I think the benefit of reading widely if that you start to realize how almost nothing is original. Nearly everything has been done before and done better. Once

I think the benefit of reading widely if that you start to realize how almost nothing is original. Nearly everything has been done before and done better. Once you realize that you can start carving out a piece of original territory as a writer. A writer without that perspective is inevitably going to write low-quality unoriginal books. Reading widely isn't about reading everything. Any good reader will learn to discriminate between good and bad writing over time, and will inevitably be drawn to books that are worth reading. No man is an island, and no writer is an island either. The whole endeavor of human knowledge is all about being bolstered by the minds that have came before you and adding a little on top of that.