@florisnys4654
People tend to forget that fiction often includes very real topics: war, grief, heartbreak, but also happiness, love, belonging. etc. I have found myself equally in characters in fiction and non-fiction.
@jimsbooksreadingandstuff
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” ~ George R.R. Martin.
@wali8253
My dad an immigrant from Pakistan who could barely speak English would hate it when I would read fiction. He would get angry and make me read something more useful or tell me to not read at all. So I grew up hiding all my books from him. One day my uncle who my dad looks up to found my hidden books and told my dad about it. My dad got furious and started to yell at me. Out of nowhere my chill go with the flow uncle snapped back at him and basically said that reading makes you smarter, improves language, and that reading anything is better than reading nothing. A few days later I noticed my dad started to read completely random things out loud, newspapers, random books lying around the house, articles on websites, etc. He didn’t care what he was reading all he was trying to do was improve his English and now my dad can speak a lot better and encourages everyone to read. He even yells at me and my sister for not reading enough. There is never pleasing this guy xD. Anyways just thought I share.
@warriorlink8612
People who usually tell me that fiction is a waste of time will also be frequent watchers of 24 hour news media. Which seems far more fictitious than anything I read.
@litlbucky
Reading fiction expanded my vocabulary by introducing me to words like Undulate & Ululate
@xBlueEyedGoldilocks
I swear half of my English vocabulary comes from reading fiction books in English. My first language is dutch and while we do learn English in school, I feel like I learnt English way better through reading fiction. Reading fiction in turn also helped me with my English grade because by the time we would 'learn something new' at school about the language, I had already come across it in books making the lessons and tests easy for me. I also think I'm able to use English much better practically because I read so many books. You really only learn so much in school and when you don't actively incorporate things that you learn in school in your everyday life you will most likely forget all about them (I'm looking at you French). Reading books in English from a pretty young age really helped me grasp the English language, so much that I couldn't tell you a thing about the actual 'rules' of the language because I simply don't use the rules that we were taught but instead use all the knowlegde I gained from reading fiction in English to make proper sentences.
@TH3F4LC0Nx
I honestly don't know what kind of person I'd be without fiction. Stories have shown me so much and made me a better person that I otherwise would have been.
@mcparadise97
As an American, I read a lot of books with British old English, so I find myself speaking with old English terms sometimes, and people look at me like I’m an old Brit grandma.
@hannibal9503
Never understood non-fictin supremacy lot, especially as a research student, I have to read a lot of non-fiction books but I always keep a fiction book because it just helps me escape from the non-fiction books.It just allows me to relax and enjoy something without any ulterior motive. I feel the conversation and consensus has to be, " See book, like the premise?. read book"
@skryvazena6548
I love reading fiction. It makes me feel emotions, it introduces me to new words, new ideas, new other world, it heals my sadness whenever I feel sad or down.
@alexinator-hh5fe
An important part of reading is being able to step into the shoes of someone living a different life than you are, but still being able to see where they're coming from. And fiction is where that concept can be explored to the fullest. And second, not everything has to be tied to the real world or a real event. Sometimes you might just want a nice story to sink in that has a completely different value system and lifestyle than ours.
@KolkYT
There is such a thing as being too focused on productivity. All "productive" aspirations/goals should eventually converge on things that are fundamentally intrinsic like time with your loved ones, reading books you like and just generally enjoying life in your own unique ways. I honestly worry about people that don't read non-fiction because they think it's unproductive, regardless of the truthfulness of it. It means they may be too focused on future goals to appreciate the current moment.
@CrazyAjvar
"I don't read fiction." "What do you read though, DYI manuals? Scientific papers? No? You don't read at all, do you?" Actual conversation I had. Most people who say they don't read fiction actually don't read at all but they found pretentious way of saying it.
@dash4800
I don't think the human race would have made it very far without fiction. Fiction is what expands our imagination and pushes us to think outside of our daily existence. We tell stories to teach lessons without having to experience the grief first hand. To postulate about ideas that are beyond our current understanding. To inspire people to pursue life paths that might othereise have never occured to them. I would guess that almost every person who has accomplished somthing of significance for humanity was personally influenced by a fictional story or character.
@juju1981
I think fiction also very much helps with social intelligence. Reading fiction allows the reader to see the world from another’s POV - from a different race, culture, sexuality, gender, age, etc., perspective. People are generally too narrow-minded with their own views and personal experiences, and reading fiction allows the reader to expand this. It helps us to understand each other more, our differences, and how we may be similar. It counteracts the “othering” of those different from you. And this is SO important especially in today’s society when internet algorithms simply support this “othering” and keeps people from understanding another’s perspective. (I’m writing this as I’m watching your video, so you may cover everything I just commented, if so, sorry!) Loved this topic and video! Thank you!
@diovamps
As someone who’s neurodivergent and socially anxious fiction is the only way I’m able to connect and understand the world/people around me or anywhere. I’ve always been super intrigued by people and their emotions but it’s not something I can easily connect with or interact with, reading fiction provides a safe space for me to do so.
@gym24r79
There are many benefits of reading fiction. These benefits include improved neural connectivity in the brain, improved analytical skills, memory, and vocabulary. Many factors are involved to put these benefits into practice, but in a short answer, yes, reading fiction can make you smarter.
@viktoravarkonyi4570
Reading fiction (that i actually liked) in german got my grade up from an F to an A. It really helps with language learning to see the words and grammar in a context that you care about. Before i hated german and i didn't have a feel for the grammar at all, but when i started reading it helped me to actually feel like my grammar is wrong when it is. Before i had to constantly check every single word, but now i can see more often when something "sounds wrong" and it really helps me make less mistakes on exams. It also helped me think about german as just a language that can be useful and nice instead of the source of all my social anxiety.
@matheusvmoraes
Fiction helped me expand my world comprehension, especially Fantasy. I can pick quite some lessons I've reached from some fantasy series, like The Gentleman Bastards; it shows themes as true friendship, loyalty, and even in The Wheel of Time I can relate with themes of inner struggles, hard choices to be made... So I guess with fiction, you can have tons of fun and still learn a lot with it.
@merphynapier42