article explaining how reading can improve brain connectivity.
Books can also stimulate our minds to think about problems we could have and how to fix them. They provide important themes that make us think about how those themes apply to our lives. The best part is that fiction novels can teach us this! This world is full of books but there is a limitless number of worlds found within books.
Novels stimulate us so much that they can even help reduce our chances of getting Alzheimer’s. I bet you didn’t know that one!
Lastly, books can help stimulate our minds so that not only our memory is better, but we can read faster too. In fact, the more you read the faster you get. So, you might think you are a slow reader but maybe you have a friend that doesn’t read as much (which is bound to be true for most of you, unless you are the friend). They probably read slower than you.
If you want to read faster, just read more, simple right?
Books Improve Us
Okay, so we have covered that books can improve our knowledge and stimulate our brains. Reason number 3 as to why books are important is that they help with self-improvement.
And no, I am not just talking about self-help books here. Although, those types of books are directly associated with self-improvement. Other novels can help too. Just by reading, we are improving our vocabulary and writing skills (which is even better if you want to write your own book).
They help us become better communicators, increase our imagination and creativity, build self-confidence, motivate us, give us the courage to try new things or be better people, and so much more. The list could go on for days. In fact, you should add to it.
What are some ways books have helped you improve? Let me know in the comments below.
Books Enlighten Us
I’m not done yet! Reason number four is that books are enlightening. You could reach a revelation by reading a book. You could come up with a new idea, learn about a new career, or be inspired to do something. All this because of one book or even just one sentence in a book.
Books can make you more culturally aware and understand new perspectives. I find this so important because the human race can often forget about how we are similar and how we are different. Reading could and does help us to understand one another. What price could you put on that?
Books Provide Health Benefits
This is the last and, in my opinion, the most interesting reason why books are important. You probably didn’t think a book had the ability to improve your health, did you?
Well, I’m here to prove you wrong. On top of stimulating your mind, books can decrease your stress levels and depression. They can improve your sleep and happiness.
At Stress Development Secrets, an article I read explained how a study showed that 68% of stress was reduced simply by reading. Now that ought to boost your spirits!
Let’s Talk About It!
Even if reading could help my health in just one way it would still be impressive. But it helps in so many ways beyond a person’s health. I only listed five reasons, but I know there are more.
Can you think of any? What reason from my list surprised you the most? What was the last book you read? Let me know in the comments below!