However, I believe reading is incredibly important and can bring a great deal to our lives. I think we'd all be surprised how much we do actually read if we thought about it for a moment. The "Google it" generation may not sit down with a book but they still have to read the information from their Google search to gain the knowledge they have craved. Yet it is a skill that is taken for granted and often dismissed. We forget that there are still many in the world that are denied this life line and can only dream of being able to interpret the strange symbols around them.
Literature itself has its own history and seeing how this fits together and how authors have influenced each other, expands your general knowledge so much more than watching a quiz show. Reading Harry Potter and discovering the mythical creature "basilisk" which then pops up elsewhere creates a spark of interest to discover more. In fact, the ability to make links, in my opinion at least, encourages a growth in intellectual ability.
Much is made today of "reading" media. It even appears in the National Curriculum for English. The advantage literature has over film though, is that it requires more intelligence to imagine the pictures in your mind rather than have it decided for you and served on a plate. This is one way in which I have had a breakthrough with students. They have on occasions commented that they have preferred the book and when asked why they have realised it was because they were able to imagine it in their own way. I have never thought, before writing this, of questioning the lovely adolescents that I teach on why they would rather hand over control to a producer. Why when they argue over what they wear, eat and do with their loved ones, are they happy to accept someone controlling and stifling their own imaginations? Imagination is crucial. How would we have new inventions or discover so much about the world if people didn't have the ability to imagine other possibilities, or to use one of those horrid phrases "to think outside the box"? See? Reading is even important for business!
I also believe reading is good for the mind and stress. Sometimes life can just seem like too much to bare. To be able to escape into another world and leave your problems behind, to give yourself some head space, is magical and exactly what can be achieved with a good book. However, this is perhaps more about what I gain personally from reading and therefore belongs in a separate blog post.