Yes. We learn more when we read more – whether nonfiction or fiction.
It never ceases to amaze me how many people do not read.
Sure, many of those people will read some stuff online or in an occasional magazine. But books – fiction or nonfiction? No.
As a writer – this is deeply disappointing. But like most things in life – this is a choice. And I cannot make choices for anyone at all other than myself.
Though I have, at times, been less of a reader – I’ve always loved to read. Now that I take time for reading daily – both fiction and nonfiction – I feel that it’s rather advantageous to my life.
How and why? Because the more I read, the more that I learn.
This is true of both fiction and nonfiction, but for different reasons. And because I know we learn more when we read more – and that can do a lot for our overall life experience – I am sharing thoughts on that here.
What fiction teaches me
Let’s begin with the less obvious. Learning more from fiction.
Right off the bat, I’d like to clarify something. In this instance, I am not writing about learning lessons from the fiction itself (like from Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist). What I am focusing on in this instance is how reading fiction from others informs my craft.
I have recently read KB Wagers’ Indranan War and Farian War trilogies (both of which I highly recommend). Also, I have been working through Joel Shepherd’s Spiral Wars series. Presently, I’m nearing the end of NK Jemison’s award-winning Broken Earth trilogy.
How do these each interconnect? All are sci-fi and fantasy. Each is a bit different from the mainstream in one way or another. And the styles the writers apply vary greatly.
What have I learned? From reading these (and other fiction I’ve worked my way through this year) I have learned some new stylistic approaches. Telling my stories with more show than tell and choosing to withhold some detail until necessary.
Everything fiction that I read presents new concepts and approaches. And the more that I stay open to this, the more I can learn and improve upon my own craft.
I believe that to be a better writer, it helps to be a better reader. As of this writing, I have read 20 fiction books so far this year. That’s 20 different ideas and lessons to be learned from other authors.
How I learn more from nonfiction
Much of the nonfiction that I choose is with the intent to learn something new.
I read nonfiction that opens me to greater mindfulness, self-awareness, science, psychology, and other things I’m pursuing. For example, I’ve been working on developing a talk to launch a public speaking career alongside my writing career. To that end, I have read a few books this year.
Reading nonfiction, for me, is all about striving to learn more. Sometimes that’s abstract and general. Other times it comes down to specific things and knowledge I desire to acquire.
My choices for reading nonfiction are specific to learning new things. While the saying is that knowledge is power, I think it’s truer that knowledge is empowerment. When we’re empowered, we have more control and make more mindful choices that impact all elements of our lives.
Thus, we spend less time letting life live us when we make choices for how to live life. Learning in all forms is a part of that.
Whatever the case may be – with nonfiction, I read more to learn more. As of this writing, I’ve read 12 nonfiction books to that end this year.
What matters most is to actively learn more
Why you read what you read doesn’t matter, really. What does matter is choosing to learn.
Why? Because only when we learn do we grow.
Choosing to learn is choosing to grow.
Why does this matter? Because change is the one and only constant in the entire Universe. Like it or not, change is inevitable. It can happen, it will happen, and we cannot stop it.
That’s not to say we’re victims of change – unless we choose to be. We are empowered to make choices and decisions for our lives to work with change. Thus, we are capable of choosing to control change in many of the ways that we can.
Not all change, of course, is within our control. We can’t do jack shit about the weather, random shooters, asshole politicians, and the like. They represent change that happens outside of our control (for the most part).
But the more we choose to learn, the more we choose to be empowered. When we are more empowered, we become more capable of making choices and decisions for how we live our lives. Hence why – as an author myself – I choose to learn from the works of other fiction writers while simultaneously striving to learn new things about myself and the crafts I do.
And whether we choose it or not – we’re always learning. But the choice between active learning and passive learning is one of mindfulness. Hence why choosing to read more is choosing to learn more, too.
Which is part of why it never ceases to amaze me just how many people I know choose to not be readers.
Go ahead and just read
I do recognize that for some people – reading is time they don’t have.
We’ve got jobs to do, families to care for, expectations and obligations to be met. There are only so many hours in the day – and for many, time for reading is a luxury they simply don’t have.
But here’s a question for you: Do you like to read? Like me, do you like to learn new things from reading? If time were not the enemy, would you read more?
Once upon a time, I didn’t read so much. I always desired to read more – but there was so little time. Yet I know how much more empowered I feel when I am reading. And I love all the things I can and do learn from the practice.
Thus, I made a choice. I set aside time every day for reading. And since doing so – first thing in the morning, before I do anything else – I’ve read a LOT more books. And my passion for reading and learning from reading expands and grows. But most of all, it brings me joy.
Yes, FYI, I believe that listening to audiobooks is reading, too. I have previously written about this.
Howsoever you might approach it, I am certain that we learn more when we read more – whether nonfiction or fiction. And I love that there is always so much more to learn in this world.
What have you read recently, and what did you learn from it?
Please take a moment to check out the collection of my published works, which can be found here.
Feel free to explore the rest of the website. Also, check out my weekly podcasts.
Enjoying the website and my endeavors? I’d be grateful if you would consider becoming a patron through my Patreon.
You can subscribe to my newsletter. Fill in the info and click the submit button to the right and receive your free eBook.
Follow me here!
You must be logged in to post a comment.