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Week 12 [21-27.01.19] How Fiction Makes Our Brains Better



Merriam-Webster declared 'science' the 2013 word of the year. But can reading something other than data and facts, say a work of fiction, help improve brain functioning? Anthony explains many possible benefits that reading a fictitious book can have for the brain.
There are my questions to you:
1.     Do you think that reading fiction is still important nowadays? Why/Why not?
2.     What kind of fiction do you prefer reading?
3.     What’s your favorite writer/book? Why do you like it?

Comments

1. For me reading fiction is... quite important but not the most important genre. I love it, it sometimes relaxes me, sometimes makes me think about our reality. And most important thing about fiction is that it helps with developing our creativity.
2. I prefer reading science fiction (mostly dystopian). The weird visions of our future are really interesting and often scary.
3. I must admit that I have no favorite book nor favorite writer. For me fiction books are some kind of break from learning new things. Still quite important, but I don't have time to read it on a daily basis.
Of course, it is important - reading, in general, is important because it develops the mind. Not only you gain knowledge, but also while reading favorite books, you reduce your stress, improve your memory and much more. I prefer reading fantasy novels especially books from "Death series" written by Terry Pratchett, but I also enjoy Andrzej Sapkowski fiction. I really appreciate those two authors because of their humorous approach to writing.
Science fiction is pretty much the only genre I read. My favourite writers are brothers Strugatskiye, famous not only in the former soviet union, but very far abroad at the usa, europe and around the globe. In my opinion, the importance of this genre lies within the image of the future sosiety. It shows, how humanity adapts and changes alongside the time, and how can we develop ourselves accordingly. For example, we actually do need to prepare for the robots as another intelligent lifeforms.
Nataliya Tkach said…
1.. Do you think that reading fiction is still important nowadays? Why/Why not?
Of course reading fiction is important nowadays,it helps us to escape from the real world, forget about problems,relieve stress,train the imagination.
2. What kind of fiction do you prefer reading?
I prefer detectives,thrillers,horror,mystery.
3. What’s your favorite writer/book? Why do you like it?
The Mummy: Bram Stoker, Stephen King Joyland.
I’m afraid that we can observe a decline of our civilisation since 2013, because in Teen plebiscite for the word of 2018, young people have chosen “dzban” (jug) :D
When it comes to the books, I think that fiction is still important nowadays. What is more, in my opinion, most of the books which people read for fun, are fiction. It is because, we are surrounded by scientific knowledge and therefore we are seeking for something different.
I prefer science fiction and fantasy books. I can’t say which genre is my favourite because it depends on my current mood.
In case of my fantasy books, I am huge fan of Discworld series written by Terry Pratchett. There are over 40 boos which are extremely funny, full of outstanding ideas are the author style is so gripping it is hard to stop reading.
When it comes to science fiction books I don’t have my favourite author. I really enjoyed some books from Metro 2033 world and Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. I like post apocalyptic climate of the first one and I would like to live in cyberpunk world (but maybe not so dark as in average cyberpunk book)
Unknown said…
For me reading fiction is still important. It helps me get away of my daily routine. Also, when I’m reading my brain resting from constant tasks and reading helps me to relax.
My favorite genre is fantasy and mystery. I’ve 2 favorite books(1 book and one series of books). First one it’s a series of books “The Witcher” by Andrzej Sapkowski, and the second one – it’s “The Da Vinci Code” of Dan Brown. Witcher I like because I like main character and the plot of books, The Da Vinci Code I like because I like detective fiction and unexpected twists and turns, which in the book a lot.
Unknown said…
1. I believe that reading fiction is still important. It develops our creativity and also allows us to escape to a different world if we feel like it. Fiction can bring people together and from a young age can teach us important virtues which can be a great base for self development as a person.

2. I love reading fantasy. I love fantasy stories with a simple and not so ambitious plot, because it brings back childhood memories and allows me to turn my brain off for a little while.

3. In my childhood it was R. A. Salvatore, but right now it's hard to tell. Probably Patrick Rothfuss.
Marcin Krupa said…
1. Do you think that reading fiction is still important nowadays? Why/Why not?
Sure, it helps us escape from current problems, chill out and generally fiction books open doors to realms beyond what we know and accept as reality. Fantasy literature presents us with electrocuting emotional experiences lacking in our lives.

