"Books say: she did this because.... Life says: she did this.... Books are where things are explained to you; life is where things aren't."-- Author Julian Barnes
According to a study people who read narrative fiction often have improved social abilities, while for those who read non-fiction, the opposite holds true.Generally, "All stories are about people and their interactions -- romance, tragedy, conflict and these Stories often force us to empathize with characters who are quite different from us, and this ability could help us better understand the many kinds of people we come across in the real world."
Research has shown that the more authors a person identifies, the more the person reads.
According to a study
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People who frequently read narrative fiction scored higher on tests of both empathy (the ability to understand and identify with another person's feelings) and social acumen (the ability to make quick judgments of people and situations).
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Frequent reading of non-fiction was associated with poorer empathy and social acumen.
The researchers developed two theories to explain why reading fiction may be good for social skills. First, it exposes people to examples of the way people behave socially. Second, fiction readers practice inferring people's intentions and closely watching their relationships.
However, non-fiction readers, the authors say, "fail to simulate such experiences, and may accrue a social deficit in social skills as a result of removing themselves from the actual social world."
(the above from various sources)
Just imagine what a drab world this would be without all those imaginative outpourings..;
