They say that 'travel broadens the mind':
It’s hard to not have any prejudices, especially when we are bombarded by bad news on a 24/7 schedule. However, we implore you to act against these; by visiting these countries, having an open mind for their culture and cuisine and asking questions. Being genuinely curious and respectful will guarantee to open doors for you and lead to experiences you would never have had before... Why Does Travel Broaden the Mind?
Studies suggest that taking a gap year or studying abroad can positively influence your brain to make you more outgoing and open to new ideas... Travel broadens the mind, but can it alter the brain? | Students | The GuardianAnd perhaps 'reading broadens the mind' in the same way:
Reading is a gateway to new worlds, cultures, and perspectives. Through books, we can travel across time and space, experiencing different eras, countries, and societies. Whether we delve into historical accounts, immerse ourselves in fiction, or explore the realms of science, reading broadens our minds and expands our horizons. It allows us to step into the shoes of diverse characters, fostering empathy and a deeper understanding of the human condition. By encountering different viewpoints and narratives, we become more tolerant, open-minded, and compassionate individuals... The Profound Benefits of Reading: Expanding Horizons, Sharpening Minds, and Enriching Lives | by Lanu Wilson | Medium
Yes, it's good for us! What Reading Does To Your Brain - YouTube
As Matthew D'Ancona, writing in the New World/European, says, reading is the new resistance:
“If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks,” Atticus Finch tells his daughter in To Kill a Mockingbird (1960). “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view – until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
But how is this done? Or (more specifically) what practices encourage the kind of radical empathy that Harper Lee’s lawyer prescribes? Allow me to suggest that reading – reading often, closely and critically – is a significant part of the answer.
As Harold Bloom puts it in How to Read and Why (2000), the company of books “returns you to otherness, whether in yourself or in friends, or in those who may become friends… One of the uses of reading is to prepare ourselves for change.” ...
Books are the rebel contraband of the idiot age.
As Malcolm X recalled in his autobiography: “I knew right there in prison that reading had changed forever the course of my life. As I see it today, the ability to read awoke inside me some dormant craving to be mentally alive.”
For the young Nye Bevan, books also represented a form of liberation. As Michael Foot writes in his biography of the founder of the National Health Service, the Tredegar Workmen’s Institute Library was an intellectual temple for the teenaged Bevan: “his reading became prodigious… He seized on everything and would often stay awake reading until the dawn. He wrote poems of his own and declaimed many more.”
This is why it is so infuriating when the campaign for reading is dismissed as a middle-class preoccupation or an elitist cause. The opposite is the case: it is precisely those who do not grow up in a household rich in intellectual capital who most deserve access to the full range of culture and knowledge. Why should books be the preserve of the affluent, a luxury rather than a basic entitlement at the core of modern citizenship?
See also some more recent blog posts on the value of reading:
Jay Doubleyou: what makes a good detective story - it's not the plot
Jay Doubleyou: today is world book day in the uk and ireland!
