Posted on 08/29/2019 2:27:35 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
Up until the last thirty years or so, reading was the most common form of entertainment. These days, technology has been steadily replacing the entertainment of reading a good book. According to a statistic from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Center for Educational Statistics, fewer than half (48 percent) of adult Americans read literature for pleasure.
Reading on a regular basis, however, provides amazing benefits to the health of our brain and our mental well-being.
Reading has the power to reduce stress, whereas other forms of media tend to increase stress. TV and the Internet require short bursts of attention and come with tons of distractions, noise, and fast-paced visuals...Dr. David Lewis-Hodgson, of the Mindlab at University of Sussex in London, conducted a study that demonstrated how reading impacts our stress response. Subjects’ stress levels and heart rates were increased through a variety of tests and exercises, and then they read for a mere six minutes. The results showed that reading reduced stress levels among participants by 68 percent, with some seeing stress levels lower than before they had started the experiment.
Reading also enhances our creativity. As we read about new concepts, ideas, and information, we engage our imagination and are more creative in the real world. Although a book or story may provide lengthy descriptions of characters, plots, and scenery, our imagination and creativity bring them to life in our minds. From a social standpoint, reading makes you a more informed and engaging person. No matter the genre you enjoy—novels, biographies, nonfiction, self-help, or any other—you always gain new knowledge and insight and something new to talk about with others.
(Excerpt) Read more at chroniclebooks.com ...
I read all day long when on my computer using kindle and other apps. All kinds of technical material as well as many books, i have just under 200 books in this format alone
#11, keep a book in the bathroom.
You well be better for it....
I just do the used book store thing, lucky in that I have two pretty good & cheap ones nearby. Or buy used books online. I have yet to get into the electronic readers. Heck I don’t even have a smartphone yet. I guess I will have to bite that bullet eventually but I keep putting it off and make do with my dumbphone. I am leery about getting into ‘books on tape’ stuff because I know I am the type that would probably love it and then only listen to stories instead of actively reading them on my own.
Freegards
I first got into the book readers because you can read outdoors in high wind. When I got the first one I already had quite a few books for them since I had picked up complete sets of a lot of pulp series in the late nineties which were available for free until the copyrights were renewed.
The book readers have become indispensable as I’ve aged because I can make the text bigger in the morning and then shrink it down when my focus gets better.
Horses are very wise.
Yeah, that sounds great. I’m just not there yet. I should just borrow one and try reading a book through it. And it makes sense too because you can find many rare books converted to e-books for cheap. I read mainly old sci-fi and fantasy and a lot of stuff is only electronic for a reasonable price.
Freegards
This article makes me sad.
I and all my peers grew up reading. Reading every day was like breathing.
Now? Reading in general - and especially reading an actual book - is laughed at by most young people.
Get a home NAS (network attached storage) unit. Put all your movies and music on it. Use Plex to play back. It is wonderful — no more handling
Discs. Music playlists.
Am similar but I really don’t miss reading.
Have listened to some of Becoming Superman by JM Straczynski.
Talk about a extremely screwed up early life. He had some really whacked family members.
Used book stores are great places to find books that you are not looking for.
Probably 90% of the authors I read I got started on them because I happened to pick up the book in the store and read a couple of pages before deciding that it looked decent and at two bucks it was worth the risk.
Amen.
People are shocked to find I don't have one - at least not on me.
I keep a flip-phone in my glove box for emergencies
About 15 years ago I realized I rarely read books anymore - so I started to keep a list (now spread-sheet) of books I've read year-by-year.
Some books are just for fun, some are educational, and at least two books each year HAVE to be "classics" - this year it was "Don Quixote" and "Brothers Karamazov", last year it was "Last of the Mohicans" and "Pride and Prejudice", etc.
Also cycle through the Bible every couple of years. I just love books....
Started reading at an early age and never got out of the habit - I always have at least a few books on hand and when I get low I hit the thrift shops to see if they have anything interesting (50 cents to a buck a book beats $6-$10 or more).
Never a reason to be bored if one has a good book handy.
“Never a reason to be bored if one has a good book handy.”
That brings to mind an old saying - You’re never alone, when you’re with a good book.
YEP...at night we turn off our Router, disconnect phones from wifi, etc....I know people think we’re weird, but we can still get phone calls. Also leave the phones 20 steps away in another room. I have loved technology, but not 24 hours a day.
I’m finding many “old” books in my MIL home, as we clean things out....currently reading a book which was likely her mother’s...”Great Modern Short Novels”...from 1966...reading “Lost Horizon” (Shangri-La) right now. I read EVERY night...my husband has learned how to sleep while I read, over the past 35 years. During the day, I read FR.
YOU have over 6000 books? I’m telling my husband...he thinks I have a lot of books...I’m a piker!
I find that to be true. Got my first library card when I was 9 and remember feeling like I was part of the stories...I miss that feeling but as our minds mature and become "more analytical", some of the original magic is lost but the enjoyment persists.
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