Why reading is a good thing

[papayahed]

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/departments/elementary/?article=whateffectreadinghasonourminds :



Here are two facts that probably won't surprise you: Reading makes you smarter, and the more reading you do, the better.

Why this is so and how the magic happens, though, is quite interesting.

In a paper called What Reading Does for the Mind, Anne E. Cunningham, associate professor of cognition and development at the University of California, Berkeley, makes the case that reading:

increases vocabulary more than talking or direct teaching;


substantially boosts general knowledge while decreasing the likelihood that misinformation will be absorbed; and


helps keep our memory and reasoning abilities intact as we age.

[andave_ya]

Nice. We're smart people, we LitNetters, really. :D

[mayneverhave]

"substantially boosts general knowledge while decreasing the likelihood that misinformation will be absorbed"

unless the very words we read convey misinformation.

[MorpheusSandman]

That was also my thought, mayneverhave! It makes you wonder though what kind of reading they refer to. I read a lot online. In fact, most of the philosophy I've read has been online. I'm sure that counts. But what about reading message boards? Discussion? Instant Messaging? Wikipedia? All of these require reading.

[Captain Pike]

My mother was a librarian and a great mom, she always said, "Read. I don't care what, just read." She didn't insist a lot, but on this point she was emphatic.

[JBI]

I don't know the accuracy of such a study. By the words notion, reading James Joyce would seem the ultimate, as he uses 30,000 words in one novel, and perhaps more in Finnegans Wake. I think the article is saying something along the lines as unless the book is somewhat challenging, it won't make a substantial difference, as the complexity of the logic and cognition, in addition to the size of vocabulary extends the benefit of reading the text.

Also, the Harry Potter comment was completely out of place, and lowers the level of scholarship ever so much.

[Drkshadow03]

Of course, the purpose of kids reading when they're younger is to build vocabulary, teach them the basics (plot, dialogue, etc.), give them stories that may comfort them on serious issues they have to deal with, and just get them to develop a love of reading in general.

[Niamh]

I have always believed that reading is the best food for my mind and brain. I'll read anything, but that doesnt mean i'll like everything.
There are studies into whether reading as an activity to keep your brain active can prevent alzheimers. I like the thought that my reading could prevent alzheimers.

[librarius_qui]

"substantially boosts general knowledge while decreasing the likelihood that misinformation will be absorbed"

unless the very words we read convey misinformation.

Or unless you read same things usually ...
(It is my case, I like a lot to read again something I like.)

And I definitely DON'T read for information. I actually need, but it's a hard exercise, to me. (Newspapers, & such ...)

I'm making my efforts.


As for

"increases vocabulary more than talking or direct teaching;"
"helps keep our memory and reasoning abilities intact as we age."

I can see it.
Reading isn't the only good exercise for memory and reasoning abilities, but one of them, maybe the most useful ... (Studying grammar, chess ... Crashing computers ... Reading is more useful, among all these!, I can say.)

It's a ... feeling, though, for my part. Nothing scientifical.


librarius
:crash:

[JBI]

Of course, the purpose of kids reading when they're younger is to build vocabulary, teach them the basics (plot, dialogue, etc.), give them stories that may comfort them on serious issues they have to deal with, and just get them to develop a love of reading in general.

Only for kids? I think it is the same with adults, only the basics as you name them become far more complex.

Though I see a problem now rereading with the last line - read to develop a love of reading. I would say not to develop a love of reading, but to develop a love of certain books.

[Drkshadow03]

Only for kids? I think it is the same with adults, only the basics as you name them become far more complex.

Though I see a problem now rereading with the last line - read to develop a love of reading. I would say not to develop a love of reading, but to develop a love of certain books.

Yeah, but I thought we were talking about kids in particular.

As for my last line, do you have any evidence that it doesn't develop a love of reading, but rather a love only for certain books?

[JBI]

People automatically will read. I read traffic signs, price tags, etc. I don't love doing it. But if I read, for instance, P.K. Page, or Hart Crane, I do love what I read, and want to come back. The act of reading is essentially inevitable and essential to our societies. The act of reading for pleasure is reserved for the works that give something more than the act of reading. Books that you could see yourself 20 years down the road picking up again. Books that are so fresh and new to the reader, that they remain that way through the rest of the reader's life, to the point where they can say (whether internally or to another person), "this is one of my favorites." or "I absolutely love this because."