Why do people like to read? If you’re not a bookworm, you might find the way some people love to read both baffling and even alien to you. After all, reading is not nearly as exciting as watching a movie, right? And it’s kind of a boring, stationary activity, right?
Even if you are a reader, you might still be wondering why people like to read. Or you might not know how to answer when people ask you “Why do you like reading books?”…because on the face of it, you really are just staring at a bunch of marks on a page…and let’s be honest, that doesn’t sound too exciting or interesting…
But there are so many good reasons people like reading. From entertainment reasons for reading to scientific benefits of reading, here’s everything you need to know to finally understand why people like to read!
1. Reading Allows You to Escape Reality
Why do people like reading? One of the most popular reasons is that reading allows you to escape reality.
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the reality of the world around you or by everything you have to do or think about in your work or everyday life, then reading can be a good way to escape all of that for a little while.
Of course, there can be both a healthy and unhealthy way to use reading to escape reality. You can’t just spend all your life in a book! But if you need a little break from the pressures in your life, reading can be a good escape for you.
2. Reading Immerses You in Another World
Another reason people like reading is that it takes you outside of yourself and immerses you in another world.
When you’re reading, you can quickly become immersed in the world of the book (Assuming it’s a good book!). This could be a fantasy world or just the real world as described in the book. But regardless, the story grabs you and brings you into whatever is going on and allows you to be a part of that world for a little while.
3. Reading Helps You Experience Other Times, Places, and Events
Reading is also exciting because it can help you experience other times, places, and events that you might not normally have the opportunity to experience.
If you love to travel but don’t often have the opportunity, then reading can take you to the places you want to visit! Ever wondered what it would be like to experience your favorite historical moment? Reading can also likely take you there!
While our lives are limited in what we’re able to experience, books can take us pretty much anywhere and to do pretty much anything we want. And that’s pretty incredible!
4. Reading Offers the Pleasure of a Good Story
For readers who love the suspense of watching a good plot unfold, the pleasure of a good story is a reason to read in itself.
The drama of a good story is both fun and exciting, as you get to see the story unfold and experience the pleasure that comes from a well-crafted story in all of its stages from beginning to end.
5. Reading Allows You to Use Your Imagination
Reading can also improve the imagination and creativity, and allows us the opportunity to use our imaginations too.
While movies are exciting and fun forms of entertainment, books offer entertainment but without the visual. Non-readers might see this as a drawback, but readers know that this can be exciting because you get to use your imagination to supply the visuals while you read!
Since not everything is fully laid out for you like in a movie, you have to supply some of what characters look like (from a basic description, usually) as well as what their surroundings look like, how they act/interact with other characters, etc.
Books usually lay out a framework for visuals, but you get to have fun using your imagination and filling in the rest!
6. Reading is Relaxing
Another reason many people love to read is that it is relaxing and helps reduce stress.
Often, people think reading can relax you by taking your mind off of your problems. And this is true! By filling your mind with something else captivating, you’re less likely to focus on your anxious thoughts or anxious feelings.
But it can also actually relax your body, by lowering your heart rate and reducing tension in your muscles. So there are both physical and mental reasons that reading helps relax you, and that can be a huge reason readers love to read!
7. Reading Facilitates Quiet Time
Ever feel like the world is just too loud? Too busy? If so, reading is a huge help because it facilitates having quiet time!
There are lots of great places to read, but in general most people find reading is best done somewhere without a lot of noise and distractions. So if you’re looking for an excuse to escape the busyness of life and the noise, then picking up reading can be a helpful way to escape from all that.
8. Reading is a Sensory Experience
Some readers also just really like reading because of the sensory experience.
This is mostly true of the die-hard print book fans, but you’ll likely find traces of it in ebook readers as well. Essentially, the experience of holding a book—the way it feels in your hands, the way it smells, etc.—is an enjoyable experience and makes them love reading.
9. Reading is Good (Free-ish) Entertainment
As we’ve started to see through the above reasons people love reading, reading is honestly just really good entertainment! It’s fun! And that’s a huge reason people like to read.
