In this article let’s take a look at all the pros and cons of reading books to understand whether it is worth it or overrated and waste of time.
This is the most comprehensive article you can find online on this topic so I would recommend you to bookmark and share the article and you will love this article if you want to learn more about reading books and benefits and Drawbacks of it.
So without further ado let’s dive right in.
Is reading books worth it or waste of time and overrated?
In my opinion reading books is definitely worth it and not waste of time and not at all overrated task, reading books is a good hobby to practise because
it not only increases your vocabulary but also helps you gain new knowledge, reading is a good exercise for your brain and you can learn from others mistakes which can save you a lot of time and makes you rich.
There are some disadvantages to reading books like mental fatigue, storage issues and expensive books.
To understand whether you should build the habit of reading books or not let’s take a look at all the advantages and disadvantages.
Pros and cons of reading books
Pros of reading books
Improve vocabulary
One of the main advantages is that reading books can increase your vocabulary a lot.
The average word count of most books will be around 80000 words, so you will encounter many new words while reading books which you can use in your daily usage like interacting with your friends, This improves your communication skills and while writing essays and answers in the exam.
Good for your brain & life
Another advantage is reading book is very good for you brain because it is a very mentally stimulating task.
Using MRI scans, researchers have actually confirmed that reading requires a network of circuits in the brain. reading makes your networks in brain more stronger and it also reduces stress, anxiety hormones in the body and more importanly it icreases sleep, it makes you calm and relax your brain.
There are several studies which show that reading helps you increase your concentration and focus because you will have to focus on words while reading and the more you read, your concentration muscles in your brain will also get stronger Which slowly increases your concentration and focus on work. Not just that, studies also show that senior citizen people who regularly read books and
solve math problems and puzzles have healthy mind, improve cognitive functioning, last but not least reading also helps people to stay and live longer period of time as compared to people who don’t read because reading is just exercise for your brain, reading books and magazines keep your brain active and healthy, reading also reduces Alzheimer’s and dementia diseases.
Increase your knowledge & learn new things, also a good entertainment source
Another benefit is reading books can increase your knowledge and you can learn new things, for example, you can learn money management and how to become financially independent by reading rich dad poor dad book similarly you can learn communication, public speaking skills by reading how to win friends and influence people book,
you can learn about the human brain, our behavior, actions, how to control your brain and understand it by reading a book called think fast and slow, so there are several books you can read in the various genre to
increase your knowledge and learn new things which is a great thing because you are always growing every day as a person, the knowledge you gain from books will be helpful for you in some point of life, overall reading makes you intelligent and knowledgable person.
And reading a book is also a good entertainment source if you don’t like television or playing games because there are various types of books you can read in various genres, movies like Harry Potter and Marvel are inspired from their novels and books.
Make new friends
Another advantage is it can make you new friends because if you are reading books regularly then you will have a lot of knowledge on various topics and you can start a conversation, talk about various things where you have knowledge with others and slowly people
will get a positive impression towards you as you have more knowledge on topics and You can get new friends of similar interests because people like to meet like-minded people, reading books also reduces your stress and anxiety levels, increases your confidence which is good time for you to make new friends.
Increases empathy, and imagination
Reading books also increases your empathy.
Research has shown that people that read fictional stories explore the inner lives of characters — show more ability to understand the feelings and beliefs of others, they develop empathy,
It is because when you read this fictional books, You will get connected with the story, the character and you will feel all the emotions, hardships the character is facing then your empathy muscles in your brain strengthens and having more empathy can lead to better relationships with others in your life.
So reading increases empathy imagination and creativity as well.
Improves your mood
Another advantage is reading also improves your mood, also helps you fight depression and anxiety levels.
Reading fiction can help you feel more connected and can help people who may be dealing with depression or anxiety. It allows your imagination to become more engaged and you connect emotionally to characters and reflect on your own feelings, problems and desires as you read.
You can read books like alchemist to improve your mood which is a fictional book BTW.
Build discipline in your life
Another benefit is reading books can build discipline and confidence in your life, if you lack self-confidence, discipline, and consistency in your life then you can start reading books every day for at least 30 minutes consistently for over 66 days, and
then reading becomes automatic task like a habit for you and you don’t have to use your will power and push yourself to read, you don’t need external motivation and this can give you a lot of confidence that you can be self-disciplined and consistent and it can reflect in other aspects of your life like doing exercise regularly, studying, working on your job, etc so reading can also make you the very disciplined person in your life.
Learn from others mistakes & get new perspectives of thinking
Another benefit is you can learn from others’ mistakes and get new perspectives on life, and problems by reading books.
