Why is reading books important?

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I have always loved books! Since I was a child I have always been passionate about reading books. I remember the summer holidays when we had these long lists of books to read for the next school year and I wanted to read them all. It was so fun and entertaining. I could imagine being the hero of the story – conquering the world, fighting with big evil monsters, having fairies for friends, trying to make the world a better place where everybody is happy and can have a happy ending to their adventure. Maybe this is why for me a book is like a sacred object – I don't throw away books, I try to keep them nice and clean, I like the smell of the pages, the sens of the paper on the fingertips... they are like a small treasure to me. They are magic!

However, even if I love books maybe they made me a little bit too idealistic while I was growing up. So, at some point I had to take off the pink sunglasses and to see the world as it was with all the pain, struggle, misery, sadness, disappointment and hopelessness that people were feeling. I started thinking that maybe the happy ending is not always the outcome of every difficult situation? Maybe the good does not always win over the evil? And, oh my God, maybe the perfect prince does not exist?! (this is a hard one!) Can we really answer these questions? Isn't it a matter of choice what we want to believe in? Maybe I am really too much of an idealist, but I prefer to believe that there is always a better thing coming along, that every person could be a “nice person”, that in every situation we could find something positive... It all depends on where we put our focus on – on what we have or on what we don't have, on what we achieved or on what we did not, on how many bad or on how many good people we met in our life.

However, many people think and especially nowadays when we can be entertained in millions of different ways, that reading books is a waste of time. Now we can watch movies (based on books or not), we have TV series, talk shows, video games, tablets, billions of apps... things which for many of us are far more entertaining than reading a “boring” book. Unfortunately, less and less people read books exactly for this particular reason – they think reading is boring! For me, people who say that, have never read a good book in their life.

It is true that there are many books out there that, in my opinion, are complete trash – bad writing skills, poor vocabulary and language, pointless story with nothing to learn from it... (I had always thought that we could always learn something from a book until I read 50 Shades of gray)! Unfortunately, there are books that look like books, smell like books, but they are not books, they are trash. But however, maybe many people learn a lot of things from this kind of literature as well.

Now, my work is a lot related to books, reading with children and education. I still believe that all the wisdom in the world is in books. I believe that books can make people become better versions of themselves, more conscious and aware of what is important in life, of what really matters. I am sure that books can make this world a better place. They can completely transform people and lives. Books are the ultimate tool to become a better person, to grow as individual and to learn about the world and about life.

Now, here I give you 15 reasons why reading is so important, how it changes people into better versions of themselves and improves theirs lives.

Reading enriches people's vocabulary.

If you want to express yourself well, read books. Reading books is an amazing way to learn new words and expressions and to add them to your own vocabulary. People who read a lot have a larger spectrum of words, phrases and expressions which allows them to express better theirs thoughts, theirs feelings and emotions, theirs concerns. They find easier the right words for that. They are capable to find the tiny difference between synonyms and to know how and when to use them. They know what is the best word to describe a situation, an issue, an emotion. In result of their rich vocabulary, their speech is interesting, dynamic and entertaining, making the listener intrigued.

Reading improves writing skills and spelling.

When I was a child, my teachers were constantly telling us, the pupils, that if we wanted to write well and not make mistakes, we needed to read lots of books. I couldn't quite understand what was the link between writing with no mistakes and reading books (it is not me writing them, right? They are already written by someone else), but with time I realized that while I was reading a book, I was paying attention to how some words were written and if it was something new to me, I was trying to remember it and to correct my mistakes in the future. Reading is also a great way to see what is the best way to structure a phrase and to express a specific thought in order to be clear for everybody who reads it and that there is no misunderstandings.

Reading makes us learn new things.

One of the reasons I love reading is that I learn a lot from books. They are maybe one of the best ways to learn something new. Nowadays, we have books on any possible subject – animals, nature, people, self improvement, politics, economy, celebrities, biographies, sex, how to attract the perfect partner, how to cook vegan, gluten free, paleo and keto food at the same time... you name it. If you want to learn something, you can definitely find a book on the topic you are looking for.

