12 Simple Reasons To Read More Books

1. It’s a hobby that actually feels productive. You’re learning new things, your mind is (probably) expanding, and your probably becoming grammar savvy enough to have gotten a minor heart attack from that last your.

2. People often say that you don’t get the true sense of a city if you only visit for a few days — that in order to understand a new place or a new culture, you need to spend months, if not years in that locale. I think you could apply the same logic to books. If you’re looking to learn more about say, Hinduism, reading an article about the ancient Eastern Faith will give you a glimpse — but it won’t give you the fuller, in depth experience that a book will always provide. Books allow you to spend a great deal of time with someone who has completely different experiences and beliefs than you, which feels like a great way to become a more well-rounded, critically-minded person.

3. It’s not Facebook. (This is very huge)

4. Books often provide fun facts you can quote, or slivers of information that you can drop while out for burgers. These slivers and fun facts are huge, because, at least for me, they give off the illusion that I’m an interesting person.

5. Renting at the library is a more affordable option, but I’m very much about buying and collecting books. This allows one to build a library of his or her own, thus creating something that is solely theirs. Plus, going broke buying books intrinsically feels much better than going broke buying nachos.

6. Books sometimes lead to book clubs — which in addition to providing stimulating conversations that don’t necessary occur at corporate, soul sucking jobs, are generally well-versed in celery dips.

7. You’ll inevitably gain a better understanding of the world around you. And the world that came before you. AND, the scary world that’s about to unfold (or drown, or get overrun by robots) over the next few decades.

8. If you become a devoted book human, you’ll probably begin to seek out local bookstores. In addition to containing wonderful odors, bookstores also tend to be owned/staffed by people born in 1932 who fondly recall Fireside Chats.

9. Books, seemingly, are one of nature’s finest aphrodisiacs. If you’re a modestly good looking person reading on a park bench, you are actually George Clooney.

10. Reading hordes of books makes you a better writer. There’s this Stephen King quote that basically says you’re a worthless piece of feces if you think you’re a writer, but don’t take the time to read. Says King, ”If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write.” Even if you don’t want to be a #writer (someone who spends all day sitting at a computer and favoriting tweets from publishing industry accounts), writing well is a great tool for whatever job you have/want/will never get due to the proliferation of virtual assistants.

11. People — particularly people with noses that face slightly upward — generally say that “the book” was better than the movie. I largely think that this has to do with the fact that when you read a book, you get to create the world with the descriptive ingredients that the author provides. You have a job to do in the sense that you need to visualize a world in your head, which probably creates some sort of psychological attachment and intrinsic satisfaction. The movie that’s based on that book, on the other hand, has nothing to do with you.

12. Few things in life are better than finding a book you unabashedly love — that you’ll read forever and always, and not necessarily care if your love of that book mirrors that of a Taylor Swift song title.