Importance of Reading

Ladies and Gentlemen as dwellers of an advancing world plagued with technology, we need to find

a habit that benefits us. So put down those phones and turn off that TV and open a book. Reading is a worthwhile habit that can make a barren mind rich.

Everyone has a different opinion on books. To some, they may just be a compilation of printed papers. But they are a lot more than that. Books are words written down, formed into sentences that can change our lives, change the way we look at situations. They have been around for centuries and centuries. Without them, today’s human knowledge of our past, ancestors, culture and civilisation would have been impossible.  Think about it ladies and Gentleman, how different would our society be if geniuses like Einstein, Newton and Galileo did not record their thoughts. I nswer you our society would not be as advanced as it is today. So reading is the process that allows us to learn more, strengthen our minds and assists us in the evolution of our society. Therefore why don’t we all make reading an obligatory part of our everyday lives?

Alan Bennett once said ‘A book is a device to ignite the imagination’. When you open a book and read the words, you are transported into the story, till you are no longer reading the book but are actually living it. How many of you here have had that experience, where you are transported across the miles of history or imagination by the inventive words of your favourite author? Through the author’s creative descriptions and the power of your imagination, you can open the doorway into another world just as the four Pevensie children opened the wardrobe door into Narnia. Books are the way to explore the imagination and dream with your eyes wide open as the descriptions of people, events and places leap off of the page and unfold right in front of our eyes. This makes reading important as it encourages children to use their imagination and be creative (a skill needed in English). Through reading books anything becomes possible to a child; nothing is too hard making them able to do ‘six impossible things before breakfast’.

By using your imagination and reading books you encourage more and more pathways to be built in the brain, enhancing your memory and increasing your ability to think analytically. Reading is also a way to increase your vocabulary and spelling prowess. As reading strengthens brain connections, if you see similar words many times in a text you are more likely to remember them and use them later on in life. This means that encouraging yourself to read more than once a week could lead to you gaining higher results in maths and English tests. So why not read and gain those higher results so that when you are an adult you are able to get your dream job?

Reading keeps your brain sharp. Those who engage in mentally stimulating activities –such as reading- experience slower memory decline compared to those who didn’t. Alzheimer’s is a disease of the mind that that refers to the mental deterioration that can occur as you get older, through constant reading adults are 2 and a half times less likely to be diagnosed with this illness.

When you are tired and stressed in life, why don’t you open a book? Reading is an escape from the hardships of reality and is scientifically known to lessen the effects of depression. Reading also helps release stress and can be therapeutic. As a matter of fact, a recent study shows that reading is a better stress reliever than music or any other methods. The less stressed you feel the healthier life you will lead.

Whenever we read, we encounter emotions; happiness, sorrow, joy, pity and many more. Some stories also touch our hearts. Reading a story is like we are entering a whole new world. A world which only exists in our hearts and minds. We cry, we laugh, we may even yell at the characters. Reading is like experiencing magic, the magic of a book, the magic of reading. Stephen King once said, ‘Books are uniquely portable magic’, a magic that makes reading an adventure where anything can happen.

I believe that reading is the process that allows children to learn about the world. Both fiction and non-fiction play a part in teaching them about things outside of their comfort zone. Children are able to learn about people and places that are different to them. Through reading children are exposed to ways of life, ideas and beliefs which are outside their small world. I have recently read a book called only ever yours, although it is set in a fantasy world it was an informative way to understand the affects of mental health and the expectations society has of us. This helped me better sympathise with people in situations such as this. And wouldn’t you want to be more sympathetic and understanding to people? If so pick up a book.

Now that you know the importance of reading in our lives, what are you waiting for? Go into a library or a book store and obtain some books. Open any book and start reading. As after all, ‘reading is one of the most marvellous adventures that anyone can have’ a quote said be Lloyd Alexander.

So I leave you with the words of George R.R Martin ‘A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one’

What is your favourite book?

I think my favourite book is the Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett as I have read it a thousand times but still find it enjoyable as C.S Lewis once said ‘i can’t imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once’.

The story opens with a neglected child called Mary Lennox, who lives in India with her English parents. At 10 years old her parents die, so she is sent to live with her uncle Archibald Craven in Yorkshire England. When she arrives at the Misselthwaite estate, the servants let her know that her uncle will pay no attention to her.

Soon after her arrival, Mary learns about a secret garden on the estate that has been locked away for 10 years after the death of Mrs. Craven. She becomes enchanted with the idea of the garden and eventually locates it and goes inside. Mary befriends Dickon Sowerby, the brother of her housemaid Martha, who is beloved by every living thing, and he begins to help Mary tend to the garden.