Why are we reading?

[IzzaThePush]

is there a common motive for litterature readers? witch qualities are these general? or du you/or others have original motives?

[blazeofglory]

I read to entertain or enlighten myself. You can ask why you are you eating or breathing. Reading is likened to that and we cannot do away with that. Today man cannot be man enough or reading has been an addiction and no days go without reading today

[Desolation]

Well, it helps to shape our worldview and personalities, it gives us a better sense of empathy, it's educating, helps us become better writers, and most of all, it's fun.

[dafydd manton]

There's something that says that if you are having to ask yourself why you are doing something so fundamental, you might be taking it a bit too seriously.

[IceM]

I like how reading assorted works from assorted periods makes my writing infinitely better (although many of the mistakes I make now are me refusing to acknowledge that my styles have mistakes).

It's also enlightening. When I read Siddartha, it was contrary both to my outlook of life and my style of attaining understanding. It radically changed my outlook on life and my ability to be patient.

But most significantly, it's creative. I'm a slam poet, and reading the masterpieces, and even garbage, from assorted periods in different countries helps me understand what counts as cliched, over-wrought and brilliant figurative language.

[loe]

Reading can have many reasons.
More trivial reasons are getting information or learning (facts, other experiences, point of views etc.).
Others as entertainment or "enlightenment" have already been mentioned.

Further reasons could be the wish to escape in other worlds, to inspire the dreams, encourage imagination etc.

I have a funny card that says: Reading - that works well for two, three years. Then you are addicted to it. :)

Best regards

[antiprefix]

Those who do not read will risk becoming monotone & monochromatic, not to mention bland. There are so many ways to say the same thing; so many ways that exist to utter similar ideas; a plethora of paths to express familiar ideas exist. And each way of saying it leads to different thoughts, triggers desirable/undesirable emotions, speaks to different people. And more

[fb0252]

my question is becoming--would my time spent reading literature be better spent otherwise. if you read for entertainment, that is fine, but, if motivation to read is self improvement, information, or something constructive besides just spending your time, then reading starts to become a comparative endeavor in terms of time spent. Is it possible that large amounts of time spent reading literature reaches a point of diminishing returns?

[Aragorn Elessar]

fb0252: In my opinion, it's all a matter of what you enjoy. Our time on Earth is short, and I want to spend mine on things I enjoy doing! At the same time, reading does self-improve and inform, as you have said. And wisdom is the most important thing in a person's life.

"Knowledge is the food of the soul." - Socrates

But the amount of knowledge you gain from reading depends highly on what you are reading. I call it subject matter dependence.

So read what you want to, when you want to. It's quite simple. I don't think anything that you enjoy can meet diminishing returns, unless of course over time you lose joy in it. And I think that reading is a bit difficult to lose joy in. As for other benefits, such as the knowledge you gain from reading, those will continue as long as you continue reading with joy and happiness in doing so...making diminishing returns an impossible occurrence. As for reading the same book over and over, however - that is more likely to reach diminishing returns.

[Leland Gaunt]

my question is becoming--would my time spent reading literature be better spent otherwise. if you read for entertainment, that is fine, but, if motivation to read is self improvement, information, or something constructive besides just spending your time, then reading starts to become a comparative endeavor in terms of time spent. Is it possible that large amounts of time spent reading literature reaches a point of diminishing returns?
I think that balance is definitely needed. There is a lot to learn from the people around you and what you can experience out in the world. So I guess, when taken to an extreme, that the time spent reading will lead to diminishing returns. Although for things like information, a book is really hard to beat.

[IceM]

my question is becoming--would my time spent reading literature be better spent otherwise. if you read for entertainment, that is fine, but, if motivation to read is self improvement, information, or something constructive besides just spending your time, then reading starts to become a comparative endeavor in terms of time spent. Is it possible that large amounts of time spent reading literature reaches a point of diminishing returns?

I always considered a similar point before I engaged in more reading. My thought was: We have limited time on Earth. What's the point of making ourselves better when we die and our progress goes to nothing? Of course, I'm atheist and didn't believe in the idea of an afterlife.

I always feel as though literature is a compilation of what it means to be human as seen through Earth's greatest thinkers. When I read Dostoyevsky I see the depths of the conscious mind and can explore the psychological realm. Joyce, in Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man specifically, taught me how to understand the search for an identity because the protagonist does exactly that.