Now, maybe some of you would say that we can learn the same things from movies and YouTube videos – it is faster and easier. This is right, but in my opinion, when you read a book, you have time to think about what you just read, you can reread it and think again, then you can decide if you agree or not. When you listen to someone talking to you, we can easily get distracted and influenced by the way this person talks, looks and acts and in result of that, you risk more to adopt an opinion which is not completely yours.

Reading develops imagination and creativity.

I believe that I am not the only one imagining myself being the hero of a book, trying to draw in my mind the places where the action was taking place, how the characters look like, how they were dressed up, what they will say and do... Reading makes us imagine a different world, a different time, different places and people. It makes us dream and picture a whole new world of possibilities. It develops our creative side which allows us to see someone or something from a different perspective. Reading expands our vision of the world.

Reading prepares us before taking an action.

Often, before doing something for the first time, we need information about it, so we will look for a book to learn how to do it, an explanation notice or a manual. This is actually a process of preparation before the action which is maybe even more important than the action itself. It is the same with sports. For example – before a game, the players will prepare themselves physically and mentally. They will run, do different exercises, pay more attention to the food they eat, but also collect information about the adversary – how they play, what are theirs big achievements, what are theirs weak spots etc. When we want to fix something which is broken, we will read the notice that comes with it, if we want to start a business, we will read books on how to start a business, if we want to learn how to cook, we will read books related to cooking, if we want to learn a new language, we will buy manuals and books that teach us... you got the point. Before taking an action, we need to find the information we need. We have to learn and prepare ourselves and books help us a lot to do that.

Reading makes us understand better the world and ourselves.

Books tell us stories about people, places, experiences, adventures, mistakes. They tell us the story of life. They teach us how to understand better our feelings, emotions, thoughts and concerns. They are a powerful tool to self improvement and development. Books also teach us how to be more empathetic. When we read about a character who goes through a difficult time, we know more about how he/she feels, what are the personal struggles he/she has. This gives us this incredible opportunity to feel theirs emotions and to understand them better, to put ourselves at their place and even to feel their pain.

Life and people could be complicated. Very often we can not understand why something is happening to us, why someone acts in a certain way, why we act in a certain way... we have many questions and we naturally seek for answers because we want to understand who we are. Books give us this incredible power to better understand the world, the people around us and ourselves.

Reading gives us the opportunity to learn from other people's experiences.

Biographies, motivational and inspirational books telling us the story of real people who went to real difficulties that completely transformed theirs lives, give us the opportunity to learn about other people's experiences. Normally, the goal of this kind of books is to see that everything is possible and everybody goes through tough times. The point is that difficulties make us stronger as individuals and have the potential to completely change our life for the best. They don't let us give up! Often, many successful people had a very troubled life before achieving theirs big dreams and even after that. What is inspirational is that they kept moving forward and so should we.

Reading books makes us connect to people easier.

People who read a lot of books have more things to share and to talk about with other folks. After all, books give us knowledge. They give us the opportunity to know more about a certain topic, a writer, a genre, a time period, people and places. The more we know about the world, the better we connect with people from different social backgrounds, cultures, with different personal beliefs and values. We become more flexible and adaptive and this is very important in order to achieve more personal and professional victories in life. It makes us have more confidence in ourselves and a better self-esteem.

Reading books reduces stress.

When we have a book in our hands, we find ourselves alone with the book. Only the book. Reading is a very calming and canalizing practice. It is like a mediation. When we read a book that we are really really into, we don't hear anything or anyone, we don't pay attention about the things happening around us, about the noises or the people passing by. We are so focused on what we read that we forget to think about our problems. Some people can read books and listen to some music at the same time, but most of us, when we read, we need to be in a calm place with not a lot of distracting noises around. Reading books helps improving our sleep as well. Often, I like reading a book before going to bed and this makes me fall asleep immediately. Reading books reduces stress, anxiety, panic attacks... it is a real spiritual practice.