2. What kind of fiction do you prefer reading?
As I said many times: I'm just in love with fantasy.

3. What’s your favorite writer/book? Why do you like it?
Hmm... I really like Trudi Canavan, Wolfgang Hohlbein, Sapkowski, Peter V. Brett, David Gemmel, Glen Cook, Piekara, Daniel Handler, J.K. Rowling...
Unknown said…
Reading is very important nowadays because people are mainly watching movies and listening to audiobooks. Times change and developing technology allows you not to read books, because you can see this for example from abstracts or film adaptations. Reading is very important because it helps us develop and improve the memory and vocabulary. I generally do not like reading books. I belong to a group of people who do love watching movie adaptations. My favorite book is "A small town from hell" written by Spider Jack.
1.Do you think that reading fiction is still important nowadays? Why/Why not?
-It boosts our creativity and what comes with it, we think more openly and have a wider perspective. This allows us to communicate better in terms of both, understanding and being understood
2.What kind of fiction do you prefer reading?
-Something that is rather normal-ish than extraordinary but with a bit of fantasy.
3.What’s your favorite writer/book? Why do you like it?
-That would probably be Master and Margarita written by Michaił Bułhakow. There is a version with russian censorship highlighted and so reading the book as a whole is something completely different to reading it with overlooking the highlighted text. It shows just how much can even one sentence mean and introduce to the entire story.
Marcin Mróz said…
I think that it's important, especially nowadays when we have everything given to us on a plate. I mean all those movies, video games, TV series - they don't require us to use our imagination, we just sit in front of a screen and watch.
I like to read some good criminals, it's fun when book is somehow addictive and you cannot put it back, because you want to know what will happen next.
I don't know if it's my favourite book, but it's the only one that I read few times. It' Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger. I like the main character of this book and the whole flow of the book.
I think reading books that are makes you think at least a bit has very good influance for your brain. It teaches you how to focus, it boosts your creativity and imagination. Of course some books makes it better some makes it barerly but still. When it comes to fiction i think its rather on better side. It usually uses some thesis and facts from scientific world so you can also learn something useful etc. When it comes to me my favourite books are real fantasy like LOTR or any other J.R.R Tolkien works. Also i love polish fantasy, the best in my opinin is Jakub Ćwiek with his series about Loki called "Kłamca". I know its barerly connected with SiFI but its still fiction. Its not as good as reading for example Haxley for example but reading books is still better then scrolling facebook all day long.
Unknown said…
If we are talking about reading in general then of course it’s important, no matter what you read you are constantly improving yourself. To my mind fiction is one of the most exciting genres because it shows the world from another perspective. It’s one of the best ways to become more creative, extraordinary and unusual(in good meaning) person.

I prefer reading science fiction because it discovers new boundaries for me. The things I’ve never thought about are explained/showed in another perspective. Sometimes such books prove(at least try to prove) why you can’t do some particular things but mostly they show what if you could and it’s fascinating. You can’t brake the laws of physics but you can dream about it but if you can’t even dream about it you may always read science fiction.

Could you be more specific about this question? Are we talking about favorite book in general or science fiction book? Anyways, it’s really hard to say because I don’t know how to compare different kind of books but I think my favorite one is Robert Kiyosaki ’s book “Rich dad poor dad”.
Unknown said…
I think reading is important period. Whether you read about novels or anything else you get to see from other people’s eyes and that what make you experience another people’s life’s without leaving your couch. Lately I read more work-related books but when I continually picked up a book to read few years ago. Previously have never done that. It was friends of mine suggestion - Dandelion Wine is was amazing! I really felt all the descriptions and for a moment escaped the reality.
Unknown said…
Yes, of course, I think so and in the video there are all the rationales for this opinion. Reading helps me to get distracted, fiction is interesting in that the plot can develop in it unusually and the brain comes up with images on its own. I always love to read, when the case does not require my 100% attention and I can read at least 10-20 pages, I will definitely do it. I will read everything that is at hand, a book on the tablet or on the phone. Maybe there will be a printed version at hand, the main thing is that it was a work of art.
I really, really love detectives. The last thing I read was Agatha Christie's "Night express". Since my childhood I have loved all parts of Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Conan Doyle).
Wojtek Protasik said…
Well, after watching this video it seems it is important. I like reading fantasy books, documentaries. I like novels, but I like them the least.

My favourite writer is A.Sapkowski who wrote my favourite saga The Witcher. Somehow after reading many fantasy books, witcher still prevails as the my favourite character of all.
Unknown said…
I treat reading fiction like any other hobby - it is important if you like it, but if not, then just do whatever floats your boat. I highly doubt that reading fiction would help someone improve if they would be forcing themselves to do it.

My favorite kind of fiction is fantasy. I'm not really sure why - perhaps I enjoy the escapism aspect of it.

My favorite writers are Terry Pratchett, may he rest in peace, whose works I enjoyed greatly because of their witty humor, and Brandon Sanderson, who writes very good fantasy novels, some of which take place in a shared universe called Cosmere. One fun fact about Sanderson is that the books he writes tend to be really, really long - one of his recent books had to be split into two because it was so long, that the book would quite literally fall apart if it wasn't split into smaller books!
I think reading both fiction and non-fiction is equally important and finding a balance between them is they key. I believe reading fiction improves imagination and emotional stability by making you interpret and think about various issues. Non-fiction, on the other hand, improves knowledge and intelligence.

