The December 31 to Jan. 7 US News and World Report offers a list of 50 things we can do to make our lives better in 2008. Two pages are devoted to the subject of reading, and for those of us who love to read, the news that reading is good for us comes as no surprise. However, article author Deborah Kotz offers this evidence:“More than income, social class, or education, says NEA Chairman Dana Gioia, the more you read, the greater likelihood that you will do well in school, be successful in business, and become involved in your community. The bottom line, he says: ‘Reading allows us to achieve more of our personal potential than almost any other activity.’ Neuroscience further backs up those contentions, says Tufts University child development Prof. Maryanne Wolfe. "Reading not only creates its own circuitry within the brain; that circuitry gives us the capacity to go beyond the text to new thoughts of our own," says Wolfe "My worry is that our children's and our societal immersion into the ever more immediate, digital presentation format for text will short-circuit" part of that ability.”
Feed your brain: Read
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