ENG 10. Tools. Why Read?: Sven Birkerts on the essential link between literacy and the imagination. A Good Mystery: Why We Read. 8 Major Benefits of Reading. Last updated: December 17, 2014 Photo by celeste The public library is a phenomena that to this day I still can’t get over. Free knowledge, for anyone. Literally, anyone. I can’t think of an equivalent other than going to a clothing store, “checking out” an outfit, wearing the outfit and returning it in four weeks, free of charge. Except books are so much better than clothes. Recently I’ve been on a huge reading kick, checking out anything I can get my hands on in the library. I’ve found that no matter what I read, the act of reading every day has helped me in nearly every aspect of my life. 1.
Wow, this may be the most obvious statement of the post, right? No matter what you’re wanting to do or become, you can’t do it without more knowledge. 2. When I’m reading a book, my mind shifts gears. Photo by MorBCN 3. Reading can soothe like no other. Lisa Bu has a fantastic TED talk about how reading can open you mind. 4. That’s right, ladies and germs. 5. 6. I have an awful memory. 7. 8. Impact Publishing: Benefits of Reading. Reading The Benefits of Reading This web page is dedicated to increasing our understanding of the benefits of reading generally, i.e., all types of benefits for all types of readers, by summarizing research and ideas. The ideas and sources listed below serve as an introduction to a huge body of research that addresses the benefits of reading; the information here is in no way meant to be comprehensive. Readers have fun. Everybody loves something, and there are books about everyone's interests.
Reading provides inexpensive enjoyment, pleasure, and entertainment, full of positive consequences.Readers improve the world. A few web sources on the benefits of reading: Chistos, Jennifer. The 26 Major Advantages to Reading More Books and Why 3 in 4 People Are Being Shut Out of Success. I read a Associated Press-Ipsos poll revealing that 1 in 4 adults read no books last year. Yes, that’s 25% of the adults out there are reading zero books. This is sad. I knew intuitively the number of books read each year had gone down but to zero? Ridiculous! And what about the adults who are reading more than zero books a year.
If you are one of the non-book readers who feels you “don’t need no stinking books”, here are 26 great reasons to start the habit…before you are left behind! 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Tip: Once you make reading a habit, you’ll enjoy reading the books in your chosen career as well. 13. 14. 15. You too will be able to reason better with the knowledge you gain. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. There are many, many other books out there that have a reputation for changing lives including Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, Handbook to Higher Consciousness, Atlas Shrugged , A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Lord of the Rings and Black Boy to name a few. Works and Days » So Why Read Anymore? Is Reading Good Books Over? There is great “truth and beauty” in Homer’s Iliad, but I would not try to make his sale on such platitudes.
Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire remains a classic. But I confess it can be hard to get through. Conrad’s Victory or Knut Hamsun’s Growth of the Soil, if authored by writer X this year, would be trashed on Amazon. So what are the reasons, in this age of the iPhone, Xbox, and PlayStation — or Fox News blondes and HBO — to sit down and read old stuff for an hour or two each week? Here are a few reasons other than the usual defense of the “classics,” the “canon,” and the glories of “Western civilization.” Mental Exercise The mind is a muscle. By nature, our ways of expression and even thinking always fossilize and are withering away with age and monotony — a process accelerated by the modern electronic age and the neglect of replenishment through reading.
A Master of Words But We Are So Much More to the Point. First Days of School. Now for the lesson... I prepare a list of facts about myself, ranging from where I was born to I manage my own fantasy baseball team, and other similarly "interesting" facts.. I fold each one and put them all in my fact jar. I have a large piece of white butcher paper taped to the board with my name circled in the center. (this introduces the freeform concept mapping activity I use regularly in class) I ask for volunteers and one by one the students illustrate the fact and students guess what it is... when someone gets in right, they illustrate the next fact... Each class produces a free form map of me! I tell them that they will need to learn this valuable information about me.
The next day - I leave all the classes maps of me up, and pass out a 20 question "quiz" in multiple choice format, and tell them to feel free to use the "visual resources" on the wall. We then go back to the KWL list and I have each class contribute 3 new things they know about me... To smile poem. Humor. Info cards. Portal.