I love reading books that can effectively create and keep suspension. My two most favourite genres are criminal stories (such as Sherlock Holmes) and fantasy (such as Harry Potter, Wither, Lord of the Rings).

I must admit that I don’t read a lot of books and that’s why I can’t pick my favourite one. I made a resolution to read more this year (and it’s going well), so I hope I will have a definite answer when you ask me in the future.
Unknown said…
Many of you wrote that Terry Pratchett is your favorite writer. I've heard that he wrote a popular fantasy saga but I don't exactly understand why so many people especially from IT love his novels so much. Is he really on the same level with the most famous like Tolkien or George R. R. Martin?
Unknown said…
Reading generally raises our imagination, reading fiction is more effective on the imagination. Therefore, it seems to me that reading fiction works very positively on us and can even help in making difficult decisions.
I don't like reading books at all. I prefer watching movies and when it comes to fiction films - these are some of my favorites.
I don't have a favorite writer or a book, it's hard to say anything about it here. But my favorite comic book artist is Stan Lee.
Piotr Ciesla said…
1. Do you think that reading fiction is still important nowadays? Why/Why not?
I dont know if they are important but i like them thay can change how you percive world. i think it might be important for children to practive their imagination
2. What kind of fiction do you prefer reading?
fantasy fiction is my favorit one aspacialy involving magic
3. What’s your favorite writer/book? Why do you like it?
one of my favorit writer is Trudi Canavan and her series Milenium rule, Black mag trilogy and the traitor spy trilogy
Bartosz Barnat said…
I think that reading fiction is important because it makes us more creative and always makes us smarter. It's important to read all books and to be honest when Im reading fiction there is always something that is worth everyone's interest and you can learn really good advice from it but most of a time its hidden.

I love reading fiction with dragons and swords and war. The best series of fiction books that I read are John Flanagan's Zwiadowcy that I don't know if there is an english version of it but I think you can translate it as point man. Second book series that I really love is Witcher written by Andrzej Sapkowski. And the last book that I can advice fantasy and fiction fans to read is ready player one by ernest cline because it has a lot of meanings from different movies and games, its just amazing.
3. What’s your favorite writer/book? Why do you like it?
Unknown said…
Yes, I think that reading is very important. Of course, the most important thing in reading is that it develops imagination and the ability to think. And also allows you to explore the world, different areas of life and how other people think. Reading is especially important at the initial stage of education, because it broadens the vocabulary.
I like the detective stories, but when it comes to fantasy books I love the Tolkien series and the Witcher.
My favorite book is the Lord of the Ice Garden. I liked the world built in the book in general. I was very hooked up by the whole series.
Ahmed Elsawi said…
* From : First comment "How Fiction Makes Our Brains Better"

-> Imagination is more important than knowledge. -Albert Einstein

reading fiction is still important in past, present, and future, fiction books part of books kinds so it's important to read it. About what kind of fiction do I prefer reading actually, I don't have specific kind of fiction in general, but I'm always read the basic abstract at any kind of book first, whatever writer/book, to continue reading or not.
When it was unimportant to read it?
From the past time people have written rich and interesting stories. It was and is one of the biggest part of entertainment and even education. Reading fiction helps to immerse in the world of the story and improves imagination.

Detective stories and fantasy.

I do not have the most favourite book. I enjoy interesting stories and it does not matter if it has been written by famous author or not.
Unknown said…
1. Do you think that reading fiction is still important nowadays? Why/Why not?
Yes of course, it was important in past and nothing have changed about that. It still improves our creativity and imagination, two things that are really important in many life aspects.

2. What kind of fiction do you prefer reading?
I prefer to ready fantasy and sci-fiction.

3. What’s your favorite writer/book? Why do you like it?
My favourite writer is Stanisław Lem and especially his book Solaris. This is one of this books that you will think about next month after have it read.
Unknown said…
I think that everybody could find something special in those stories that would inspire them. In my opinion, reading fiction helps us to better understand our inner self because sometimes we read it not only because of the magical world where the story takes place but because of people who are in the center of the story.
I personally prefer sci-fi. I don't have a particular favorite writer, but I remember reading some pretty cool short sci-fi stories from different authors. Unfortunately, can't remember all of their names.
Generally speaking reading is very important, always. It help our brain to develop especially children should read a lot not only obligatory books, which is the problem nowadays when there is a lot of distracion around us. I like to read fantasy books and Sci-fi genre I like to read about hero who develop new skills over time, he gains stronger and stronger ( I know pretty common plot). My favourite book is "The Name of the wind", the world created there is tremendous and the whole idea of magic is very cleaver and logical.

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