Is it true, reading makes you 'smarter'?

perusaphone · Post by **perusaphone** » 26 Sep 2009, 10:59

Exactly so, we are born onto this earth without any shred of information whatsoever, other than a keen survival instinct. By reading, and thus learning, we become educated. Unfortunately, in todays society, we have the internet taking over as the be and end all of learning. It cannot take over a well stacked bookshelf though, the shelf is peculiar to yourself hopefully, and shows you as a better person, educationally speaking. On the other hand, we have the computer, cloned to the highest degree, whilst clever at what it does, it cannot replace a book whilst seated on the throne, in the back seat of a car, on a beach, a plane and so on...I know what I prefer..

kraig · Post by **kraig** » 26 Sep 2009, 15:35

Ya its true reading can definitely make you smarter. If you learn frequently you will be mature enough to suggest others.

spanish in spain(espanole.es)

Sevin · Post by **Sevin** » 27 Sep 2009, 12:21

Reading improves your ability to process complex ideas. Have you ever noticed when having a deep conversation with someone who doesn't read that sometimes they don't seem to understand you? They're always saying, "What do you mean?" or looking puzzled. But when talking to fellow readers, sometimes they seem one step ahead of you. That's my experience, anyway.

Moore · Post by **Moore** » 10 Oct 2009, 05:49

No doubt that reading makes people smarter. How can you develop your imagination and invent new ideas, if you haven't read some others' good ideas. If you read you have good vocabulary and your spelling improves.You have more chances to prepare an excellent speech!

Traycee · Post by **Traycee** » 10 Oct 2009, 22:39

Reading exposes you to a plethora of new ideas, helps to expand on the average persons vocabulary, allows you to process new concepts which increases your knowledge base and makes you smarter. After all isnt one of the first things we do when children start school is teach them to read??

cameron333 · Post by **cameron333** » 10 Oct 2009, 23:10

Definetly. You take in foreign info, and mindsets. As I said in another post: "Reading is seeing a window into the authors world".

nanda403 · Post by **nanda403** » 15 Oct 2009, 15:01

How can you question whether or not reading makes you smarter? Of course it does! It also depends on what you read though, if you branch out and read about history and science, your knowledge base expands as well. My little sister has read Harry Potter over and over but that's the only thing I can get her to read and believe me, she's not the brightest crayon in the box. Don't get me wrong though, I love Harry Potter, you just have to read more than that!

an0nymou5 · Post by **an0nymou5** » 20 Oct 2009, 19:36

Yes it does. Your vocabulary will expand, sentence structure, grammer, etc. will get better.

ryan2 · Post by **ryan2** » 21 Oct 2009, 00:07

A bit of humor:

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I like this one better though:

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I felt I had to take up the devil's advocate and place an argument that might say reading could make you less smart. Although a more serious argument would instead include propaganda.

ChrisSamsDad · Post by **ChrisSamsDad** » 21 Oct 2009, 05:56

I don't know personally, I suspect that smart people read more, which isn't the same thing. It all depends on your definition of 'smart' - it's not as popular a word here in Britain, we'd tend to say 'intelligent' or 'clever' ('smart' usually means dressed tidily).

It certainly makes you more knowledgeable and more educated, and certainly a more interesting person - but I'm not sure it will increase your IQ. (All those "Brain Training" exercises don't help either)

You know what though? I read recently that juggling does in fact increase your brainpower!

colaroid · Post by **colaroid** » 21 Oct 2009, 10:46

I agree it would be difficult not to improve your brain power by reading, but its not only vocab, I think it's also because you learn opposing ideas which encourages empathy and also you can get idols that you hope to emulate through it. My idol when I was 6 was Matilda (Roald Dahl), I wanted to be intelligent and brilliant, which made me really enjoy school and learning in general. Or you could aspire to be a lawyer by reading John Grisham etc, therefore reading can also give you the drive to succeed.

K M Britt · Post by **K M Britt** » 23 Oct 2009, 19:34

Reading is the vehicle, but it is the drive to learn that will ultimately make you smarter.

tinyViolin · Post by **tinyViolin** » 25 Oct 2009, 08:42

Most stuff that we read~like newspapers, bestsellers, magazines,etc~is written at a 6th grade level. So if you are used to that and decide one day to pick up Nietzsche...yeah, it's going to hurt at first.

It does depend a lot on what you read. But it's surprising what you learn from some books. Historical romance isn't entirely useless.

So, I guess...Yes, reading alone does make you smarter, but there's a plateau there. I've known plenty of people who describe themselves as "avid" readers, but I can't really have a deep conversation with them.

darbook · Post by **darbook** » 26 Oct 2009, 04:32

i dont know if it make you smart but it do make you smarter than watching tv all day long. when you read books you can develop your imagination and thought in more effective ways.