Just a few years earlier, when the internet was not as easy and common to access, and social

media culture was not prevalent in society, people usually resorted to reading books as a way to
pass their time. The culture of reading books has become increasingly less as people have drifted
towards the internet and all it has to offer. With the habit of book reading decreasing in people,
there is also a leading decline in people’s critical thinking abilities and moral intelligence. The
following paragraphs will look into the reasons why reading books is essential for people to
broaden their minds and push their mental horizons to greater limits.

Firstly, reading books, either fiction or non-fiction, strengthens the brain’s activity. A body of
research (PubMed Central, 2015) at the National Institutes of Health conducted MRI scans that
proved that the complex networks and signals in the human brain get stronger and more
sophisticated as one reads, as opposed to a non-reader. A reader’s mind is more likely to be agile
and quick in problem-solving and coming up with various solutions. This mental strength is not
limited to problem-solving but also increases critical thinking abilities, builds communication
skills, and strengthens the prediction engine in the human brain. In addition, it has been observed
that book readers tend to think more deeply and are more likely to observe and notice the little
details; details that a typical person might not pay much attention to. Hence, reading books plays
a major role in the development of one’s mental strength.

Secondly, reading books increases one’s ability to empathize with others. It improves the
reader’s emotional intelligence and strengthens the potential to understand people’s emotions
and feelings. Kidd and Castano in 2013, conducted several experiments in which they observed
students’ emotional intelligence before and after reading several literary texts. The results proved
that reading literary fiction increased the students’ “theory of mind” – their emotional capacity
and the ability to understand others. It proved that by reading stories and exploring the
characters’ emotions, our ability to understand other people’s feelings improves. So, books are a
key element to understanding the wide range of human emotions and how to deal with them.

Third, books are an endless source of all sorts of information. All the different genres and
different types of books that we read provide us with a variety of knowledge. It is no lie that in
the age of the internet we live in today, it is not difficult to access the information we need in
mere seconds, but there are possibilities where the internet might not be available. Prior
knowledge from books, however, can always be in handy. As Roald Dahl said, “If you are going
to get anywhere in life, you have to read a lot of books.” Books, either fiction or non-fiction,
more often than not, leave behind a valuable lesson or knowledge with the reader. Even Elon
Musk when asked how he learned to build rockets said, “I read books.” Therefore, books have
always done good for the reader, and there are very few examples where a book might have done
the reader damage – if at all.

To conclude, books hold immense importance in our lives. They especially play a key role in our
brain development, and while a non-reader can be smart, a reader will always be one step ahead.
Not only are books are an endless ocean of all the knowledge we can gather and make use of, but
they also help us shape ourselves into a much better version of what we can become. One’s
ability to grasp a situation, think and act accordingly is greatly shaped and developed with
reading. Reading books is a great way to exercise our brains, and develop our mental horizons to
think and act smarter and sharper.