Of course, diminishing returns only becomes an issue if you're looking to seeking to improve a limited part of your being; for example, insight into love or psychological depth. In that regard, sure, diminishing returns become an issue; how much more can you improve after reading hundreds of novels on the same topic? But, if you're seeking to improve your entire being, there are no diminishing returns. You receive similar opinions voiced through different situations by different authors which gives you different understandings; reading Portrait of an Artist gives me different insight on maturation than Bless Me, Ultima does.

If you seek to refine the whole self, you'll find infinitely distinct opinions on similar topics. That familiarity and understanding of different paradigms alone betters the self, even if you choose not to accept that specific idea. It majorly depends on what you choose to improve.

[inbetween]

I read to fly the world
out of books, films, music, poems... so stories I have created a second world my personal wonderland, and whenever I can't stand this world I watch a film ore open a book and down the rabbithole I go.
as simple as that

[dafydd manton]

Nice point. Reading takes you to those places that you will never have the time or resources to reach, to meet those people that belong to a different social circle, and to experience those excitements that most of our mundane lives will never get near to. It can also be emotional, funny, thought-provoking, but shoudl never be viewed as an academic exercise, since no writer worth his salt has ever written to be analysed. He has done so to be read, and there is a major difference.

[Scheherazade]

To reduce the face-to-face human interaction time that would be forced upon us otherwise.

[mal4mac]

Aristotle thinks the ultimate human activity, with no diminishing returns, is contemplating/studying like the God. His arguments are very persuasive. I read to encounter interesting people, like Aristotle, and because reading seems to be the nearest human activity to contemplating like a God.

[blazeofglory]

I read out of fascination, out of the desire to soothe myself ,out of the impulse or undercurrents I have got or emulatively as I have seen elders doing this and this got instilled in me

[Adderhead]

Personally, I love reading because it not only entertains me but educates me at the same time. I don't think anyone can deny that a small portion of the reason of why we read is egotistical because we crave the satisfaction that comes with reading a renown tome or novel. I am content if I never travel to an exotic land because I've visited countless wonderful or barren worlds in books. To true lovers of the written word, reading is as natural as breathing or just existing.

[Drkshadow03]

I read for entertainment.

[Mr.lucifer]

I read for entertainment also.

[ClaesGefvenberg]

Why I read? Simple: I like reading, and I get severe withdrawal symptoms if I don't.

/Claes

[Lumiere]

So people will think I'm smart. :thumbsup:

[Drkshadow03]

So people will think I'm smart. :thumbsup:

Heh. At least, you didn't say so people will think you're cool.

[Pryderi Agni]

I read to entertain or enlighten myself. You can ask why you are you eating or breathing. Reading is likened to that and we cannot do away with that. Today man cannot be man enough or reading has been an addiction and no days go without reading today

I completely agree; I can't imagine a life spent without reading a single work of literature.

[Sanny]

Reading becomes a part of my life through internalizing what I read.

[StreetStyleCat]

Most people read :
1. To get information (That is to stay alive in modern jungle, everybody does that.)
2. To have an aesthetic experience

The second thing consists everything that's already mentioned above. For me it means mostly enjoying the well-written text. I love the symbols, metaphors, references... how the simple things become miracles, if expressed so.

Reading also broadens the imagination, because you have to "see" the story with your own inner resources. That is why the movies made after books are so bad: it's not like you "saw" it :D

[mal4mac]

I don't think anyone can deny that a small portion of the reason of why we read is egotistical because we crave the satisfaction that comes with reading a renown tome or novel.

The satisfaction I crave when turning to a renowned book is the opposite of egotistical! In reading I want to get away from my egotistical self, and renowned books are usually the most efficient mechanism for enabling this. When you are "in the flow" of reading then you simply aren't there. Egotistical cravings for money, renown, status, etc, etc, are gone.

[blazeofglory]

Man in this century is not man enough, and an illiterate man is half-man, for many wonders, or amazing things that a technically literate man can be versed with will be not available to an illiterate man

[sixsmith]

It was that or exercise.

[ariella]

It's like watching a film except I actually find it easier to read a book than watch a film, I just don't have the attention span to watch something alot of the time - yet I have the attention span to read, if it's interesting enough. Most people seem to be the other way round and it seems to be the fashion to say reading is boring.
By trying to fit in and not reading I have discovered I seem to have become less intelligent, I used to pride myself on being wellread, vocabulary and all that, then I just let myself go. Now i am regaining my interest in it.

[River Boy]

Good storytelling can connect people who live centuries apart. A good book is too powerful for me to ignore.

[antiprefix]

"A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read."

--Mark Twain

Incidentally, I would not have come across this quote had I not read it.

[MrRegular]

reading forces us to use our imagination to create images and scenarios, thus utilizing our cognitive capacities, like working a muscle.