Reading: The Tools You Need In Better Writing Are In a Good Book!

Reading! something that many simply do not like to do, but most of us our taught at a young age the importance of reading, something I impart on my daughter who is six years old. It appears my daughter loves to ready and be read too, something I admit I started late doing to her, because although I love to read, having worked in education, I was always studying up on my course material, creating my courses, relearning subjects that I hadn’t taught in years, I was a challenge to learn.

Having worked in Higher Education for almost 10 years, I always valued education, especially when I went for my masters degree which I have fond memories of, meeting new people, learning from those who were veterans of industry, hoping one day I could be just like them. Many of those who I learned from who people, people with faults who were not perfect people, but I feel I had great examples to learn from.

Naturally over the years from college, I must have saved every book I had, totally over 100 books at least, some academics, some literature, some factual such as maps or books based on certain subjects like marine life, oceanography, I grew to respect and love books, because deep down there are countries that may not have the same selection of books and availability as we do. You may say well that is a strange statement, but certain countries really do try to limit what you can access, afraid of you becoming informed, so certain countries like China try to limit access to certain types of media and learning materials, definitely anything related to religion like the bible makes it hard to acquire but not impossible to get.

Most who grow up in the United States and in any developed country like in Europe reading is required in learning, which good reason. Reading has many benefits including the following, which are from this website, but found : https://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/10-benefits-reading-why-you-should-read-everyday.html

Mental Stimulation

Studies have shown that staying mentally stimulated can slow the progress of (or possibly even prevent) Alzheimer’s and Dementia,^[1] since keeping your brain active and engaged prevents it from losing power.

Stress Reduction

No matter how much stress you have at work, in your personal relationships, or countless other issues faced in daily life, it all just slips away when you lose yourself in a great story. A well-written novel can transport you to other realms, while an engaging article will distract you and keep you in the present moment, letting tensions drain away and allowing you to relax.

Knowledge

Everything you read fills your head with new bits of information, and you never know when it might come in handy. The more knowledge you have, the better-equipped you are to tackle any challenge you’ll ever fac

Vocabulary expansion

The more you read, the more words you gain exposure to, and they’ll inevitably make their way into your everyday vocabulary.

Being articulate and well-spoken is of great help in any profession, and knowing that you can speak to higher-ups with self-confidence can be an enormous boost to your self-esteem. It could even aid in your career, as those who are well-read, well-spoken, and knowledgeable on a variety of topics tend to get promotions more quickly (and more often) than those with smaller vocabularies and lack of awareness of literature, scientific breakthroughs, and global events.

Reading books is also vital for learning new languages, as non-native speakers gain exposure to words used in context, which will ameliorate their own speaking and writing fluency

Memory Improvement

When you read a book, you have to remember an assortment of characters, their backgrounds, ambitions, history, and nuances, as well as the various arcs and sub-plots that weave their way through every story. That’s a fair bit to remember, but brains are marvellous things and can remember these things with relative ease.

Amazingly enough, every new memory you create forges new synapses (brain pathways)^[3] and strengthens existing ones, which assists in short-term memory recall as well as stabilizing moods.^[4] How cool is that?

Stronger Analytical Skills

Have you ever read an amazing mystery novel, and solved the mystery yourself before finishing the book? If so, you were able to put critical and analytical thinking to work by taking note of all the details provided and sorting them out to determine “whodunnit”.

That same ability to analyze details also comes in handy when it comes to critiquing the plot; determining whether it was a well-written piece, if the characters were properly developed, if the storyline ran smoothly, etc.

Improved Focus and Concentration

Have you ever read an amazing mystery novel, and solved the mystery yourself before finishing the book? If so, you were able to put critical and analytical thinking to work by taking note of all the details provided and sorting them out to determine “whodunnit”.

In our internet-crazed world, attention is drawn in a million different directions at once as we multi-task through every day.

In a single 5-minute span, the average person will divide their time between working on a task, checking email, chatting with a couple of people (via gchat, skype, etc.), keeping an eye on twitter, monitoring their smartphone, and interacting with co-workers. This type of ADD-like behaviour causes stress levels to rise, and lowers our productivity.

When you read a book, all of your attention is focused on the story—the rest of the world just falls away, and you can immerse yourself in every fine detail you’re absorbing.

Try reading for 15-20 minutes before work (i.e. on your morning commute, if you take public transit), and you’ll be surprised at how much more focused you are once you get to the office.

Additional information: if you find staying focus hard and re trying to improve your focus, it’s possible you’ve been doing it wrong.

Better Writing skills

This goes hand-in-hand with the expansion of your vocabulary:

Exposure to published, well-written work has a noted effect on one’s own writing, as observing the cadence, fluidity, and writing styles of other authors will invariably influence your own work.

In the same way that musicians influence one another and painters use techniques established by previous masters, so do writers learn how to craft prose by reading the works of others.

Tranquility

In addition to the relaxation that accompanies reading a good book, it’s possible that the subject you read about can bring about immense inner peace and tranquility.

Reading spiritual texts can lower blood pressure and bring about an immense sense of calm, while reading self-help books has been shown to help people suffering from certain mood disorders and mild mental illnesses.

Why should you care

As someone who works to write and perfect my skills reading is critical to my writing skills, as this is away I can learn new styles of writing , techniques and at the same time it sparks creativity . So you may be saying to your self, I already know this, but are you doing it, is the question. In today’s social media quick read world, information now, now, now how many pick up a good book and just ready, put down the remote control and lose yourself in a book. If we all did that we would all be better people, and seeing the incredible worlds writers are creating , while TV can have the opposite affect of affecting our brains desensitizing us to what is important and will continue to be important in reading and while your at it attempt to write, write a story, a poem, your memoir, you will soon see the benefits.

The Health affects

Reading and writing even has proven to have therapeutic effects that can actually help you. You may say to yourself, well I don’t have much time to read, I have a family, I have a life, but you will see even short periods of time reading and writing improves mental clarity and can even make you more creative, even if your not a creative person. I encourage to start small, but read a book, I know magazines can have valuable information, but a book any book will open your mind to keep reading in more depth literature, making you more informed, instead of getting your information from a Television source, why not get it first hand, right at the source.

Keep reading and writing, your writing skills need it, as that is our source next to time that gives us the skills to be great!