Fiction writers are philosophers and dreamers. While most non-fiction writers are people who have discovered something they deem important about the world that they think everyone should know. And then there are the non-fiction writers who author books so they can use them as business cards. They write books that they hope make them sound smart so that they’ll be offered consulting jobs and speaking gigs. A while back I heard one of these non-fiction, business card writers explain why everyone who wants to be a business speaker should write a book. The way he described it was; if there’s a speaking gig and it’s between you and one other person, the one who wrote a book is likely to get the job.
And, sadly, this tactic has escalated into a ‘publish shitty non-fiction books’ race. So many speakers have written at least one book that getting a job now comes down to who has written the most books. And if you don’t believe me, read some of the business/self-help/entrepreneur/marketing books out there. In ‘business card’ books you’ll find one idea (two if you’re lucky) that get repeated in different ways until there are enough pages for a book. These books are usually ghost written, they sometimes make use of pictures to fill space and tend to refer to worn-out business examples such as Steve Jobs and Apple, why Kodak went under, how Netflix self-disrupted, the sharing economy etc.
Don’t get me wrong, there are life changing non-fiction books out there that deserve to be read. And I’m not saying fiction is better than (good) non-fiction. Instead, I’m going to convince you that all readers should spend more time reading fiction because of the miraculous effects stories have on people.
Reading fiction teaches us about life
By its very nature, fiction requires the compression of time and events. There are only so many pages someone is willing to read in a novel which forces a fiction writer to condense and simplify events to their essence. In this process the writer removes the moments that don’t add clarity or that don’t progress the story. And what we’re left with is the marrow of an event, the essence of a conversation, and the soul of a life.
So, in all stories, the reasons people make decisions, and the subsequent consequences are abbreviated and exposed. And through reading about and experiencing these events we learn about life and ourselves. We can imagine how we might react to a similar event as the one we’re reading and how we’d process the consequences.
Keith Oatley, a professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto describes fiction as a life simulation.
Fiction is the simulation of selves in interaction. People who read it improve their understanding of others. This effect is especially marked with literary fiction, which also enables people to change themselves.
Keith Oatley
Where else can you simulate life to improve yourself?
Reading fiction exposes us to different cultures
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.”
Mark Twain
Every time I travel to a new country, I experience what I call ‘social weightlessness’. All the social norms and rules that kept me grounded in one place are suddenly removed. Instead, I feel like I’m floating, bumping into every situation, learning what is appropriate and what isn’t. And, for those first few months when I’m still finding my feet in a new country or city the world feels vast and brand new.
I have a similar experience when I read novels by authors from countries where English isn’t the first language. On reading Haruki Murakami for the first time, I was stunned by his unique metaphors and unusual descriptions. I wondered for months after reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle if how he wrote was considered clichéd in Japan. Similarly, reading Günter Grass I felt the world redefined. Again, I lost my moorings and tried to establish what others took for granted in an experience that for me was an unorthodox but brilliant way of seeing the world.
I have had moments of social weightlessness watching cinema that is foreign to me, but not to the same extent as when reading a work of fiction. Novels have taken and allowed me to experience cities and cultures from around the world. Reading fiction is the closest you can get to travel without being there.
Reading fiction teaches you empathy
In this study Dutch researchers asked students to read the first chapter of the brilliant novel, Blindness, by Jose Saramago. They found that those students who were emotionally transported by the narrative became more empathic after reading the passage than those who hadn’t read the book at all. And the elevated levels of empathy were still observable a week after the students had read that one chapter.
In another study, psychologist Raymond Mar observed in fMRI scans that the parts of the brain that help us navigate social interactions are very similar to those that help us interpret narratives. According to Mar, when we read a story, we rely on personal experiences and emotions to understand what is happening in the story. The way we experience stories resembles how we make sense of the world. And the more we read stories, the better we become at interpreting what is happening in the world and understanding the people in it.
Reading fiction as meditation
In this New Yorker article, literary scholar, Suzanne Keen makes the case that we can use reading to escape the day-to-day pressures of our lives. She describes how reading has been shown to put us in a pleasurable trance-like state and how it delivers benefits similar to meditation. And to make reading even more impressive, Keen claims that people who read regularly sleep better, enjoy lower stress levels, and have higher self-esteem than people who don’t read.
And even biohacker, Tim Ferriss delivers this advice when it comes to reading before bedtime:
Do not read non-fiction prior to bed, which encourages projection into the future and preoccupation/planning. Read fiction that engages the imagination and demands present-state attention.
Reading fiction helps us make better decisions
In 2013, a University of Toronto study examined what the impact of reading literary fiction had on participants’ ability to make good decisions. The study focused on the impact reading fiction had on people’s need for cognitive closure. Cognitive closure is the need people have to reach a quick conclusion in decision-making in order to avoid the discomforts ambiguity and confusion. The study found that by reading literary short stories (as opposed to non-fiction essays) subjects were able to keep an open mind when processing new information and thereby make better decisions.
So, why aren’t you reading more fiction?
All indications are that reading fiction makes us better at almost everything. And if you’re not a big reader of novels, you can become one. Start off by finding a genre you enjoy. For me, as a kid, it was fantasy and mystery/spy novels. The Famous Five, Hardy Boys, The Hobbit, Harriet the Spy, these books introduced me to reading. And in the space of a few years, I became addicted.
And you can do the same, even if you’re no longer a kid. If you don’t read a lot of fiction, start with something light; Steven King, Lee Childs, Michael Connelly, Maeve Binchy, Alexander McCall Smith, Jonas Jonasson or Stieg Larsson. And from there you can travel the world, go back in time, or explore the future. Reading fiction will make you smarter and happier, I promise.
Oh, and when my novel eventually does come out, why not give it a go?