 Beyond exercising your brain and improving your vocabulary, books can actually transform your mind, your influence mainly by internal and external factors daily. However, when you read a lot of good books, you are more likely to adopt a positive message than someone who is not reading. Reading can make us more sentient and empathetic towards our fellow humans. Imagine reading a memoir of a person who survived the random genocide of 1994. What impact do you think it may have on you? Reading helps us clarify our perspectives and tickles our imagination. It allows us to bask in the beauty of words and shut out the outside world to live in the world created through powerful narratives. In this video, I'll show you why you should read books and 13 benefits you can derive from it. 1. The acquisition of knowledge If you did not read at all, would you know who Thomas Edison is and why he is important? Probably not. Reading a lot can help us acquire knowledge about the world and people through reading. We can learn why some animals thrive in certain places and not others, how aerodynamics works and how to reason logically using syllogism. The type of knowledge you acquire is really dependent on the kind of books you read. If you read a lot of fiction, you would turn out more creative and imaginative than most people. 2. Increase in vocabulary The more you read, the more you expose the words. A seasoned reader is more likely to use complex words in the right context than people who are not readers. They can also intuitively tell if a sentence is correct or not from the reading experience. A person who reads a lot can have a vocabulary of over a thousand words without even knowing. It is usually when it comes up that they realize that the words are familiar. This is a great thing to have when you're working with an interdisciplinary team. If you are a comprehensive reader, you will not be only lost in their conversations. 3. Memory improvement Have you wondered why your friends who always have their noses buried in books seem to recall a lot of dates, places and info needed for their quizzes and even exams? Here is why. Novels and memoirs often contain several characters, dates and places. The average reader has to recall each round character accurately to fully grasp the story. Remembering the places and dates also helps them put the story in the right context. 4. Empathy When you have read a lot of books, you tend to come across many helpless characters who try to better their lives but make very little success. Reading helps us stay clear of judging others because we really have not been where they have been, according to Healthline. Research has shown that people who read literary fiction, stories that explore the inner lives of characters show a heightened ability to understand the feelings and beliefs of others. People who do not read may possess distrates as well. However, it is more common amongst readers. 5. Helps prevent cognitive decline Reading is a brain-stimulating activity. People who read a lot are not likely to suffer cognitive decline early. Reading sharpens your memory and helps your imagination. Imagine if no one actually wrote Peter Pan, Little Mammoth and Winnie the Pooh. What would a lot of children be reading today? Reading requires a lot of concentration and patience. It is also a very engaging mental activity. When you engage your mind regularly, it stays active. 6. Helps in dealing with stress Have you ever come back from work and buried your nose in a thriller by Stephen King? If you have, you would know that not much makes sense until you're done. Even if you were hungry, you might actually forgo it to keep reading. Reading is a great way to deal with stress. You can read Romans, Adventure, Philosophical or Historical fiction. A good book like Harry Porter can make you enter the world of wizards, where Harry is hiding from the Dark Lord, Veldemort, who seeks to kill him to avoid prophecy. Stress is not fun. Reading a book can be relaxing. It can actually make you forget. 7. Improved concentration Reading requires concentration and patience. Seasoned readers often concentrate better than people who read less often. Perhaps it is because they practice concentration through reading more than most people. Reading in fine print is even better. Unlike digital print, which we have become conditioned to by social media to learn fast, you read print slower and the message stays. Having better concentration also means you will do a better job at work. Reading is not a hurried process. You want to make sure you are not missing out any juicy detail on the plot. This can help you do a more thorough job at work and earn the accolades and recommendations of your superiors. 8. It helps you understand others better. Do you ever feel like you're not alone? You're not wrong too. There are millions of people in the world who feel exactly the way you do. They have dreams and challenges like you. Social media is a great way to connect with them too, but people rarely say profound truths about themselves or where they come from on social media. Reading connects you to them all. If you have read Malcolm Gladwell's Talking to Strangers, you would have a better understanding of what it means to be black in the white society. If you read Alex Haley's Roots, you would have a clearer picture of what slavery felt like for Africans. Reading helps you understand people better. And when you understand people better, your interpersonal communication skills will improve. 9. It improves your writing. Since reading improves your vocabulary, this means that you will be able to write better than non-readers. Reading helps you to understand expressions and their contextual usage. Over time, your imaginative ability also improves. This means when you write, your plot is more refined, your character is more real, and your language is more profound. 10. It can help you sleep. Reading can actually be a healthy routine before you sleep daily. When you read a book shortly before you sleep, you will likely fall asleep even if you are not feeling sleepy. This is really because reading is a very engaging activity. Also, if you are feeling hyper, after reading for an hour, you may actually feel tired and then sleep. Reading is often recommended as a way to fall asleep if you have trouble sleeping. Do you have trouble sleeping? Why not try reading a book? 11. It can help you make friends. Readers often have communities. Very few people are active readers, so readers associate with other readers to get updates on newly published books in their genres of interest, information on platforms where they can get books, and how to get them at great prices. They sometimes organize local networking events and invite new authors for book reading. 12. It can make you smarter. You are probably suspecting though. The answer is yes. Reading can and will make you smarter. 70% or more of all the standard exams require reading a lot of prescribed text and guidelines. If you are a reader, you have 50% less of a problem than other students. People are actually scared of textbooks with volume, but you see an average reader who has read the Harry Porter series knows that 800 pages are really not too much. If you have ever read a Dan Brown 600 page thriller within a day, a textbook with 500 pages will not scare you. Reading will make you more confident and help you relate better with terminologies you may have come across while reading. All these things can actually make you pretty smart. 13. It is fun. Reading is awesome. Not all books are fun though. Some textbooks may not be fun for you. This all depends on your interest. Novels are generally fun. If you want to have a lot of fun while reading, start with classic comedies and adventures. When you start with this one, you can find the courage to try out acclaimed classics like The Odyssey by Homer, the works of William Shakespeare, Scott Fitzgerald and others. Books have the ability to transport you into the imagination of the writer and keep you company with the characters he has created. Reading can feel like breathing after a while. It can however appear really hard for a lot of people. The best way to start is now to ask so many questions about which author is great and which isn't. It is best to just start and refine your taste as you go. Reading is a powerful tool of influence. It is best to read the type of books that reflect our ideals because it is an immersive experience. We ultimately start practice in many principles found in the pages of books we have read over and over the years.