How Reading More Helps You Get Smarter: Benefits of Reading

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When you read a book, you live a certain time of the author's life. It takes less than a week on average to read a book of average size. Within this one week, we acquire all the knowledge and experience that the author has got in many years. Reading is so powerful that it could lead you to a word which does not exists, it could make you believe the things that you have never heard of. It can make you rich, smart and successful. This is why reading is one of the most common things among successful people. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Dan Pena and many more like them recommend to read regularly on daily basis.
Any kind of reading either a book, an article, journal or magazine can boost memory and empower imagination. It stimulates different areas of your brain and develops new neurological pathways inside your main processing unit which has delightful effects on your personality. Effective reading broadens your vision and always push you one step ahead in the competition. Effective reading not only means that you understand what you read but you actually act upon what you have learned. I am not saying that one should start behaving like a zombie after reading a fiction. Although reading fiction is also recommended and it has its own outcomes and reflections.
Once, I heard an Indian motivational speaker, I just forgot his name, saying that you never earn more than you personality is worth of. The more you invest in self development, the more you earn. Dan Pena says

Show me your friends and I will show you your future.

If you have books as your friend, Dan will absolutely show you a bright future. Ernest Hemingway said:

There is no friend as loyal as a book.

But many of us are not loyal with our loyal friends. Our readings are quantity driven not quality driven. We want to read more and more and forget what we have already read before. This kind of behavior does not help us to thrive instead it  stagnates us. Ineffective reading rises level of frustration. If you are reading by keeping quantity in mind, you are waisting time. Time is money and money is power. You are losing power.
There are some techniques can really speed up you reading with little or no affect at all on the quality. At the end, I have included a video which I follow and I would suggest you too.
Below is a list of reasons why you should read more.
Reading:

• Improves your 'theory of mind'
• helps you be more empathetic
• supercharges learning and sharpens memory through imagination
• Improves decision making and emotional processing
• Improves your vocabulary and verbal skills
• Slows down your mental aging

Do you have more reasons in mind? Tell us below in comments.