Reading offers the ability to learn for free (or close to it). Reading provides mental stimulation.Reading expands your vocabulary, giving you exposure to other cultures or ways of thinking. Reading improves concentration and creates brain pathways that improve memory. Reading develops analytical skills. Reading improves writing. Exposure to different writing styles through reading means that you pick up skills in prose construction.
Reading brings peace and reduces stress. It can lower blood pressure and assist in dealing with mood disorders. Reading boosts creativity by exposing the reader to new ideas and foreign concepts thereby encouraging imagination. Reading even increases empathy (through connection with characters).
Reading has even been reported to fight Alzheimer's disease because it is an active mental process.
Targeted reading can support your life goals, improve motivation or foster new skills. Because books are so portable you can do this on the go - travelling, waiting at a cafe or at the beach.
To read without reflecting is to eat without digesting - Edmund Burke
