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What Does Immersing Yourself in a Book Do to Your Brain?
- 1996 8y agoI love the story of the Shakespearian actor. She put her soul into that, based on the idea she might not survive to adulthood. I wonder how much this risk taking behavior learned from necessity helped her overachieve in adulthood, where she will now be an actor... and a doctor.
- gumby 8y agoI find books incredibly more immersive than, say, a film, probably because books are so full of perspective. This story about the actor is wonderful
- GW150914 8y agoYou’re also reading a book, which is far more active than just passively watching stuff on a screen. A typical two year old has no trouble watching tv, but can’t read a book. Reading is a more cognitively taxing and attention-demanding activity, even when you’ve mastered it. Then beyond the raw reading, you have the activity of your imagination working to conjure images of what you’re reading, which is yet another layer of attention. Reading is the best.
- aantix 8y agoWhy would “cognitively taxing” and “attention demanding” be criteria for an intellectually superior experience? Many concepts are simply better described by a visual demonstration. There’s less communicative barriers that way. Just observe the cause and effect. You could be illiterate and still understand a visual demonstration. My three year understands engineering concepts from goofy YouTube videos. He doesn’t read. Is all of this proclamation about books being the superior format just akin to old-timers screaming “back in my day we listened to great music, not like this crap nowadays!”?
- classicsnoot 8y agoBecause one gains more from any experience wherein something in the way of effort is demanded. A beautiful vista is more sweet when it takes effort to get to it. A relationship with a person is more fulfilling when trials and tribulations are overcome together. Hard won knowledge imparts a deeper wisdom when it is obtained in spite of difficulties. You would like to believe your child understands concepts from videos because it makes you feel good, but I doubt you are going to have him build your deck. Intentional effort is a prerequisite for deeper fulfilment. While there are things that are better demonstrated via flashing images, there is no substitute for the cognitive effort required to read deeply on a subject, or follow a rich and complex narrative.
- trukterious 8y ago>Because one gains more from any experience wherein something in the way of effort is demanded. This is true, however it's an argument for choosing hard goals (because they are hard, e.g. 'we choose to go to the moon...'); it's not an argument for doing things the hard way. For example, given a choice for learning how to build a deck I think I'd pick YouTube over a DIY manual.
- lylecubed 8y ago> Why would “cognitively taxing” and “attention demanding” be criteria for an intellectually superior experience? Because, just like exercise strengthens your muscles, reading strengthens portions of your brain. TV, on the other hand, literally rots your brain. https://www.forbes.com/sites/tarahaelle/2015/12/02/heads-up-couch-potatoes-tv-really-does-rot-your-brain-it-seems/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/tarahaelle/2015/12/02/heads-up-...
- aantix 8y agoReading Gödel, Escher, Bach? Intellectually positive. Reading a Harlequin novel? Intellectually neutral or negative (opportunity costs). The point is, as for intellectual advancement, choice of content is actually what matters, not the medium. Regarding books vs video : If a book mentions a Wankel engine, I have to look up that definition or gloss over it, hoping it's concept is revealed later. If I watch a video and it mentions a "Wankel engine" and I see an engine rotating around and immediately get the gist of how it works. E.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=josJhz8VS8A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=josJhz8VS8A
- onemoresoop 8y agoYou're absolutely right. Read a book 5 times and your imaginative representation will differ. Read it after years and "get" other aspects that you were not wise or mature enough to understand at a previous reading. Films have their own qualities but they are pretty much what you see. I'd be honest, I watched films I didnt get when I became more mature and they were somewhat different too.
- Dowwie 8y agoGreat article. I am not so sure about the concern that a new generation isn't connecting with books as prior generations have.
- dragonsky67 8y agoI tend to agree. Books and writing have never been less expensive or more accessible. There are literally thousands of very inexpensive self published books available on Kindle and other platforms with quality ranging from excellent to absolute trash. Considering the other options now available, it is amazing to see so many kids around with their heads buried in books.
- senectus1 8y agoI've been getting into old scifi audiobooks. They're quite fascinating. Not quite as immersive as a dead tree book, but at least I can still enjoy and be absorbed in it while walking/running.
- themodelplumber 8y agoWhat do you like so far? I used to listen to X Minus One and shows like that. I really enjoyed them and would love to listen to more scifi.
- senectus1 8y agoRight now I'm listing to a Niven/pournell 1977 book but I've just finished about 4 Robert A. Heinlein books in a row... all around the 1950's with stories based on the future being late 70's to the year 2000. Pretty funny listening really. though they're not meant to be.
- themodelplumber 8y agoLucifer's Hammer, by chance? Man I still think about that book really often. Crazy plot twists. Heinlein sounds good, I'll have to read more. Thank you.
