Why Reading Matters

2 days ago I watch this great documentary by BBC (BBC makes great documentaries, but due to their failure to show the Gaza Appeal makes me question their credibility in reporting news now). You can watch this 60 minutes documentary 'Why Reading Matters' at BBC official website. I promise you it is worth your 60mins. It is hosted by Rita Carter, a science writer.

If you think reading (even fiction) is a waste of time, or is less a brain exercise than doing mathematical puzzles, you are wrong.

It is proven by neuroscientists through nuclear imaging of the brain that the act of reading actually involves many parts and centres of the brain. Stroke patients who developed reading difficulties were studied and it was found that their brain damages actually occur at variable sites.

A good literature can actually fires up your brain. A professor in Liverpool Univ actually studied the brain electrical impulses while a subject is reading a Shakespearrean piece. Shakespearre is famously known for using adjectives or nouns as verbs, and when you read this particular word, your brain charges a certain electrical impulse, which is shown in brain EEG.

Reading is actually the most energetic brain exercise. A group of scientists in Cambridge use a brain scanner called MEG (a recording of magnetic fields of brain activity) to determine brain activities when you are reading. If you are reading an action word, say 'grip', the part of brain that controls your hands to make the gripping action actually fires up (without your hands gripping, of course). So when you are reading, your whole brain is crazily working. And this is why people who reads a lot empathize with other people more, because when he/she reads, the part of the brain that is responsible for emotions/actions also charges up, so it is like the reader has actually experienced the situation itself (mentally).

I supposed that is why when you read horror stories, the whole night you will be edgy (like I used to be when I read Fear Street series back in primary school).

So, what is the pattern of reading habit now? British people remains enthusiastic readers, in 2005 alone the British bought 218 million books. But in the US since the millenium, booksales has stagnated.

Malaysians?

In 1996 and again 2005 the National Library did a survey on Malaysian reading habits, and for both years, those aged 10 and above only read 2 books a year (no improvement despite campaigns). This excludes textbooks and work-related books. Quite shocking but I'm not sure about the sample size and who was interviewed. Surely if they include medical students they won't get fantastic results. And I noticed my younger sister had to read certain novels for her BM lessons, and I'm quite sure it was more than 2 (maybe this is not counted in-novels used in schools). Probably it will help if books are cheaper in Malaysia, like here in UK (I just bought 4 books all for just a pound at a carboot sale last week).

Well, now science has proven the importance of reading to your brain. It should be everybody's number one hobby. And the very first Quranic verse that was received by Prophet Muhamad (pbuh) is, as everyone knows; 'Read, in the name of God....'

p/s : can you imagine if one day you wake up and you suffer a stroke, and suddenly all the words doesn't make sense anymore? isn't it one of the scariest thing? (this was shown in the documentary, a patient who wakes up with a stroke and found that all the letters he read did not spell in english anymore-he saw it as a different language)