Reading is the best hobby you can have. It is not as if will take anything to read, apart from the material of course. But it does offer a lot in return. How about improving your personality and becoming more informed and aware as some of the take-aways ? Seems interesting now? Well, read on:
– Reading tells you about the world, the people, their cultures, the places they live in and the happenings around them. It widens your cultural knowledge and information. It is a gateway to experiences outside of your own daily lives. You can, just by reading, get transported to the middle earth or the magic world. You can be one of the navy seals who killed Osama (the recently released ‘No Easy Day’) or be a part of the great Indian rooster coop (The White Tiger). You can get to know Mahatma Gandhi and Adolf Hitler in their own words. One cannot get more personal with anyone than by reading their books.
– Reading is a fairly complex activity, not like simply staring at the TV. An important part of it involves your own assessment of what you read. Embracing the continuous input of information while at the same time apprehending all of it in your own context, exercises the brain.
– Studies show that critical reading increases the blood flow to the brain while developing new connections. Plainly put, you become more intelligent. This effect is especially profound among children.
‘Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider.’ – Francis Bacon
– Reading greatly influences your own opinions and models your thinking. It will open you up to the numerous views. Weighing what you read will tell you right from wrong, truth from lie and help you make informed decisions. Therefore, reading reliable and good pieces is also essential.
– While reading you get to learn new words and different ways to use them effectively. Not only the vocabulary, but the structuring of the sentences also improves. You begin to write and speak well. Once you are clear with your own thinking, you begin to express yourself lucidly and unequivocally.
– Reading also relaxes your mind, it lets you unwind from the arduous daily life. It communicates silently relieving you of the constant movement, the glare of lights or the noise. Reading on a journey or while couching beside a window while it is raining outside are some of the most fulfilling experiences.
– Also, when Tyrion Lannister advises something, you do it.
‘A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge.’ – Tyrion Lannister, Game Of Thrones.
Therefore, read. And read a lot. It does not take anything, really.