- senectus1 8y agoyup! that's the one. yeah RAH is an interesting one... some of his stuff is just plain wrong. One time his character cloned himself into little girls, then another he went back in time to have sex with his mother (when she was a hotty)... but yeah. dude writes some really odd stuff.
- senatorobama 8y agoWhat's a good classic fiction book that I can immerse myself in that wouldn't trigger a PoC?
- sctb 8y agoSince it seems like you won't stop trolling, we've banned the account. We're happy to unban accounts if you email us at hn@ycombinator.com and commit to using the site as intended.
- justboxing 8y ago> A student came to him, a beautiful 13-year-old girl, who said she wanted to be part of his theater group performing William Shakespeare’s plays. It would have been an ordinary request, save for the reality that the young girl had advanced cystic fibrosis and had been told she had only a brief time to live. and then... > She went on to become one Shakespearean heroine after another, each role performed with more emotional depth and strength than the one before. Years have now passed since she played Juliet. Against all expectations and medical prognoses, she has entered college, where she is pursuing a dual degree in medicine and theater, in which she will continue to “pass over” into one role after another. > That young woman’s exceptional example is not so much about whether the mind and heart can overcome the limitations of the body... I don't understand this. Is the writer implying that 'advanced cystic fibrosis' is a limitation of the body and not a real disease, and so she was able to 'beat it' by immersing herself in reading and drama? The 2 statements - "she had only a brief time to live" and "Years have now passed since she played Juliet. Against all expectations and medical prognoses" completely contradict each other. Did she 'beat the disease' (which seems improbable) or was she misdiagnosed in the first place?
- joshgel 8y agoDoctor here. Probably not misdiagnosed. It's a pretty solid diagnostic evaluation. (Can be hard to think of initially, but the testing is pretty accurate and reliable, so once you've thought of it you'll probably get it right). But phenotypes vary widely. And so mis-prognosed sounds more accurate here. Probably just as bad as a missed diagnosis, so this may be semantics...
- flocial 8y agoThe passage is misleading but I think your interpretation is too literal as well. We don't know if she's still live but she's still well within the survival rate (according to Wikipedia). It most definitely improved her quality of life and perhaps that gave her system a boost. We do know that the mind might not be able to cure terminal diseases but it can be a powerful force in making life more manageable (placebo, etc.).
- 8y ago
- peter303 8y agoHumans have been creating virtual realities since telling stories around campfires hundreds of millennia ago. I can become entraced in an oral story as well as print novel or movie. Many cultures have had long oral books of myths or religion. The Greek Illiad and Hindu Bhagavad Gita Are examples.
- dorchadas 8y agoThis is something I would recommend to everyone. Try and find a master storyteller, and sit and listen to them tell a story. It's quite a different experience, but immensely rewarding in my opinion. It can show how literature doesn't necessarily have to be written, and is something that has existed, in oral form, likely since the first people capable of speech. It's actually a shame, in my opinion, that it's dying out. It coexisted with writing for quite a while, up to living memory of people in the West, I'd say.
- vinceguidry 8y agoOr read the Old Testament, or any of the Eastern scriptures. All those stories, with the possible exception of the Maccabees, were originally passed down orally, even after they got written down. The New Testament loses a lot, in my opinion, by being written almost purely for literary composition.
- jasonszhao 8y agoI've been thinking that in order to write well, the author has to empathize with their audience. The effect is that the reader is able to empathize with the author. Math, programming, and writing are verbal skills, but good communication requires empathy, an emotional skill. I realized this was true after I realized I needed to consciously work on empathy because it is so crucial.
- nostalgiac 8y agoWhat strategies did you use to consciously work on your empathy?
- gusmd 8y agoI had never thought about programming (or, for what comes next, application development) as a verbal skill. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense, especially as it pertains to UI/UX. About empathy -- you need to relate to your users, understand, be aware and sensitive of their needs and their thought process as they use your application. Thanks for the interesting view. Not sure I read it too literally, but it gave me something to think about.
- amelius 8y agoI can't prove it, but I really don't think that programming helps one to become more empathic. In my case, after a long programming session, I need about an hour to snap out of my analytical state of mind, and get my social/verbal skills back to their original level.
- arethuza 8y agoI've had the same - I have that quite a lot but have also have the reverse where immediately after a non-technical presentation being presented with a trivial technical problem that mind would not engage with.
- afarrell 8y agoCode is also a UI, for your coworker or future self who has to read and understand it. You also need to empathize with your future self and work to prevent confusion.
- DomreiRoam 8y agoOn the topic of reading, read "The Reading Mind: A Cognitive Approach to Understanding How the Mind Reads" by Daniel T. Willingham [1]. It is very nicely written and each chapter focus on one aspect of reading (recognition of letters, extracting meaning ... ) and for each the author present evidence and also links to other work . [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32285196-the-reading-mind https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32285196-the-reading-min...