Why Should I Care about Reading? by Shmoop

Why Should I Care About Reading? a la Shmoop There are tons of things you can do with your free time. Play sports. Check out Facebook. Go shopping. Practice juggling chainsaws while riding a unicycle. Or, if you need something relaxing or mentally stimulating, you can read. Why should you care about reading? The first answer is the most obvious: books are full of information. Sure, juggling chainsaws improves your reflexes… and tests the quality of your health insurance… but reading improves your mind. In case you haven’t noticed, we live in the Information Age. It’s no longer Bronze or Iron that is the most valuable… it’s information. Knowledge isn’t just power. It’s practically currency. Reading can help you get better grades. Improve your memory. And expand your vocabulary exponentially. If you don’t know what exponentially means, well, you should be reading more. Plus, books have stood the test of time for being a reliable source of information. Unless you’re that guy Oprah yelled at for lying in his memoir. Sure, Wikipedia is mostly accurate, but you never know who could have changed the information right before you log on. If someone changes something in a book, you’ll know it. While reading seems like a solitary activity, it’s actually a great way to meet new people. We don’t think we’ll ever see crowds lining up around the block like they did for Harry Potter, but books can be social events, with author talks and book signings. You can even find book buddies without leaving the house. Once you’re done posting pug photos on Tumblr, you can head over to communities like Goodreads, which have over twenty million members. Plus, you’ll know the plot of every other movie and cable TV show before they hit the air. Almost every hit program these days is based on a book. We imagine HBO executives spend a lot of their time at the bookstore. Whatever you decide to read, you can do it pretty much anywhere. Thanks to e-readers and reading apps on smart phones, you can read at the beach, waiting in line at the drive-thru, skydiving, gator wrestling…. Paper books are actually great pieces of technology, too. We know it’s hard to think of a book as technology, but it’s a heck of a lot better than carrying stacks of stone tablets wherever you go. Plus, drop a book in the pool, and the paper will dry out. Can’t say the same for that e-reader. Books are also a great way to teach us about the way the world used to be… …not only about the world the author has created or where they have chosen to set their novel, but about the world of the author him or herself. Books are kinda... historical artifacts. They’ll be here longer than any of us. Thanks mostly to garage sales. There are so many reasons to care about reading, they could fill a book. Reading gives you access to unlimited information… And unlimited entertainment… Plus you can read absolutely anywhere at any time. If you already do care about reading, tell someone else why you do. Just don’t interrupt them while they’re reading.