Reading books develops brain activity and our analytical thinking skills.

Books make us think, analyze, look for solutions, try to find out what the end of the story would be... they make our brain work. How many times when you read a book you tried to figure out who the bad guy of the book was or what exactly happened or would happen. I bet every time when you read a book. We all do it simply because it is intriguing and mysterious. We want to have the answers. This is due to the natural human curiosity and desire to understand things, to understand the world. We think, we search in our minds, we try to connect the dots and pay attention to every small detail. Our brain is turned on! It is on fire!

Reading books improves our memory.

In books we have different characters, situations, places and we need to remember them. If we forget something important, we lose a big piece of the whole puzzle. Trying to remember names, places and details improves our brain activity. It makes us smarter and also think and find solutions of problems faster. This is like an exercise for the brain, like a brain workout. So, do not forget to make your brain work in order to serve us well and for a long time. Who said that workouts are only for the body?

Reading improves focus and concentration.

In order to understand the story of a book, we need to be focused on what we read, otherwise, we lose pieces. So, the more books we read, the better our concentration skills are. Here I would like to say that we have best concentration when we read something that is interesting and intriguing for us, otherwise it does not quite work, at least for me. I still remember the sleepless nights during my studies when after 15 minutes of reading my notes, I wanted to watch a movie. However, when we read something that we are into, we are both feet “into” it.

Reading is entertaining.

Yes! Isn't it obvious? Reading is a pleasure and it must stay a pleasure. We read because we want to be entertained. We want to live new experiences through the characters and feel all the feelings and emotions coming along with them. We want to feel empowered, enriched, better than yesterday, stronger, more motivated, enthusiastic and optimistic for the future. Reading makes us run away from the reality for a moment and put ourselves in the shoes of someone else. It makes us dream.

So, there you go, you have my 15 reasons why reading books is so hugely important for everybody in the world and the world itself. Now, before I leave you, I would like to share some more personal tips and thoughts about reading.

First, reading books to children is very very important for their cultural and intellectual development as individuals! It is crucial to improve imagination, creativity, vocabulary, spelling, writing skills. It allows children to have big dreams about the future. Working with children who live in poverty, I see how important this is for them and for their future destiny. Children need to have access to books. Real books! Not tablets, magazines, e-books or movies based on books. I am talking about normal old fashion paper books. It is important for children to know what a real book looks like, how it feels to have a book in your hands, to be capable to touch the images, the covers, the pages. It is also important to read them books and stories like the good old classics – Cinderella, Snow white, The Little Red Ridding Hood, The Three Little Pigs etc. It is fundamental for people to have dreams in life and to have the faith and the strength to achieve them and books give you all you need for that.

Secondly, try to read “good” books. Books that you really like and after reading them you feel empowered and enriched or you think you might feel like that. When you read books, try to think about what you read and take some lessons for yourself. I know many people who have read thousands of books and are still pretty immature in their life and when it comes to decision making. Choose quality over quantity! It is far better to read one great book that will completely change your life than a hundred that you will immediately forget about after putting them back on the shelf. My personal opinion is that books are given to us to teach us something. If we don't learn anything from a book, it is a waste of time. Find another one. And think, analyze, ask questions, imagine and dream.

And finally, I believe that books are our manuals to life. They give us knowledge, motivation, inspiration, courage and strength. They make us dream about a better world and a brighter future. They make us believe that anything is possible no matter what we go through, we just have to keep moving forward and dream big. Books give us a better understanding about the world and ourselves. They teach us in an incredibly entertaining way lessons about life, love, happiness, relationships and so much more. They are true treasures. We can lose something material that we bought, we can lose a book, but we will never lose the wisdom we got from it. So, take care of them, reread those that you love and you will see that it always feels like you read them for a first time - we always find something new to learn. Love, Elena