Books make us nicer and kinder

It's official. I am one of the nicest and kindest people I know.

And that's not just my inflated opinion of myself; it's been scientifically proved. So how come? According to the latest academic research, it's simply because I read a lot, and always have done.

At the annual conference of the British Psychological Society in May, a paper was presented giving evidence that people who read widely have more empathy and understanding of others than non-readers. They are also more intelligent.

The research, undertaken by psychologists at Kingston University, showed, by subjecting readers and non-readers to psychological tests, that reading books enables people to see things from different points of view and encourages thoughtfulness and good manners.

This study follows on from some earlier work by two Canadian academics whose pioneering studies in 2006 and 2009 showed that reading literature, especially great literature, definitely improves us as human beings. Previously it had been argued that there was no evidence for this.

In particular, 'deep reading' rather than scrolling through, or skimming, has such a profound effect on the brain that it is much like entering a hypnotic trance, where we forget everything else and enter into the world of the writer. The Canadian researchers also concluded that those who preferred watching television to reading books, were less friendly, less sociable and had less understanding of the world than avid readers.

That maybe because watching television is a relatively superficial activity which does not demand the same concentration a reading a book, and the same applies to reading on screen. You need to read in print to gain the full experience and benefits. Kindles and e-books have their place, but the experience is not the same, and books scrolled down on screen tend to be quickly forgotten.

But if you can no longer read books because of poor eyesight, audio books can do the trick just as well, provided they are read by professional actors who can introduce light, shade and nuance that otherwise might be missed. I recently listened to a reading of some of Virginia Woolf's work by Dame Eileen Atkins, and it brought the words home to me in a way that reading the works myself had never managed.

A few years ago, writer Rachel Kelly, who had suffered such severe depression that she was bedridden for months, wrote a book about how immersing herself in poetry had healed her more than all the medicines and psychiatric treatments in the world. Her book, Black Rainbow: How Words Healed me, became a bestseller, and Rachel now gives workshops on how great poetry has the power to heal depressive or other anguished states of mind.

Although adults can benefit from regular reading, it is in childhood that the advantages are most clearly shown, and where the habit is set for life. A 2010 study by Canadian psychologist Raymond Mar (correct spelling) said that the more stories young children read, the keener their 'theory of mind' and intelligence. Staring at an iPad does not deliver; you have to be reading a real book to gain the effect.

Scientific research into how reading great literature improves mental health is new, but it has been known throughout the ages that books are powerful, and if they fall into the wrong hands they can be actually dangerous as they give people subversive ideas they might not otherwise have had.

This was why early translators of the Bible into the vernacular were burned at the stake, and why slaves on plantations were forbidden on pain of death to learn to read and write. Illiteracy kept people in their place and allowed them to be exploited.

It was not until the 1870s that education laws were passed in Great Britain to enable universal literacy; before that much of the population in this country actually were illiterate.

Indeed, thanks to some ancestral digging by my cousins, I learned that my great-grandparents could not read or write, and that they signed official documents with a cross. My cousins have the marriage and other certificates to prove this.

In the children's book Heidi, the young heroine makes it her mission to teach Peter the goatherd to read, in spite of his protestations that it was too difficult.

Heidi knows that Peter will never get anywhere unless he masters the skill of reading. It is also the case that the earlier a person learns to read, the easier it is to acquire a lifetime habit. Those who have not read books as children will rarely pick them up as adults, and as such, miss out on one of life's greatest pleasures.

Throughout my own life, books have been my solace, companions, friends and educators and occasionally enemies, when I have violently disagreed with an author's point of view or thrown a book across the room in fury. I have met so many interesting people through reading and cannot imagine how I would manage without books in my life. I actually panic if I don't have anything to read and sometimes at night roam round my bookshelves to see if there is anything I have somehow missed or overlooked. There rarely is, so there is nothing for it to buy a load of new books.

Within a week though, I will be without anything to read again. Books are, without doubt, my greatest extravagance, and I often buy hardbacks as I'm too impatient to wait for the paperback.

Through reading I have, as Keats said, travelled in the realms of gold – but also in the realms of base metals, because by no means everything I read is great literature. Although the new research indicates that 'deep reading' of great works is much like being hypnotized, badly-written or indifferent literature can also have an effect, even if it's only to show you how not to write. You can always learn something even from a dreadful book in a way you can't from watching a bad film or a boring TV show.

Light romantic novels, often dismissed by snooty academics, can improve empathy says the research, while experimental books and literary fiction increase the ability to gain new perspectives. It is not yet known exactly which brain pathways are involved in the increase of intelligence and empathy through wide reading, but no doubt this will be the next phase of study into the subject.

Centuries ago, Jane Austen instinctively understood the power of fiction when she had her character Henry Tilney say, in Northanger Abbey, completed in 1803:

'The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.'

Nowadays at least, it is usually the lady rather than the gentleman who takes pleasure in a good novel. Around 80 per cent of all books are read or purchased by women and it is also the case that women tend to be nicer and kinder than men, and have greater powers of empathy.

Now, thanks to the latest research, we know that there is a close connection between the two.


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