Reading books changes life

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 “The idea that reading books changes life by turning fiction into reality appears fictitious,” was the reaction of members of an informal meeting convened to discuss the content of this blog post. It is because of this mindset that many people avoid reading fiction and fantasy stories thinking that these are a waste of time. 

First of all, this widespread, negative view must be diffused. There is also an urgent need to discourage labelling voracious readers with epithets like ‘bookworm’, ‘book nerd’, ‘bookish’, ‘bookaholic’. 

We have put together quite credible evidence from a purview of scientific (mainly) psychological research and real-life examples. Please see below brief writeups on the decisive role played by books in  the lives of top leaders  like Thomas Edison, Elon Musk and, Oprah Winfrey. In fact, reading books has in reality changed the lives of many others making them  epochal leaders in diverse professions and businesses.

Power of Books

How do poets and authors pack such life-changing power in their creations? What are the sources of their intuition?

There is a prevalent feeling that it is result of mysterious (some say divine) sparks striking after receiving signals from surroundings, words/ideas in conversations or observations. Strand, America’s poet laureate, admits: “One of the amazing things about what I do is you don’t know when you’re going to be hit with an idea, you don’t know where it comes from.” The poet Wordsworth says that ‘’poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”. And the eminent poet Coleridge left hundreds of incomplete poems, as his inspiration used to suddenly dry up and he couldn’t think of any words to complete them. A family friend of Rabindranath Tagore recalled that the poet started to sway in a meeting of friends. All close friends, except him, left the hall. He hid behind the door and was astonished to see the poet, still swaying, reach for paper and pen poems.

So, the best books are written by ‘powerful’ people and reading them ‘empowered’ many eminent leaders in various fields. Maybe inspiration and flairs are supernatural, after all.

Some reports of psychological research using methods including ‘brain scans’ indicate that reading fictional stories (i) activates the cortex involved in social and emotional intelligence (ii) creates the phenomenon called ‘narrative transportation’ through which reader becomes a part of the narrative and her/his thinking, feelings and perceptions change (iii) raises one’s social acuity,  critical thinking and  emotional intelligence (Iv) facilitates better perception of others’ thinking and creates positive impact on empathy, the key to better team spirit and friendships.

Book Readers & Miracle Makers

"I am determined to change my life in accordance with the ideals of the book." 

- Mahatma Gandhi on the book "Unto This Last"

“Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” 

- Harry S Truman 

“The man who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them."

- Mark Twain

Thomas Edison

The scientific evidence about books changing life is further reinforced by the real-life recorded examples. The most eminent, iconic and legendary reader that comes to mind is Thomas Alva Edison, who literally lighted the world with his invention of the light bulb and also contributed to modernising electricity and its applications. He is the most serious and successful inventor, hold your breath, with a record-breaking 1093 patents to his credit. He also showed an indomitable business acumen and spirit by starting his own laboratories and companies, one of which was General Electric. It is reported that on a single day in 1888, he wrote down a hundred and twelve ideas. Averaged across his adult life, he patented something roughly every eleven days. Success did not come easy. He has also the record of his failures, failing 9999 times before finally succeeding. He showed a classic sense of humour in declaring :“I have not failed 10,000 times—I've successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.”

All this is fine, but what is the role of reading books in all this? 

Edison was a literal ‘book worm’ and no school, college or institute was involved in his prodigious output of inventions.

 The credit for all of his epochal, miraculous inventions and businesses goes to books and self-education. Wonder of wonders, according to one biography, Thomas Edison “attended school only for a few months. He was taught reading, writing and arithmetic by his mother, who was school teacher!” The biographer further adds that Edison was a very curious child, “who learned most things by reading on his own”. As a child, he became fascinated with technology and spent hours working on experiments at home.”

 Buffet, Gates, Zuckerberg, Elon Musk

There are many other ‘BOOKISH’ miracle makers.  Here is a Google snippet presenting some: 

Warren Buffett spends five to six hours per day reading five newspapers and 500 pages of corporate reports.

Bill Gates reads 50 books each year. 

Mark Zuckerberg reads at least one book every two weeks. 

When asked how he learned to build rockets, Elon Musk said, “I read books.”

 Oprah Winfrey

“Oprah Winfrey, 69, is the highest earning woman on the list of celebrities, with a reported net worth of $2.5 billion”. As a child, she was precocious and learned to read at a very young age. According to some reports, she learned to read as young as two-and-a-half years old.

As an adult, Winfrey read Alice Walker's The Colour Purple. According to Norman King, Walker's novel "hit her like a ton of bricks.  And Walker's is one book that did, quite literally, change Winfrey's life. A few years later, she would appear in the film version of The Colour Purple as Sophia. 

Books That Changed the World

Many dramatic, new things are buried in fictional stories and are waiting to be 'discovered'. The most illustrious and dramatic example is Jules Verne's sci-fi novel about landing men on the Moon, titled “From the Earth to the Moon". It was published in 1865. And NASA actually did it in 1969! Now look at the amazing similarities in Jules Verne's novel and the elements of NASA's mission: 

Verne's Cannon (spaceship) was named 'Columbiad', NASA's was called 'Columbia'

Both spaceships had a crew of three persons.

Even the physical dimensions of both projectiles were close

Both were launched from Florida and the crew in both was recovered from the Pacific by the US Navy

An invaluable book,  100 Books That Changed the World by Scott Christianson and Colin Salter is a must read as it is considered to have shaped, changed, and revolutionized the world.

Right Books & Right Reading Habits

Of course, to achieve dramatic change in life, productive/inventive reading habits have to be cultivated. Whenever you read, do so vigilantly and try to relate it to your work or a project and distil insights for improvement. The initial way is to use this flow: 

Data > Information > Knowledge > Intelligence > Wisdom > Acumen

There is also a need to remove the usual mental blocks that result in many bright ideas being ‘still born’. Can humans colonise Mars? Most instantly say that it is a stupid idea as there is  little oxygen on the planet. But, creative minds have, according to NASA sources, developed “MOXIE  technology already working on  NASA’s Perseverance Rover, and it has proven for the very first time that we can extract oxygen from the carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere”.

There are tons of books published annually.  Many read to pass time or (ironically) to ‘kill’ time, or for fun, entertainment, or to impress members of cocktail circuits.  Such people are content with browsing summaries, reviews, guides rather than being immersed in reading books in full. The reason is evident from Sir Joshua Reynolds’ quote on a placard on Thomas Edison’s desk: "There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labour of thinking.”

To change your life, stop being reluctant to think and contemplate, choose your books carefully, savour the contents wholeheartedly, note that which inspires you and attempt new creations.

 Some serious readers read for useful ‘information’. Now ‘historical recorded information’ in the sense of collecting and remembering/ interpreting/ inferencing facts, laws, rules,  is   the preserve of AI/ ChatGPT programmes.

The role of humans is to focus on discovering, creating new ideas and converting them into products and services. In essence, humans are valued for their creativity. And, the very mention of this word creates a response by many; ‘no, not for me’. This is contrary to the inborn creative human nature. It is a very damaging effect of the emphasis on stereotyping and rote learning. 

Remember that all humans are born creative. Children are exceptionally creative and dazzle parents with amazing tricks. According to a report, up to seven years of age, 100 % of us are creative and do create things that surprise everyone. But by 10 years of age, that percentage falls to 10 and among adults, it is just 2% on average. 

Let’s read more and raise the number of creative among us.

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