Why You Should Read

Introduction

In a world dominated by rapid advancements in technology and an endless stream of information, reading, for many, is a once-loved pastime that has become difficult to maintain. Yet, as business leaders, entrepreneurs, and professionals increasingly emphasise, reading is not only relevant but crucial for success in today’s competitive business landscape. Reading can offer profound benefits that span across personal growth, leadership, professional development, and cognitive capability. In this article, we’ll explore why reading is essential for anyone seeking to thrive in the modern business environment.

Health

Let’s start with the health benefits. And there are plenty…

In 2009, a group of researchers measured the effects of yoga, humour, and reading on the stress levels of students in demanding health science programs in the United States. The study found that 30 minutes of reading lowered blood pressure, heart rate, and feelings of psychological distress just as effectively as yoga and humour did. [1]

The authors concluded, “Since time constraints are one of the most frequently cited reasons for high stress levels reported by health science students, 30 minutes of one of these techniques can be easily incorporated into their schedule without diverting a large amount of time from their studies.”

Meanwhile, a long-term health and retirement study followed a cohort of 3,635 adult participants for a period of 12 years, finding that those who read books survived around 2 years longer than those who either didn’t read or who read magazines and other forms of media [2]. The study also concluded that people who read more than 3 1/2 hours every week were 23% more likely to live longer than those who didn’t read at all.

It’s not just the length of life that reading improves, but the quality of life too. The National Institute on Aging recommends reading books and magazines as a way of keeping your mind engaged as you grow older. Although research hasn’t proven conclusively that reading books prevents diseases like Alzheimer’s, studies show that seniors who read and solve maths problems every day maintain and improve their cognitive functioning. [3]

You may read that and think it’s something for future you to worry about. Unfortunately, you’re wrong. Research shows that the earlier you start incorporating cognitively stimulating activities into your daily life, the better. For example, a 2013 study conducted by Rush University Medical Center found that people who’ve engaged in mentally stimulating activities all their lives were less likely to develop the plaques, lesions, and tau-protein tangles found in the brains of people with dementia. [4]

Sceptics may think it improbable that such a profoundly simple act could have so many long-term benefits, but science has an answer as to why.

Reading changes your brain

Using MRI scans, researchers have confirmed that reading involves a complex network of circuits and signals in the brain. As your reading ability matures, those networks also get stronger and more sophisticated.

In one study conducted in 2013, researchers used functional MRI scans to measure the effect of reading a novel on the brain. Study participants read the novel ‘Pompeii’ over a period of nine days. As tension built in the story, more and more areas of the brain lit up with activity. Brain scans showed that throughout the reading period and for days afterward, brain connectivity increased, especially in the somatosensory cortex, the part of the brain that responds to physical sensations like movement and pain. [5]

Reading may seem passive to us because we’re sedentary when doing it, but it’s an active mental process. As the BBC puts it, “When we read we create mental simulations of the activities, sights and sounds of scenes in a story, blending these with our own memories and experiences, all of which stimulates the neural pathways.” [6]

The mental stimulation provided by reading does not just affect us in the moment. It re-shapes our thinking –– especially when it comes to developing empathy.

Empathetic thinking

Studies show that reading can increase our emotional intelligence as we are exposed to –– and come to understand –– a range of perspectives and motivations that we don’t encounter in our daily life. The legendary film critic Roger Ebert once described films as empathy machines, and the exact same is true for novels. [7]

As leadership coach Mark Nevins writes in Forbes, “reading good fiction powerfully expands your emotional capacities. The point of great art is not to make us feel good — it’s to make us feel more: deeply, widely, authentically.” [8]

Being more empathetic is beneficial to every aspect of our lives. Quite simply, it makes us a better person. It also has its business uses. For example, greater empathy allows leaders to better understand their teams, or for workers to better understand their colleagues and clients. Nevins continues, “the ability to understand (and then manage) your own and others’ emotions is essential for developing the resilience, persuasion skills, and emotional intelligence that differentiate highly effective leaders and businesspeople from merely ordinary ones. If your role depends on engaging, influencing, and leading others, you will benefit from enhancing your understanding of what makes others tick.” [9]

The benefits of reading on empathy are not just speculative. Research has shown that people who read literary fiction “show a heightened ability to understand the feelings and beliefs of others.” Researchers call this ability the “theory of mind,” a set of skills essential for building, navigating, and maintaining social relationships. [10]

Nuanced thinking

Linked to the improvements to empathy, reading helps cultivate a more nuanced view of the world. Readers get to experience life from a number of differing perspectives and are presented with the deep and complex inner lives of a rotisserie of characters they may not otherwise come across in their day-to-day. This is in stark contrast to the two-dimensional, black and white opinions we tend to form about strangers, particularly in the social media age.

