Why Read? The Benefits of Reading.

The Benefits of Reading

Reading is rewarding:

     Literature enables us to explore thousands of different lives during our single life. It enables us to examine the minds of people, explore new environments, and reflect on how our lives are both similar and entirely different from the lives of literary characters. 

     Through literature we can gain knowledge about cultures, and begin to understand why the world operates as it does. 

Reading makes you a better writer:

     It is true. The more you read, the more sophisticated your vocabulary will expand. You begin to become more cognizant of grammatical rules, and how particular authors purposefully use long sentences, while other authors prefer their sentences to be short and concise. You may even have the epiphany of whether or not you are a supporter of the Oxford Comma or not as you become a reader. 

     As you continue to read you will begin to become a critical thinker. While you are writing you will refer back to the texts you have previously read and consider what aspects of the works you want to keep, and what elements of the works you will choose to discard.

Reading prepares you for the world of work:

    It is believed that almost 50% of people with the lowest literacy skills live in poverty. In addition, 14.5% of Americans with poor reading skills are underemployed."

     In the business world, workers need to be able to read, and read often. Engineers, Dental Hygienists, Software Programmers, all of these careers require you to be readers sometime throughout the day. 

Reading opens the doors to college and beyond:

     Reading is an essential component of college and workplace readiness. There is a large percentage of kids who will have their educational endeavors cut short because of their inability to read well enough.

Conclusion:

     If nothing else, reading provides the opportunity to briefly escape the rigors of the real world. This form of escapism provides us with momentary relief from the stresses of our lives. It allows us to kick back, relax, and learn something new about something, or something about ourselves. 

Source: http://nces.ed.gove/pubs93/93275.pdf