It’s also generally free (or free-ish) entertainment, as you can get a lot of books for free or cheap from your library, used bookstores, and more. There are also lots of places to find free or cheap ebooks and cheap audiobooks. So when it comes to entertaining hobbies, reading is one that offers lots of benefits and excitement for a pretty low cost!
10. Reading is Educational
While the entertainment side of reading is unquestionably a huge motive for readers to enjoy reading, educational value is another big reason for many people to read books.
If you want to learn something, books can be the perfect way to start getting an education about whatever topic you’re interested in!
11. Reading Helps You Gain Knowledge and Skills
Similarly, reading helps you gain knowledge and discover new information.
Whatever topic you’re interested in or whatever new skill you want to learn, there’s a book to help! Sometimes reading books can be the perfect way to get started with learning something new and discovering more about a skill you’re interested in gaining.
12. Reading Gives You a New Perspective
Reading can also give you a new perspective on life and various topics you read about.
Maybe you’ve had long-held opinions about a historical person or event, but reading their biography allows you to discover something you didn’t know that adjusts how you see them. Or maybe you’re reading a fiction book, but discover that the characters view something differently than you and it makes sense why they do.
Whatever the case, it’s likely that reading can give you a new perspective on people, problems, and many other things you never realized!
13. Reading Increases Empathy
Similarly, reading can help increase your empathy by showing you the world through another’s eyes.
Whether you’re reading about something and seeing it through the eyes of the author, or reading about something and seeing it through the eyes of a fictional character, reading does a great job of placing you in others’ shoes and teaching you about things you haven’t personally experienced.
When you see the experiences of others, you will likely understand why they make the choices they do and this can increase your empathy and understanding of others in the real world as well!
14. Reading Expands Your Worldview
Reading is also something people love to do because it helps expand their worldviews.
Just like travel, reading can expose you to new cultures, new experiences, and new ways of thinking. While many of us tend to get trapped in our own comfortable bubbles and ways of viewing the world, reading is a low-effort and low-stakes way to experience new worldviews and ways of seeing the world.
And as you learn more about the variety of ways people live, your worldview is likely to expand and grow and help you discover truth and new ways of viewing the world that you otherwise would never have considered.
15. Reading Challenges the Mind
Many people also love reading because it challenges their minds and challenges them to grow.
This is particularly true if you’re reading books that feel a little difficult to you, but in general reading helps keep your mind sharp and challenges you to get better at reading, critical thinking, vocabulary and more. It’s a good way to keep your brain strong, especially as you age!
16. Reading Improves Memory
Reading is also popular with those who want to maintain good health, as it can help improve and maintain memory.
Reading books is an easy way to help you practice memory skills, by remembering events that happened in previous chapters and holding on to those details to help you keep track of the story as it progresses. It also forces you to keep track of things that happened in recent paragraphs so you can progress through the story.
By allowing you to practice remembering larger events and details over time, as well as the things that have just happened a few paragraphs before, studies have shown reading helps strengthen pathways in the brain and likely helps improve your memory as well. So if you want to increase cognitive function (or simply lessen age-related cognitive decline), then reading can be a great practice to add to your daily routine!
17. Reading Builds Character and Helps Reach Goals
Reading is also something people like to do because it can help them build character and that can transfer to other areas of their life as well.
While reading can be fun overall for many people, it’s also a discipline and isn’t always fun. But if you want to build good habits in your reading life or in your daily life, then setting reading goals and reaching those reading goals can help you improve not only in reading and learning but also give you the motivation to reach for other goals in your life as well.
When you’re disciplined in one area of your life and do things you know are good for you even when you’re not always excited about it, this can help build character and help you be more disciplined in other areas of your life too!
18. Reading Builds Connection and Community
Lastly, for many people reading is also something they love to do because it’s a way to build connection and community.
While reading can be a solitary activity, it can also be a bonding one. After all, if you’re a reader, you know how exciting it can be to talk about a good book with someone else who loves to read!
So for some people, reading can be a good way to connect with others through joining a book club, through starting a Bookstagram, or even just through giving you things to talk about with friends in real life.
So if you’re looking for community and connection, then you might find you like reading too when you pick up a book and experience all of these reasons so many people love to read!