Instead of looking at a book as something boring thing which only contains many words with fewer images, less visually appealing, you should consider it as thoughts and life experiences of the author who comprised his ideas and perspectives he learned from his years of experience in 300 pages of the book.
For example, you can read book like man’s search for meaning which that tells us about the situation of millions of Jews in the holocaust, this book can give you a new perspective on looking at your problems and situations, it helps you develop a feeling of gratitude, similarly You can win, the subte art of not giving a f*** & the rudest book ever are books that gives you new perspectives to tackle problems in life and there are many books which gives amazing perspectives to people and
also help them fight depression and other problems like anxiety and low self-esteem because they can learn new perspectives and ideas which they have never thought before reading the book, likewise you can read books like millionaire next door, financial management,
the richest man in Babylon, psychology of money, think and grow rich, intelligent investors are a few books which can help you avoid a lot of mistakes in money management, also help you become rich and wealthy, You can find such books in various genres like self help and relationships not just in finance.
You can also find & discover new ideas for your business by reading many books with the help of new perspectives in books.
These are all the advantages, Now let’s take a look at that disadvantages of reading books.
Cons of reading books
Requires Time & energy
One of the main disadvantages is that it requires a lot of time and energy to read books.
The fact is it can take you more than half an hour on average to read 10 pages of the book if you read 200 words on average per minute and the speed depends on the individual, Similarly reading books is also a lot mental stimulating task because
your brain is active and brain is the biggest organ in the body which consumes more than 20% of the body energy and it is seen that reading a book can burn 95 calories in one hour. And more importantly many people feel mental fatigue, sleepiness, eye strain, tired after reading a book nonstop for more than an hour because reading a book is like an exercise for your brain just like physical exercise can make you tired, reading is also similar to it.
Requires a lot of money
Another disadvantage is very obvious is it requires money to buy and read the book.
In India, it costs you 400 rs on average to get a paperback version of any book and the hardcover will be more costly depending upon the number of pages and genre of the book similarly you can get a paperback book is 10$ in the USA which is not really expensive but
the problem is people when they start the habit of reading books like you can read a book in less than 10 days consistently and then they slowly purchase many books to read and this is where slowly books can cost a lot of money from your savings and budget.
Hence I prefer ebooks to paper books, read more about it here
Storage issues
Another disadvantage is you will have storage issues if you have a habit of reading books like you will struggle to make free space to store your books,
there are is a solution that you can sell your books at a cheaper price to someone but most people try to keep the books they bought with themselves which creates a lot of storage issues of books, this is why borrowing books from the library is a good choice instead of buying them.
Multiple perspectives can create confusions
Another disadvantage is that you can get multiple perspectives on a similar topics which can create a lot of confusion especially if you read many books on similar topics like self help genre.
This happened to me many times because I love to read self help books,
For example, The Magic Of Thinking Big says that you should ‘think big.’ On the other hand, Think Small says that you should ‘think small, many self help books teach you follow your passion but books like the rudest book ever and the subtle art of not giving a f*** teach you something different, similarly you can find many contracting opinions in books like 48 laws of power which is opposite to what majority of the self books teach.
Now you only experience this if you read many books in a similar topic and most of the time the opinions are based upon different perspectives and situations and it is also not a big problem to worry about.
Only reading is not enough
The other disadvantage is that reading books alone is not enough but you should practically implement whatever you learnt in the book in your real life to get the real benefit.
But many people continuously read book after book without taking some time to implement what they have learnt in the book in the real life which is more important than reading many books.
I accept that knowledge, getting new information is good but actions are more important than having knowledge in the brain, having knowledge without action is useless.
People call you nerd
Another disadvantage is that people might call you nerd after they watch you read books often.
And this may sound stupid and useless but some people really get affected by what other people think about them and they always want other people to think good and positive things about them so if you are one of those then people can start calling you a nerd and boring if you get the habit of reading books because not
many people don’t like to read books as it seems to be boring task which it isn’t and it can affect your mental health because you are doing something which is opposite to the majority and humans are social beings so what other people think and say about you can affect you.
It can be unhealthy
Another disadvantage is most people sit in a place and read books continuously for 1 or 2 hours but it can be very unhealthy for your body sitting in a place for a long period without motion.
Sitting longer at a place can lead to obesity, increase blood pressure, gain weight, anxiety, stress increases, back pain problems, blood sugar levels, heart disease, etc problems.
And gazing at the book and reading the text for long time can lead to eye strain and headaches.
So reading books can be unhealthy if you sit in a place for a long period.
With that said let’s end the article.
Conclusion
These are all the things you need to know about reading books.
Do comment down what are you thoughts about reading books in the comment section below and also share the article with your friends and subscribe to my blog to receive notifications on whenever I publish a new article in future.
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