What are the benifits of reading?

[SamC]

As the title.

[Bodhitree]

It makes you think you know a subject, without any actual experience. 

[Willie]

It gives you different perspectives. You “become” the characters in the story. And, of course, the entertainment value.

[BlackMaze]

If you read good books your life changes if you actually apply them. The whole booklist for example and many other books. 

You can learn more about a subject you know nothing about or even existed as an idea in your head. 

You train your brain and are able to write better and think better. 

You can visit other imaginary worlds. 

You learn skills. 

You can become more conscious if you read the right books. 

You can discover unique solutions to your problems. 

You can learn to cook. Belongs to the skill learning but still worth mentioning. 

They can have an influence to a wide audience of people. 

Language is ideas spoken with a code from someone that is able to speak or write or communicate with other ways producing sounds and symbols and art aimed at someone that is able to see or hear or feel the message through art with his physical body that has organs like eyes and ears and a brain and hands and trapezoid muscles and cells and different systems like a perfect machine that understands the message filters it through his upbringing, ego, experiences and personality sees his life as a series of problems or not, sees how can he apply what he learned and by applying the message is successfully received (or not) . Experiences can be communicated, either real or imaginary and be replicated. Everything is communication. There are bad and good ways of communication. Bad books and good books. Many books are writen to earn money. The books that have purpose behind them are always powerful and mind-blowing. 

Edited March 31, 2021 by BlackMaze

[Matt23]

New inspirations, ideas, and perspectives.

If you read enough (I'm talking non-fiction), you start to learn from so many perspectives that you realize you don't know much at all.  And this leads you to become less ideological and more wise in your thinking and beliefs. 

You learn new techniques and pieces of info that could drastically alter your life for the better. 

And the Joy of Exploration for its own sake. 

[Logan]

What value does a scalpel have to a surgeon? What value does a boat have to a sailor? If you want to create an amazing life, you are going to have to figure out what life is all about. If you are confused and lost about what life is about for you, then you ought to use maps to find your way. A book is a map. Your lack of understanding in any area will severely limit you in that domain. The more you know, the more options you have, the more you can sift through the BS and find what's important to you... Truth, Love, relationships, money, adventure, whatever. If you don't use a map, you will get swept up in the current of life. You will lose direction and purpose. You will just be surviving.

A useful metaphor is military campaign. Do you think an army with no leadership or strategy could win a war? Or feed it's troops for that matter? A great general studies the battlefield, studies his enemies, understands his own strengths and weaknesses, and creates a battle plan. Are you a general, creating the circumstances of your life? Or are you a grunt, taking orders and getting shit on by your superiors? If you can't think independently or intelligently, you won't have much choice. You will be rolling around in the mud  and getting battered with the rest of the  grunts, while the general sits back in his cozy tent drinking his coffee. 

Edited April 1, 2021 by Logan

[JosephKnecht]

You tune into the train of thought of another Being that wished to transcend itself through a story.

Books are selfless gifts of thought.