For You Who Love Books

For you who love books… who dive into them as if you were diving into the sea, with the familiarity of arriving at a place you already know and, at the same time, with the feeling of adventure and mystery of not knowing what will happen next.

For those who know the pleasure of taking refuge in a good book during rainy afternoons. Who settles on the couch and feels the hours fly by. Who doesn’t understand that there are people who feel bored, there are so many stories to discover, so many lives to dream…

For you, who have lived thousands of lives, who have known hundreds of worlds and who have traveled through time. You who ever got emotional, laughed and cried through the written word. Who knows human nature because he has put himself in the shoes of an endless number of characters.

Surely you remember books that established a before and an after in your life. The first stories that amazed you in childhood, the readings from adolescence that marked your personality, the ones you read as an adult and helped you to overcome a bad time.

It is very likely that you have your favorite time to read : maybe it’s at night, in bed, before going to sleep, or maybe you prefer to enjoy the time you spend on public transport, or that you read in the afternoon, at some point in time. peace rescued from everyday obligations. Or that you leave it for the weekend as a reward.

You know that reading can be an evasion: you forget about your problems and the little dramas of each day  to enter a new world. It’s a magical time in which negative thoughts don’t sink, a time free from stress and worry.

However, reading is much more than a simple escape. Because it can be used to distance yourself, to learn, to think creatively or to emotionally strengthen yourself. In this way, reading can serve to solve problems, or at least to help face them better.

Readers have always known these advantages, but recently science gave them the reason: did you know that reading lowers the risk of suffering from dementia? Apparently, reading, especially fiction stories, improves cognitive reserve and helps to reach old age in better conditions.

Furthermore, in different studies, it has been proven that reading increases emotional intelligence and empathy, this wonderful human ability to put oneself in the other’s shoes and understand them. The philosopher Schopenhauer had already warned of this when he stated that “Reading is thinking with the brain of others instead of doing it as one’s own” . Cognitive psychology and neuropsychology confirmed his reflection.

These are the most important conclusions, but if we continue to research the topic, we will find more research that speaks of improvements in concentration, memory, the ability to relate concepts and many other benefits.

All this proves that reading is never a waste of time : you always gain much more than you lose.

But make no mistake: it is not necessary to know these benefits or list these advantages to know what is the best thing about reading. Reading is an unparalleled experience, a wonderful addiction with no negative effects, and an absolute pleasure.

For those of you who recognize your addiction to reading and who read this article with a knowing smile, because you know what I’m talking about. For you, who like Borges, cannot imagine a world without books. This article is for you who love books.