Why Read Books?
There are so many great reasons to read books and ways to encourage your own book reading habit.
What I watched: “You Love Books. You Don’t Read them. Here’s Why.” by WheezyWaiter. Posted April 11, 2025.
Books have been important in my life since a young age. I started reading books as soon as I could string the words of a sentence together. Perhaps because I was a shy, introverted kid and an only child, books became my main form of entertainment.
I also credit the bulk of my education to books. I disliked school my entire life. Begrudgingly I attended eight years of Catholic school, four years of public high school, and a few semesters at a university until an unexpected dance career emerged in my life and I jumped at the chance, leaving college behind.
While I dislike formal schooling, I always got good grades. I attribute that not to the schools themselves, although I had a handful of good teachers along the way, but to my side activity of voraciously consuming books of all kinds. I read novels, collections of short stories, and nonfiction works in the fields of science, mathematics, philosophy, and more. Beside my bed was always a stack of books. I tend to read two or three books at a time, picking up the one that suits my mood in the moment, then swapping them out for others in the stack as I complete one.
Today, I still read quite a few books, but I have noticed a retreat from the number of books I read. Whereas in the past I would consistently read two to four books a month, now I read about one book each month.
This trend troubled me until I came to peace with it and realized reading isn’t a competitive sport. It’s not about the quantity, but rather the quality. That concept was front and center when I read Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Duren’s book, How to Read a Book. In that book, readers are encouraged to focus on the quality of a book and a deeper understanding of it. This quote from Adler has stuck with me my entire life.
In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but how many can get through to you.
In the same book, Adler encourages readers to challenge themselves with difficult books, books you must mentally wrestle with to extract the most from them and elevate your breadth of knowledge and understanding.
If a book is easy and fits nicely into all your language conventions and thought forms, then you probably will not grow much from reading it. It may be entertaining, but not enlarging to your understanding. It’s the hard books that count. Raking is easy, but all you get is leaves; digging is hard, but you might find diamonds.
I also find regularly consulting a dictionary while reading yields tremendous benefits. Not only do I often learn a new word or sharpen my understanding of a word I thought I knew thoroughly, but it expands the entirety of the sentence in which it resides.
Most of my reading lately is on an e-reader with a built-in dictionary which is incredibly handy. When reading printed books, I pick up my phone to look up a word at least a few times each sitting. Let me recommend onelook.com as the best single dictionary source to reference. It simultaneously scans millions of entries in more than 800 dictionaries including specialized dictionaries focused on subject areas like computing, business, and medicine.
Anyway, that was a longwinded introduction to the video by WheezyWaiter (Craig Benzine) that’s the topic of this post. If you don’t follow Benzine’s channel, I recommend it. Great information and insight without the faux certainty or rigidity many content creators demonstrate.
In the video, Benzine offers his opinions about why book sales are up but we’re reading less than we used to, along with some tips that improve his own reading habits by making reading less difficult.
One of the things I love about his content is Benzine speaks from his own experience. He might reference data or other perspectives, but ultimately he lands on the side of “this is how I do it, use it if you think it might work for you” which is refreshing in a sea of content that often proclaims to have all the answers.
As Benzine mentions, we’re probably reading more than we did in the past. We’re just not reading books. Imagine how much you read while scrolling social media or scanning publication articles. In terms of volume, we are probably reading far more than past generations. But books are unique forms of writing, and the reading experience differs from other types of reading.
One of the reading apps Benzine mentions is Libby. Libby is a free app where you can enjoy e-books, digital audiobooks, and magazines from your public library. You can stream titles with wi-fi or mobile data, or download them for offline use and read anytime, anywhere. All you need to get started is a library card. If you haven’t investigated Libby, check it out. You get access to thousands of books for free. Such a great deal.
Speaking of libraries, one of the ways I encourage my own reading is to visit my city’s main library every so often. In the past, I would wander the aisles of bookstores for hours and still do when I find a good one, but more often these days I will wander the aisles of my main or neighborhood local library. A library card is one of the best investments you can make in your life, and it is entirely free.
While I read primarily on an e-reader (or using an app on my phone when my e-reader is not with me), I often keep a printed book around. Should my device glitch or have no power, having a paper book with me solves the problem of how I can still read. Plus, I think there’s something to be said for the printed book reading experience that isn’t part of the e-reading experience. Having a nice balance between the two styles of reading works for me and might for you.
Among the advice Benzine offers to encourage your reading is to keep a reading app on your phone. There are many such apps, and Libby has a phone app.
When purchasing books, consider buying directly from independent bookstores if you can. A book sales site I now use a lot is bookshop.org. I just started my own bookshop page on the site and I’m slowly adding books I have read and recommend. A portion of every sale goes to help support independent bookstores which is a net positive for society. I used to laud the superiority of e-books over printed books, and I still love their convenience and sometimes lower price when purchasing, but increasingly I believe we need to maintain and grow the printed book business as well to offset the monolithic hold certain e-book sales services have on the marketplace.
I’m going to let you watch the short 15-minute video to learn all of the tips Benzine offers, but near the beginning he asks the question why read books in the first place and I think his insights are valuable and echo my own reasons for reading books.
Nothing beats a good book. It’s one of the best forms of entertainment. For me and for Benzine, it often beats the allure of more passive forms of entertainment like television. It’s also a form of meditation. The focus required to properly read a book tunes out the rest of the world much like when I sit quietly and breath.
Reading a book is relaxing. Even if the subject matter is something with which you have to wrestle, the act of reading itself is incredibly relaxing. It’s slower entertainment. It requires focus which blocks out much of the churn of the outside world.
Another benefit of reading books is it disrupts your default cycles. By fostering the good habit of reading books, you suppress some of the bad habits like constant social media scrolling or misguided attempts at multitasking. Reading books fosters calm.
The knowledge acquired through reading a book tends to result in a better quality of learning. At least it does for me. I still remember things I read decades ago but might forget the social media post or publication puff piece I read yesterday. Book summaries don’t deliver the depth of understanding that reading the actual book will.
Knowledge, ideas, and insights we get from books means we have more to offer during social conversations or in professional environments. Benzine says “you sound smarter” but I suggest you are smarter when you read books.
I have only summarized the first three minutes of the 15-minute video. So, I’m going to leave it to you to watch it. Then, pick up a book, any book, and start reading. It’s always time well spent.
You might find interesting other posts I’ve written about reading: “Enjoying Books,” “Finding Good Books to Read,” “Getting More From Nonfiction Books,” “Reading Better,” and “On Reading.”
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