The Reason Why I Put Down Non-fiction Books

I’ve cracked open the new adult’s, contemporary, and romance.

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

In case you were wondering, no, I haven’t sworn off reading non-fiction. That’d be ludicrous.

Self-help, business, money, or health and fitness books are great genres to read, don’t get wrong. They’re filled with information that’ll benefit your life and career.

However, I’d like to address the elephant in the room.

It’s a common assumption that when someone decides to pick up a book that’s fiction rather than non-fiction, it’s used as a form of escapism and entertainment—that there’s no real value in reading it besides that.

I’m here to tell you that’s utter bull crap.

Fiction is certainly an overlooked treasure—it aids your personal development in more ways than one.

Let me explain.

Creates understanding allowing us to feel empathy

“Humans aren’t as good as we should be in our capacity to empathize with feelings and thoughts of others, be they humans or other animals on Earth. So maybe part of our formal education should be training in empathy. Imagine how different the world would be if, in fact, that were ‘reading, writing, arithmetic, empathy.” — Neil deGrasse Tyson

Taking a back seat and watching characters interact with the world around them is incredible.

Fiction can immerse us into someone else’s mind—you’re able to understand their motivations, actions, emotions, relationships, everything that makes the character them.

It’s the connection between the mind of the reader and writer—it’s also the connection between the reader's mind and the character’s.

When you read fiction, you’re enlightened by what it’s like to be another gender, age, someone of a different culture, or profession even. You can explore what it’s like to be a nurse, an adopted child, a businesswoman, or someone who may even deal with a mental illness.

As you read, you're able to connect to the characters and understand their troubles and how they decide to react to them. The more you read, the better this translates into real life.