Obsessive readers like me instinctively feel that reading is good for us but what is the scientific evidence to back this up?  Plenty, it seems…

In 2013, researchers at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia compared the brains of people after they read a novel compared to a period beforehand when they didn’t read. Using brain scans, they found that for several days after reading there were significant increases in activity in the areas of the brain associated with perspective taking and story comprehension.   These are areas likely to make you more empathic towards others. The changes decreased rapidly in the days after reading stopped so the message is, you need to keep reading! Similarly, psychologists at the New School for Social in New York proved that reading literary fiction enhances the capacity to comprehend that other people’s beliefs may differ from one’s own and to understand an empathize with other people’s…