Why fiction?

The Forgotten Perks of Reading Fiction
The Digital Age has heightened the habit of skimming everything we read, Soli Salgado writes at Utne. But, he suggests, we lose something invaluable when we do.
Books, especially fiction, “introduce you to places, characters and events that would take years, maybe lifetimes, to experience in reality. Within a few books, you’ve become a citizen of the world, exposed to countless alternative realities.”
He cites a study that showed that the brains of readers reacted the same way to events in a novel as if it were truly occurring in their own lives. “You’re not just digesting text, but actually living the story.”
And besides, “reading a captivating book for as little as six minutes can reduce stress by 60 percent.”
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What is it about bookshops
UK historical crime novelist Sara Sheridan shares her favorite things about bookshop:
I was introduced to the library when I was six or seven and that was a shock. I  thought my love of reading was unusual…and I blithely assumed that there were, I don’t know, perhaps a hundred books in the world…Walking into the library I felt quite overwhelmed at first. I’d read every book we had at home – but this was going to  take longer.
…my top ten favourite things in bookshops:
1 a comfortable chair to curl up in
2 somewhere to wander – shelves that go round corners or up stairs
3 …..
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Modern Beauty in the Natural World
In response to those who claim that wild nature is no more, and that human-caused extinction is nothing to be concerned about, Keeping the Wild: Against the Domestication of the Earth (Island Press, 2014), edited by George Wuerthner, Eileen Crist and Tom Butler, presents essays from scientists, writers and activists who have a powerful point to deliver about the importance of nature.

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No coffee?!? I’ll never write again!
Eight foods you’re about to lose due to climate change

As worsening drought and extreme weather devastate crops, you may begin seeing global warming when you open your fridge.
 
Missing could be…
 
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10 Words Every Book-Lover Should Know
The word for a book-lover is a ‘bibliophile’, first used in 1824. Alternatively, there is the more ancient word, ‘bookworm’ , which dates back to 1580.
But what words should every good bibliophile and bookworm know? ‘Interest Literature’ offers some of their favorites.
Including: BIBLIOBIBULI, H. L. Mencken’s word for people who read too much. (Is there such a thing as reading too much?!)
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THIS ‘n THATThe Earth And The Moon, In A Single Frame
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Self-Penned Obituary: “Walter George Bruhl Jr. …is a dead person; he is no more; he is bereft of life; he is deceased; he has rung down the curtain and gone to join the choir invisible; he has expired and gone to meet his maker…His spirit was released from his worn-out shell of a body and is now exploring the universe...”
Read the rest
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Quote of the Day
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Alma Alexander
My books
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