The statistics are alarming: 90% of people in America read 1 book or less every year. Just remember the last time you actually finished a book, and you will understand the significance of this stat. Nowadays, most of our reading has been confined to social media, which has its own merits, but that is no alternative to reading books.
Books not only enrich us and improve our vocabulary, but they also help us to make better random decisions. Here’s how:
They Stimulate the Mind
Reading stimulates the mind that can slow the progress of mental illnesses like Alzheimer’s. Books exercise your brain ‘muscle’ like nothing else.
They Lower Stress
Stress can help us make random decisions in emergency situations, but in all other scenarios, stress is a deterrent to the proper working of the brain. A captivating read engages the mind, helping your forget your worries temporarily, or even for longer time periods.
They Enhance Analytic Skills and Recall
Hansel and Gretel, Oliver Twist, and even Harry Potter, why is that once you read these books, you can’t forget them for life? That is what reading does to your brain, i.e. improves your memory. Not to mention, if you read novels with a lot of details (think Tom Clancy) or non-fiction books on technical topics (such as history), you enhance the ability of your brain to consume and analyze information. Also, reading about situations (both real and made-up) helps you expose yourself to different strategies for solving problems and making decisions.
But how to choose a good book to read?
Look Around at Home
Make life simple. Instead of visiting the book store or library and being spoilt for choices, look around the house for any titles that have been collecting dust for a long time. That is a good starting point.
Ask a Reader Friend
If you have an avid reader in your circle of friends, then you will not only get good recommendations, but s/he may also lend you the books!
Go for Classics
Shakespeare and Dickens have become household names even centuries after their deaths. This is the power of classic literature. If you believe that old is gold, then pick out a classic to get started with reading in 2015.
Go Contemporary
Another way to pick out a book to read is to go for new titles. Visit Amazon or your nearby bookstore and see what’s trending, and find a title that matches your preferences.
A lot of us are often unwilling to push ourselves out of our comfort zone. We know the sort of books that we like and tend to always read titles that fit into a few particular categories. Using a random decision maker to pick a book can be a really good way to find something new to enjoy. By using an app to pick a book totally at random you could fall in love with a genre or type of book that you would never have picked otherwise. If you’re feeling brave then it’s a great way to increase the number of titles you read and to branch out into new and interesting genres.