As Nevins puts it, “Much of contemporary culture today, abetted by social media and increasingly short attention spans, is characterised by controversy for its own sake; divisiveness and conflict; reducing complex and nuanced ideas to simplistic conclusions fit for a tweet; and arguing to win rather than listening to understand. The narratives of great fiction can enhance your ability to understand complicated reality more subtly and get to better conclusions and outcomes.” [11]

A recent study, published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, backs this up. It noted that those who had grown up reading literary fiction had “a more complex worldview” than those who had not. Amongst other things, the authors put this down to “increased attributional complexity”, meaning these people are comfortable with ambiguity and can understand behaviour in terms of complex systems. Another factor is lower “psychological essentialism” — the idea that human behaviour can be explained by certain immutable characteristics. [12]

“Encountering difference, encountering different minds, encountering different sorts of sociality helps to scaffold this belief in the complexity of the world,” Nick Buttrick, the study’s lead author and psychology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told the Financial Times. “If you’ve only ever encountered one sort of mind . . . and if you’re only reading . . . things which are predictable, safe, stable, people end up with a view of the world that is uncomplex, because that’s what you get repeatedly reinforced with.” [13]

The study reinforced findings from a 2013 research, which showed that individuals who read literary fiction tend to have a reduced need for cognitive closure — “the desire to remove ambiguity and arrive at definite conclusions even if they are incorrect or irrational.” [14]

What should you read?

When it comes to getting the most from your reading, not all books were created equal. Some offer more subtlety and greater life lessons, while others were written to be briefly enjoyed and then forgotten. When Nevins recommends leaders read fiction, he clarifies: “I don’t mean page-turners — Grisham, Steele, Patterson — though there’s benefit to clearing your head once in a while with what the great Graham Greene called “an entertainment.” Rather, pick up a novel that will engage and stretch the right side of your brain — the creative, introspective, empathetic side — in the way your job exercises the logical, rational, analytical left side of your brain for so many hours every day.” [15]

Meanwhile, Jeff Bradford, author of The Joy of Propaganda, recommends people stay clear of books that are specifically about business. “I’ve found that most business books are 200 pages about three to four ideas that could be covered in two to three pages,” he says [16]. It was Aristotle who said that “poetry is a more philosophical and a higher thing than history, for poetry tends to express the universal, history the particular” [17]. This was prior to the existence of the novel, but one can take it as read that prose would also fall under this more sophisticated category.

It’s men, in particular, that need to take this advice to read more novels. Studies suggest only 20% of men read fiction, while 64% of novels sold in 2021 in Britain were bought by women [18]. The gender divide in reading habits might be helping to contribute to greater levels of empathy and leadership abilities in women that men lack and could do with improving.

How should you read?

It’s not just what you read but how you read it that contributes to maximising the received benefits. In her 1925 essay “How Should One Read A Book?”, Virginia Woolf urged people to consume a book as if they were writing it, saying: “Begin not by sitting on the bench among the judges but by standing in the dock with the criminal.” [19]

By that she means one should actually pay attention to the words on the page. It sounds obvious, but in the age of consumption, in which we are so used to receiving information passively, actually lending our attention to an activity can take conscious effort, but the rewards are worth it.

Why you should read

In conclusion, while reading may seem like a simple and solitary act, its benefits are vast and profound, particularly in today’s fast-paced and complex world. From reducing stress and improving mental health to extending longevity, reading provides tangible health advantages. Beyond that, it enhances cognitive function, empathy, and the ability to navigate nuanced and complex situations — skills critical in both personal and professional contexts.

By engaging with thoughtful and challenging fiction, we can sharpen our mental faculties and expand our worldviews, enriching both our professional capabilities and personal lives. Ultimately, reading is not just a pastime — it is a strategic tool for thriving in the modern business landscape.