# So what's so great about reading? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 18, 2009, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-so-great-about-reading/503403 "2009-07-18T02:44:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-so-great-about-reading/503403/101 "2009-07-23T16:12:02Z")
> [@Spectralist](#): > > I disagree. There’s nothing inherently intellectual about reading books either. Yes, there is, in that reading is a mental task that does not come naturally (it must be learned) and requires some effort to perform. My friend has a young daughter who is beginning to be able to sound out simple words like “cat” and “top”. It’s real work for her. She’s been watching movies for years, though, and that has never been any strain at all on her mental abilities. > [@](#): > > \*You can easily pick up a pulpy page turner with all the depth of morning dew. You can easily pick up more complicated works and read with little to no examination or thought. It doesn’t _require_ a higher degree of concentration. \*Actually, it does. Even the silliest pulp novel requires that the person engage in SOME degree of mental effort in order to read it. You can’t just stare at the pages. You could make a case that a similar amount of mental effort is required in order to fully appreciate or form a critical opinion about books and movies, but the basic act of reading requires a lot more concentration and effort than the basic act of watching a movie. All you really need to do to _watch_ something is be conscious and pointed in the right direction. ---
**Author:** ![Gcat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gcat)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-so-great-about-reading/503403/102 "2009-07-24T05:43:33Z")
> [@Spectralist](#): > > Simply put, i don’t get it. Why is reading so good for people or for kids especially? Well for a kid, you can read stuff that if your parent’s saw you watching or playing a game that showed the same stuff that was being described in the book, they would flip out. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-so-great-about-reading/503403/103 "2009-07-24T20:17:09Z")
Reading to the exclusion of other activities isn’t good. I was one of those kids who read, but didn’t spend enough time outside, didn’t participate in sports, didn’t pick up hobbies. But doing anything to the exclusion of other activities isn’t good. Reading is one of the things that makes a person well rounded. Its one of those basic foundational things - its like playing some sport or another (whether thats pickup basketball or frisbee golf), being able to play a few card games. Having a hobby that involves creation (knitting, woodworking). Its also a life skill - like being able to cook yourself a few meals or do your own laundry without everything being pink and too small or changing out a shower head or doing enough math to be able to balance a checkbook. If you said “I never read for entertainment” I’d look at you like you had two heads. But you’d get the same look if you said “I’ve never played any sports” or “I never cook.” ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2009, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-so-great-about-reading/503403/104 "2009-07-25T00:09:13Z")
I’ve been thinking a lot about this as well. I can be laying on the couch reading some piece of crap book, or watching a movie or reading Shakespeare on the internet. People will bother me less for reading the book then they would over watching a movie or reading something online. Read Shakespeare online and you’re wasting all your time on the internet. Read a random best seller about weight loss or why men are the worst things ever and you’re a genius who reads books! ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-so-great-about-reading/503403/105 "2009-08-08T04:36:08Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > Keep stating, because it’s not obvious. I was one of those people that truly was reading college textbooks at age 3. Lots of 3-year-olds can sound out some of the words in a college textbook, inasmuch as so many of them are simple words. You did not _understand_ the book, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-so-great-about-reading/503403.md?page=5)