I love libraries. The smell of parchment diffusing into a large, high-ceiling room. The volumes of knowledge at one's disposal. The productive atmosphere. Libraries are beautiful. 

I love books. The large variety of works ranging from encyclopedias to novels. The ornate, leather spines of classical literature. The feel of aged paper sliding across fingertips. Books are beautiful. 

I don't like reading. The small characters on a page, crowded with thousands of others. The stationary nature of the activity. The investment of attention, dedication, and patience required to have a leisurely experience. 

I want to be a reader. It's quite likely that you want to be a reader as well since you're here. I love the idea of books, but I struggle to sit myself down and read one, no matter how much I want to. 

But while doing an AP Lang assignment for school, I had an epiphany that completely changed my perspective on why people should read. Instead of rhetorical analysis, literary devices, and character analysis, I realized that reading is much more than that: reading is a productive escape from reality. 

Ways We Entertain Ourselves 

What do you do when you want to relax? Watch a movie, a show, or a YouTube video? Listen to music? Go on your phone and watch TikToks?

These are some of the things I do and I'm sure others do as well. These activities are easy: all you have to do is sit and watch/listen. They require no investment of energy and aren't necessarily challenging to do, which is why we're so inclined to do them! Most of the time, we also end up learning something new from the media we consume. 

But after watching a movie or show, do you ever feel completely relaxed or refreshed? Do you feel like your mind wanders off while watching a movie, that you start thinking about the work you still have to do?

The answers to these questions might vary from person to person but in my personal experience, my answers would be "no" and "yes." No matter how many episodes of "Gilmore Girls'' I watch, I never feel adequately relaxed. That is because while watching T.V or listening to music or watching TikToks, we don't have a steady outlet for our energy. Yes, watching a movie does require attention but it's rarely enough to prevent our minds from wandering off. Regardless of whether we're watching or not, the movie keeps playing. 

What Reading Takes Out of Us

On the other hand, reading requires consistent attention and comprehension. If a person doesn't understand each sentence, they might lose track of what's happening! This sounds like a lot of work but bear with me. The constant investment of attention prevents our minds from wandering off and allows us to establish a profound and intimate connection with the story and its characters. 

Books force our minds to enter a world completely different from the one we live in: a world without homework or personal conflicts or stress. 

Books are the perfect escape. 

But like anything worthwhile, they require an investment. Personally, I have to constantly refocus my attention on the book because my mind keeps wandering off. Staying focused is difficult but once you gain control over your attention, you can easily transition from fully working to fully relaxing. Reading trains the brain to focus on one thing at a time, and focus is an asset in all aspects of life. 

The Side-Effects

Side-effects include:

• Character analysis, aka, development of empathy 

• Literary Devices, aka, learning to read between the lines

• Rhetorical analysis, aka, understanding a person's actions

• An expanded repertoire of vocabulary, aka, expanding ways to express oneself

School curriculums can sometimes bury core ideas under piles of jargon and fancy language but essentially, reading helps us understand the world around us. It allows us to develop as human beings.

Yet, I digress. In the end, books are simply sources of entertainment. 

They're fun. 

That's all.